Growing up, my parents, little sister, and I would love to go to the mountains on a sunny summer day. We never really went to popular parts or national parks, but I am grateful for that, because if we did, there's no way I would have gotten some of the shots I did. My dad always knew about the best-hidden rivers or lakes where we could just hop out of the car and eat our lunch while we dipped our legs in the running water.
I'll always remember and value those times, and I wanted to capture some of the details that I stumbled upon when I went up to the mountains for the second to last time before moving to the city with my now-husband. It might only be 6 photos, but I can assure you for every one of them, about 200 others were taken before and after until I found the right lighting, movement, depth of field, or color saturation I wanted from those shots.
These photos were taken on my trusty Nikon D3400 DSLR. I always see so many people taking out their tripods and lighting accessories to get the right shot, but growing up on a limited budget like me, you really start to learn that editing softwares and changing a few settings on your camera are all you need to get some amazing results.
During this project, I felt like I had discovered that nature photography is one of my strengths, because the tiniest daisy or rushing river doesn't need additional styling, it just needs you to capture the moment. It also taught me that when working as a photographer, you aren't always directing your subjects. Sometimes, the subjects direct you, whether you know it or not!
