Hey Everyone! How's it going this week? This week I want to talk about my Fall Colors workshop and what worked and what didn't. Last week I went over the events of the workshop and where and when we went to them. First I want to say that the workshop was a big success despite the interruptions of weather that had with our trip. A good time and photography was had by all and I highly recommend it to anyone. But after each photography or camping trip I like to go over what worked and what didn't and how do I fix the things that didn't in the future. I try to be a highly organized person and I do use a spreadsheet to help me in packing .  I'd like to say that I have that system pretty much controlled and I had no problems with the things I brought and didn't really bring anything that I didn't need. This is an example of previous examinations of trips and correcting for that. So here goes a list of what went well and what didn't in no particular order.

Camera Gear. The camera gear that I brought with me worked well and had no problems. The choice of lenses and camera body worked flawlessly and am very happy with the outcome. Just for a overview I took a crop sensor camera and 3 lenses that ranged in full frame equivalent from 15mm to 525mm in focal length.  I also had all the correct filters and accessories with me and did't want or need anything else to document the trip. So this was a win!

Video Recording. This was a fail. I brought a GoPro and some accessories to document the trip and make a video at the end of the trip. For me trying to photograph and do video at the same time is very hard to do and you end up not doing any of them well. This was the case with me. I started out trying to video everything we did for the first couple of days but my photography suffered and I slowly quit using the GoPro at all. So for the first couple of days I can make a video but for the second half of the trip nothing.  I have asked for video clips from my fellow photogs that went with me but have not got much .  Robert my normal wingman couldn't come to this workshop and he is a great videographer and usually documents our trips but I failed. Big Fail on my part .

Weather. We had mixed weather while on our trip. When we left it was raining and it rained off and on during our trip. The temps were cooler than we are used to at home but it really didn't get cold as we have had in the past even though we did see snow. So the weather not perfect but it wasn't a fail.

Mobile Photography Editing. This may be where I struggled the most on this trip. When I go on a trip instead of a laptop I use a iPad pro for my Cades Cove mobile editing and backing up. The edits will sync up with my home laptop and when I get home they are there. This didn't work this year. It has in the past and the reason. (which I didn't figure out until I got home) was that my main computer is a 2015 iMac and is so old that the operating system can't be upgraded which is fine but the new Adobe Lightroom Classic will not load onto it because of the operating system is too old. Now my iPad pro is newer and has the newest version of Lightroom. These two versions seem to clash and the system did not work. I could edit a few photo's on the road but the big sync stuff didn't work. And also the backing up of my SD cards to the SSD drive I have didn't work 100 percent for some reason. It may have been me and I may have interrupted the transfer while in the mountains . But I still had my daily SD cards so I didn't loose any info and that's how I got all of my photo's downloaded to my old computer at home. The fix? I need to upgrade my old computer and this should correct all of the mistakes and allow the new versions of Adobe for years to come. I am currently researching upgrading my main computer. I'll keep you updated.

Accommodations (House). The house that we rented from VRBO was fantastic! Kudo's to our Club President Caitlin on choosing this one. It was kind of perched on a ridge and could have views all around the house of the valley below. Some of my best views could be seen from the window of our house. Everyone had a bed ( no sleeping on the floor or couch) and some even had their own bathrooms. The house had balconies on the bottom and second floors to enjoy the views. A ample kitchen and open common area gave plenty of room for lounging and editing photo's. Even though I shared a bunk room with 3 other snoring guys it was quite comfortable and I've been in a lot worse places. Big Win!

Itinerary .  We took a lot of time and refinement to come up with our schedule of events for the trip.  We wanted to go to some of the old spots Mingus Mill from trips gone by to some new ones that we haven't been before. We wanted everyone to have something that they were used to shooting in the itinerary. We wanted wildlife shooters to get to shoot some wildlife. We wanted landscape folks to shoot some landscapes. After all it is Fall colors . And we wanted to do some travel type shooting by exploring some towns. Mission accomplished.  We did go to some new places some I don't need to see again and others can't wait to go back to. And I'm sure that is true for all of the participants of the workshop. I did enjoy some days over other ones as I'm sure others did also. Over all a big win!

To me the trip was a big win! Not only for me but the whole club! I would like to see more of these trips happen! As a matter of fact we are planning on taking a trip this spring that we are just starting to plan. We had one planned the year Covid happened and didn't get to go but we are planning for this spring. So I'm excited about future trips and will try to correct my fails to be better for the next trip. Until Next week get outside and keep shooting!