Field Trips Guide Book for Photographers Revised 2008 a Publication of the Northern Virginia Alliance of Camera Clubs
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Field Trips Guide Book for Photographers Revised 2008 A publication of the Northern Virginia Alliance of Camera Clubs Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever. 1 Preface This field trips guide book has been written by Dave Carter and Ed Funk of the Northern Virginia Photographic Society, NVPS. Both are experienced and successful field trip organizers. Joseph Miller, NVPS, coordinated the printing and production of this guide book. In our view, field trips can provide an excellent opportunity for camera club members to find new subject matter to photograph, and perhaps even more important, to share with others the love of making pictures. Photography, after all, should be enjoyable. The pleasant experience of an outing together with other photographers in a picturesque setting can be stimulating as well as educational. It is difficullt to consistently arrange successful field trips, particularly if the club's membership is small. We hope this guide book will allow camera club members to become more active and involved in field trip activities. There are four camera clubs that make up the Northern Virginia Alliance of Camera Clubs McLean, Manassas-Warrenton, Northern Virginia and Vienna. All of these clubs are located within 45 minutes or less from each other. It is hoped that each club will be receptive to working together to plan and conduct field trip activities. There is an enormous amount of work to properly arrange and organize many field trips, and we encourage the field trips coordinator at each club to maintain close contact with the coordinators at the other clubs in the Alliance and to invite members of other clubs to join in the field trip. This means two things: enough participation to make the field trip happen, and the opportunity to meet new friends in the photographic community. While we realize that this Guide Book will be of interest to many camera club members, we do not authorize the making of photo copies. To order copies of this Guide Book, please contact Joseph Miller, 4811 Catharpin Road, Gainesville, VA 20155, or email: [email protected]. For questions please call 703-7547598. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever. 2 Section 1. Planning and Organizing Field Trips Section 2. Some Ideas for Field Trips Northern Virginia Southern Maryland Shenandoah Valley & Virginia Highlands Western Maryland Piedmont West Virginia Tidewater Virginia North Carolina Eastern Shore - Virginia Delaware District of Columbia New Jersey National Capitol Area New York Eastern Shore - Maryland Pennsylvania Section 3, On Location Articles from Fotofax Belle Haven Park Blue Ridge Parkway Frederick County Maryland Smoky Mountain National Park Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge Great Smoky Mtn Nat’l Park-Tenn Rural Areas West in the Snow West Virginia and Seneca Rocks Civil War Battlefields Huntley Meadows Night Photography The Coast of Delaware Spring Wildflowers The Flying Circus Living History Farms Massanutten Mountain & Fort Valley Horsehead Sanctuary New Market & the Shenandoah Valley Cape May, New Jersey Baltimore, Maryland Lancaster County Prince William Forest Park Chincoteague Section 3, On Location Articles from Fotofax (Cont.) North Carolina's Outer Banks The C & O Canal (Continued) North Carolina's Outer Banks (Continued) Flower Gardens Cherry Blossoms & Gardens Piscataway Park Ocean City, Maryland New York City Lexington, Virginia Sunrises and Sunsets in DC The National Zoo New York City at Night St Mary’s City Nova Scotia, Canada Hike to Hoover Camp Colorado Virginia's Route 231 Calvert County, Maryland Harpers Ferry Washington County Tangier and Smith Islands The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Dallas, Texas Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever. 3 Section 1: Planning and Organizing Field Trips (Dave Carter and Ed Funk) Properly run, field trips provide not only a variety of photo opportunities for club members, but also help cement the social relations which are so important to the smooth operation of any camera club. New members and novice photographers are especially likely to benefit from field trips, and any club will do well to encourage new members to go along with those who have been in the club a long time. What follows is a list of guidelines which will help field trip leaders to plan outings and help participants get the most from their experience. These procedures should never be etched in stone. 1. What sort of person should be selected to plan field trips? Obviously, it is useful if the person chosen to plan trips knows the area. It is also helpful if the trip leader knows where the club has been in previous years and under - stands the interests of likely participants. Conducting trips is made easier if the leader is someone who attends to details and does not procrastinate. Planning is easier if done well in advance of the departure date. 2. Where to go? Club members have a variety of interests, and no one trip is going to satisfy everyone. Nevertheless, it is useful to plan trips which satisfy as many interests as possible. Some photographers prefer to concentrate on landscapes. Others like architecture. Historic areas are fun for many. Destinations can be chosen which offer a variety of subject matter, especially on overnight trips. The Washington area is blessed with many interesting locations to visit. Finding new locations to visit may be a challenge, but well worth the effort. There are some loca - tions worthy of repeated visits every few years. The mountains of West Virginia, the birds and seashore at Chincoteague, and the wonderful farmlands in Pennsylvania Dutch country come to mind. New locations can still be found, especially if one reads local guide books. Reader's Digest has just published The Most Scenic Places in America (1997, $30.00). This volume is well researched and organized. Other local guide books are useful too. Robert Shosteck's long out of print Weekender's Guide is especially thorough. Check used book stores for a copy. Natural Washington by Richard L. Berman and Deborah Gerhard may still be in print. Several "One Day Trip" volumes by Jane Ockershausen Smith are full of interesting ideas and are easy to find. Check your favorite bookstore for books of local interest. Many camera clubs have elderly members who may not be in good physical condition, so trip rigor and/or accommodations should be noted Trips that require long hikes, rock scrambling, and other strenuous activities will be fun for some, but they limit the number of people who will attend. Leaders may wish to go to areas which are conducive to physically strenuous activities, but it is useful to find destinations which include photo opportunities requiring less physical effort. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever. 4 Here is an example of how one might plan trips. -Consider a trip centered around the railroad town of Strasburg, Pennsylvania. • It has an operating steam train and a railroad museum. • Unique accommodations are available, i.e., a motel in which each room is a caboose, and a plentiful supply of farms that also have rooms for rent. One unanswered question concerns the comfort of the accommodations and their cost. Photographers, like anyone else, love to be comfortable, especially when the cost is reasonable. Good places to eat are readily available in the Dutch country. • The real advantage of the Strasburg area is its location between the Amish farms in Lancaster County to the west and the mountainous Delaware Water Gap to the east along New Jersey's border. There is plenty of variety for photographers with almost any interest. • When to have it? Sometimes, timing is everything. Unless the field trip is to coincide with a particular event, such as a festival of some kind or fall foliage, trip leaders may wish to avoid times of peak traffic. Not only does traffic interfere with photographers' efforts, but sometimes avoiding peak tourist times means lower costs at motels and restaurants. Fall foliage means lots of traffic both in Lancaster County and the Delaware Water Gap. Therefore, spring, before the peak of the tourist season, might be a better time to go. Some suggested destinations with a brief description appear in Section 2. 3. How many trips should be planned? Many clubs have one overnight trip in the fall and another in the spring. One- day trips can be planned almost anytime. Weather permitting, outdoor trips can be planned for months which are not too cold. In the Washington, DC area, September, October, November, March, April, and May are good months to go. Sometimes, indoor trips are possible during the colder months. These may include trips to museums to see exhibits by outstanding photographers or painters. One day trips are most often scheduled for Saturdays and Sundays. However, mid-week trips may also be success -ful. Most clubs have many retired members who enjoy mid-week trips. Others have time flexibility. Some individuals prefer to make photographs without the usual weekend crowds. In short, weekend and mid-week trips often draw different people. Varying the days selected for field trips is a good way to maximize the number of members attending field trips throughout the year. 4. Attendees Trip leaders should attempt to figure out how many, and who is likely to go on field trips. Leaders may wish to consult these people in advance regarding both destinations of greatest interest and acceptable dates. This ensures that a reasonable number of people will go. Day trips and overnights have very different planning needs Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever.