Hey Everyone! Hope your week has been Fantastic! Mine has been pretty good. Thanks for asking! This week I want to talk about taking adventures no matter how small and how having a friend or friends with you will make the event even better. Now normally I talk about photography and this week will have a little in it but it will be mostly about "Adventure".  We all want a little adventure in our lives but its hard to get off of that couch and out the door to do them. I have found that photography has gotten me out of the house to seek more adventure but even more that that taking a friend  with me even makes it better.  Back in 2019 I started a adventure/project to visit all of the state parks in my state and even with the "TP Apocalypse" (Toilet Paper) dealing with Covid I was able to complete my goal. This was a personal goal and mainly done alone or with my companion Forrest the Wonder dog.  If you remember not too long ago I talked about having a Photography Wingman when traveling but I think for almost all of your adventures you should have a friend with you to make it just more fun! In just this last week I've had two small adventures and had friends along to make the experience even more fun even when things don't go quite as planned. Let me tell you about my two adventures.

Backpacking with a Noob. I have been an avid backpacker over the last decade or so but it's usually a solo affair or my son goes with me. I have never gone with a friend into the back country. My photography wingman Robert had not gone backpacking before. (well as a civilian) So this was a chance to make his trip as enjoyable as possible and give him a great experience. Now ruffing it to Robert is staying at a Motel 6 and not really sleeping in the woods. So I got all the gear that he would need for the backpacking trip and put in a nice pack for him to carry. I even supplied the meal that he would make for himself. The couple of weeks prior I sent him messages on Backpacking Tips and sent little videos on how to do stuff backpacking related.  I had picked an easy place to do the backpacking at. So from the time we left the truck it was a learning experience for him. We had a ball. He made a video of the experience. We set up his tent, blew up his air mattress and got him all settled in. After another small hike we took a break. He went to his tent and fell asleep. It was nice to see that he was comfortable enough to get some shut eye. That evening he cooked his meal and we did some night time photography.  I made a fire and kept it going for a few hours . It got cold at night and we left early for fear of rain. When we got to the truck it started sleeting and snowing a little mixed in with the rain. We had such a good time that next week we are going on another Backpacking/Photography adventure up in Virginia. I'll let you know how it goes.

Night time Photography in the city. During the week the next week after our backpacking trip. Robert and myself invited Caitlin to Raleigh NC (the closest big city near us) to do some night time photography.  We are all members of the local camera club and all of us have been officers of the club at one time or another. So we are pretty active and have become good friends. On the way to the shoot we stopped and got supper at the suggestion of Caitlin and it was fantastic. We talked of trips we had taken and future trips we were planning. We then traveled to a park where we could do some night time photography and also to a bridge overlooking a busy street to get some light trails. The whole night was planned by Robert and he always has interesting things to try. While messing around with flashes I had my camera on my tripod but didn't have the legs spread out like I should. I bumped into the tripod and it fell over bringing my camera and lens into a Nose Dive right into the concrete lens first and smashed up my lens. It broke it pretty good. Good thing it wasn't an expensive one. But no use in crying over spilled milk. I just grabbed another lens and kept up with the shoot. We had a ball cracking jokes and just being silly. I really enjoyed my time with my friends out on a small adventure. Did we get any great shots? No not really but we had fun.

So there you go two small adventures both taken with friends making them even better. I could have done both of these solo and I have in the past but its nowhere near as fun as with friends that share a common interest .  So if your part of a camera club you can always ask if anyone wants to go on a trip with you so you're not by yourself.  You won't be sorry. Going in small packs of friends is fun and safer than going solo. I have another trip planned with some photography friends in a couple of months and am looking forward to that trip also. Not only for the Photography but also for the experience. So until next week grab your buddy and get outside and shoot.