Taking Photos While Running Barefoot in the Cold

Before I give you part 3 of my Barefoot-Fresca-Explores-Barefoot-Running-In-The-Cold series (Part 1 here, and Part 2 here), I shall take some time out to share some photos I took the last time I was out.

Stopping to take photos when it's cold is a little difficult.  Feet that had been feeling comfortable while running get cold really fast while standing still.  It also breaks my little dog Daffodil's rhythm and she pulls on the leash causing the camera to jerk while I'm trying to take the picture.

I used to bring along both my cell phone and my camera, but since I got my new Droid, I've been digging the photos it takes and love that my little running pack has more room in it.  I need extra room because in the winter I have to jam a little pack of tissues and some chapstick in there with all the doggie bags and paper towels.

The reason for this post is that it was so breathtakingly beautiful along the river the other day that I took a bunch of shots, trying to get just the right one to use with my third barefoot-in-the-cold post.

But when I tried to choose there were things about each photo I liked and I find it hard to choose.  To some people, each and every one of these photos will just seem the same and it won't seem like such a difference.  But to me, there is beauty in every slight shift of the angle.  Maybe that's why I don't mind running the same route over and over again. It's not boring to me because each time I move a little it's a new vista.

Of course I'm not exactly looking at this when I'm barefoot running.  I'm actually mostly looking at the ground.  It's amazing how one can be aware of one's surroundings, however, while scanning the ground.  I feel that barefoot running has promoted and developed this awareness in me.

I'm not experimenting with the settings on the camera. It is just set to "auto."  I'm mostly thinking composition.  I haven't really had to worry as much about composition now that the digital age is here, because now you can do your composing when you get home by cropping photos. Yet, all those years of using film cameras and trying to compose while shooting made me enjoy the process if trying to see if I could make the shot come out right with my camera positions and angles.  Just a left-over hobby from the days of 35mm film.

So, here's some photos, in the order in which they were shot (I think), and what I liked about each one of them and why I needed to take another.  I hope you enjoy them.

I liked the partial sun in the upper right corner of this photo, but I didn't feel I captured the effect of the sun shining on the water.  I decided to move up a little further to see if I could get more of the river in the picture.

In this one, I got more of the river and the light on the river.  I liked that I had some of the running path in the photo, but it all got spoiled by the big telephone pole in the middle.  Looked up ahead and decided I could get a better shot if I just moved past the telephone pole.

But what was awaiting me when I moved up ahead?  Woo-hoo, some really beautiful vegetation that was being lighted up from behind by the sun.  It was so beautiful in person that it made my heart thump, and I knew the light was going to make it come out good in the photograph.

This is essentially the same photo as the previous one, but I moved the camera in an attempt to include the dueling skylines from the New Jersey side.  I only got a little bit of the New Jersey buildings in on the right.  The sun is moving from its corner in the right.  I don't want the sun to be in the center, exactly, but I want more of the New Jersey side skyline, so I decide to try again.

This one is very pleasing to me.  I've got different textures (rock, vegetation, water, sky, sun).  A bit of the running path shows.  The sun is off-center (although I liked it better coming from the right).  The pretty light behind the vegetation is there and it shows the two skylines on either side of the river.

Finally, I decide to lean out over the side (hope I don't drop my camera down the palisade while Daffodil jerks on the leash)  The sun itself is no longer in the picture, but its rays are.  The camera on the Droid is not quite refined enough to catch the shimmer on the river properly and it's bright and overexposed there, however the one or two lit up tops of vegetation in the foreground against the barren, leafless background works well.  Overall, I like this one a lot but kind of wish the sun was in the shot too.  But maybe not.  By the time I'm done with these photos, my feet are pretty cold so I have to get myself moving again.

I really hope you enjoyed me taking you through this barefoot photography process.