This past week found me riding my bicycle across Wisconsin and loving every minute of it! Well, maybe not some of the ominous hills we climbed, including Grand Dad's Bluff in LaCrosse! Three hundred and sixty of us completed the Northwoods Tour which took us through Neceedah Nat. Wildlife Refuge, the Crane Foundation, past Aldo Leopold's shack and through the North Kettle Moraine Unit.
We visited a book store made out of a silo, feed grass to horses and bought lemonade from Amish children. Of course the camera was slung around my upper torso and was always ready to capture a moment. As most pros will tell you, it's important to know how to operate your camera with your eyes closed so that you can quickly change settings and recompose without having to think about or look at your camera. This proved to be true on this trip many times but I add in riding a bike at the same time!
While cruising (or huffing and puffing up the hills) past the Amish farms in Central WI, I saw a young girl mowing her lawn up ahead. I readied the camera settings while riding my bike (don't try this at home!) so that I could photograph her while riding and she'd never see the little camera. As I was getting closer, I spotted 3 little girls sitting on the front porch - barefoot. I quickly changed the zoom, held the camera level and made the image as I rode by.
Now photographing this way doesn't always produce the best or sharp images. However, when I saw this one, I considered my "shooting from the hip" style successful! It's better to try and fail than not try at all!
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