During the summer Vermont trip, I made it a point to try out and practice with my new zoom lens and to keep experimenting with my DSLR camera. Each night I got all my gear ready for the sunsets. I have oodles and oodles of various sunset shots taken at various shutter speeds, ISO, and white balance. I think only a few are really keepers.
Because my tripod is so cheap, I had to rig up bungie cords to be able to hold up the camera and the zoom lens. It was a full moon so I had to take some moon shots. Only a couple came out with a good exposure and in focus. Things would have worked out a lot better if I had a better tripod that I could control. I also really wanted to take some star shots, but with the bright moon and the generally overcast nights, the stars just didn't line up.
One of the highlights of the trip was making it up to the top of Mount Mansfield. We had tried a few years back but had to turn back. We had a really late start and it was blanketed in fog. Granted this trip was unseasonably warm up in Vermont so the views suffered from the haze. We started out with a large group, but slowly and surely people started dropping out. I even stopped at one point where the trail turned into scrambling over large boulders with big drops in between. One misstep and it could be game over. But after feeling the area out on my own time and a pep talk from a passing hiker, I continued onward and was in a race to catch up and pass my companions.
We did make it to the top so mission accomplished. Of course the entire hike took a whole lot longer than anticipated but that's how things usually go. It certainly didn't help the cause when various members of the group wanted to stop at every vista for seemingly the same shots. Afterwards I opted to skip the balloon fest and headed home. I soaked in the jacuzzi and relaxed and tended to my blistered feet.
