Overall, yesterday was a bust as far as going out and shooting went.  Since I was going to have the day away from the Boyo, I had initially planned on going to a Nature Preserve or State Park and going for a hike with the camera.  Anyone that knows me knows that I love spending time with my kid, but when it comes to taking photographs there are certain places that I can’t take him, and take photographs.  At least not easily.  So on days that he’s not with me, I try to hit up the places that would be otherwise more difficult.  He’s still too little to go hiking through nature trails with daddy, and nature trails (or at least the ones I’ve come across liked aren’t stroller friendly.)

Unfortunately for me, I made at least one big mistake yesterday.   I didn’t have a backup plan.  The weather was crappy, and while a gray day, whether it is cloudy, foggy, etc. can make for some wonderful shots, it was drizzling something miserable and I don’t have anything to protect my camera from rain right now.

I was hoping to go to a State Park or Nature Preserve, get a couple of nice shots and then write it up in the blog here to let all of you know what I shot and where I went.  Instead I ended up with the second option.  I went and did research instead.

One of the things that a lot of photographers forget is the tourist industry.  Try and look at things with a new eye.  I lived in Buffalo for years, and I don’t think I have a single shot of Niagara Falls in my archives.  Niagara Falls is a major tourist attraction.  One of the 7 wonders of the world, depending on whose list you’re reading, and I’ve passed it up.  I saw it a million times growing up on numerous school trips.  I’ve been on top of the Falls, behind the Falls, and at the base of the Falls, and yet I can’t think of one time I’ve ever actually taken a picture of them.  It’s one of the hazards of living somewhere.  You see it all the time, and so you forget about it.

So, not wanting to miss out I dropped the boyo off at daycare and went to the Cabarrus County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.  There I met a wonderful young lady named Tasha who greeted me with a smile and helped me for almost an hour with finding things to see and do around here.  She gave me many suggestions and gave me numerous suggestions based on my preferences including things I can do with the boyo, and things I can do without him.  I figured since I was there I may as well kill two birds with one stone and get all the information I could and get start to get it organized.

After talking to Tasha I headed for lunch, and brought my information laden bag in to the restaurant with me.  The waitresses realizing what I was looking at attempted to help me as well.  One suggestion was to go mall walking.  Which, while mall walking is great, it’s A) Something I can do with the boyo.  If need be I can kersplunk him in his stroller and walk the mall if I want to. B)  I don’t find mall walking particularly relaxing or invigorating.  The other waitress Priscilla, who was my actual waitress, actually sat down with me and gave me a few ideas.  Some I had never even heard of before, and had the weather been nicer I would’ve gone, but everything she could think of was outdoors.  Absolutely gorgeous areas, and wonderful ideas…just nothing I could pull off yesterday. 

The thing to remember is that no matter where you go there is something worth seeing.  Something that is designed to bring in tourists.  My goal yesterday was to find something indoors and preferably cheap.  I ended up with enough information, and it was getting late enough into the afternoon, that I decided that I would go home and look through all the booklets that Tasha gave me and compile a couple of lists.  This will allow me to manage what’s indoors, what’s outdoors, what I can do on my own, what I can do with the boyo, etc. 

I apologize for the delay in blog entry, but I think that given what’s happened over the last few weeks, I’m going to move my blog entries from Wednesday to Thursday, so that when I go out on Wednesdays I’ll still have time to get an entry done in a reasonable amount of time.