He Was THIS Big!

So, I talked a bit about our bear encounter in my last post but I decided to write a little more, giving a few more details that led to a couple of good lessons learned. During our trip to Washington State last week, one evening my daughter and I were out in the woods (actually more of a clearning among the woods)...she was practicing driving on a remote dirt road while acting as my chaufeur, stopping along the way so I could hop out and take some photographs of the beautiful landscape. Caring only about where I stepped and finding the perfect composition, the last thing on my mind was running into a bear. Now, any wilderness-wise person out in the woods of Washington would likely have been on the lookout for wildlife...but me? Not even! (Remember, I'm from California...and I had a camera in hand.) So, imagine how thankful I was for not stepping far from the car when I heard my daughter squeal, "Mom, there's a bear on the road!" My concern for setting the right shutter speed and aperture quickly dissipated when I looked in front of us to see a rather large black bear staring us down. My daughter, barely able to peer over the steering wheel (she's working on getting the driving permit...and growing taller), had the presence of mind to snap a few photographs as proof of what we saw. Good thing she did because for some reason, I didn't even think to point my camera in that direction! A missed opportunity, for sure.

We chuckled on our way back to my son's home, saying they'd never believe us. Sure enough, the first thing they asked for when we returned was "evidence". "Ah, it was probably just a really big dog", said my son. "Nu uh...check this out!" And my daugher proudly chimped through her digital images to present the proof.

Now you already know what this has to do with photography...watch your surroundings and for heaven's sake, don't miss a good opportunity! But what's it got to do with scrapbooking? Well, let me return to the subject of photography for a moment. You may have noticed that this is a pretty grainy photograph. Looking closely, you can see that the subject in the middle of the road is a bear but the quality of the photograph is awful. Now, let me say that this is not my daughter's fault...she was simply using one of the many features of her point-and-shoot camera...digital zoom. It's important to note what digital zoom is and what it isn't so rather than take up a lot of space here, jump on over to my Treasures To Memories website and read up on Photo Tips. Back to scrapbooking with your images, you always want the best quality images for your layouts, wouldn't you agree? By taking the time to know your camera's features through reading the manual (yes, I actully suggested THAT!), you will have the power of knoweldge to make quick and wise choices based upon your circumstances. I can't wait to add this little story to my scrapbook, even the "interpolated" bear image! I hope this is as close to a bear in the wild that I ever get.

As an ending to a good lesson, I'd like to share this image I made of Mount St. Helens. It will go perfectly with out Back Country Paper Pack and matching stamp sets and accessories! Imagine the stories that we'll tell from this fun adventure! Oh, by the way...I did keep a small notepad for journaling while on this trip. How many times do we wish we'd have written down places we've been, people we visited with, and things we had done. It's all forgotten so quickly that I've started keeping small notepads in my car and in my purse. Make sure you sum up the day by entering a journaling spot at the end of each day.

See you next time!