Normally when I sit down and start going through the archives, I'm reminded of the severe growing pains as a photographer I went through during my first few years of "serious" shooting (everything after going DSLR in 2006) and it gets frustrating looking at bad photos of interesting subjects. Today was a little different. Again I was reminded about how terrible I was, but I was also reminded about how impatient I was then. The best example of this took place back in April 2008. I had been driving for a little over a year and had just gotten my second [used] car so I was taking more day trips now that I had reliable transportation. The trees were finally getting their leaves so I decided to spend some time documenting the spring bloom along the southern end of NJT's North Jersey Coast Line (NJCL) between Manasquan and Bay Head. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but I believe I wanted to focus on getting the early morning light since the forecast called for a string of sunny days. Looking at the photos, I made it to Manasquan by 7:40AM one day and Point Pleasant Beach by 6:51AM the next. I got a few different angles that I had never shot before and power that was increasingly rare such as NJT 4142, one of only a few active GP40FH-2s at the time. While that may sound like two successful sunny day, I see that I left the area at 10:23AM and 8:55AM. I have no idea what, if anything, I had planned for the rest of those two days, but I'm almost positive that it wasn't anything productive. That being said, 7 years later I'm left asking why didn't I just spend the rest of those days down there to get more shots of one of the last active GP40FH-2s?! This is the one decent shot I got of the 4142 in two mornings since I screwed up my second chance.
Why think about these mistakes now and not just enjoy the photos I did get? I suppose it's to avoid repeating them. It's easy to spend sunrise to sunset shooting while on vacation because there is nothing to distract me and no temptation to go back home. While looking at almost every local 'trip' I've taken close to home since 2006, I've noticed that I rarely, if ever, spend an entire day out shooting. Why am I so impatient so close to home? I honestly have no idea other than getting bored of what there is around here. I'd like to think that I have gotten better and have more discipline to stay out until I lose the light, but I still notice that I'm coming back with the sun still in the sky and a lot of room on my memory cards. Along with getting more motivated to shoot more and finally make a local to-shoot-list, this is a top priority of mine in 2015.
