Things to Keep in Your Trunk

You never know what you'll run into while you're out driving around with your camera. Normally, my trunk always contains my tripod and a box of gallon sized Ziploc bags large enough to put my camera into.  During my recent vacation in Door County, I thought of another item that would be helpful to have in the trunk....

Water shoes?  Yep.  And with the water temps dropping, it's almost time to replace those with a pair of waders. 

One of my vacation evening excursions took me to Europe Lake just north of Ellison Bay in the Door County Peninsula.  Like most lakes, without a boat you're likely to get one of two public views of the lake: the public beach or the public boat landing.  In this case, it was the boat landing.  Me, a beautiful, crystal clear lake and a short dock.  While I could have (and did) shoot from the dock, I really wanted to bring those shallow water rocks up into the foreground.  Time to kick off the shoes and socks, roll up the pant legs and get wet.

"Pink Elephants" - Fine Art Prints Available

Getting closer to the surface of the water helped to eliminate the glare and allow me to capture the rocks below the water's surface.  A circular polarizing filter would also have been a welcome addition but while it's on my wish list, it's not yet in my camera bag.

So why the shoes?  Well, in my bare feet, I can tell you that those rocks were pretty sharp and occasionally slippery.  Not to mention the sabre tooth minnows who mistook my toes for dinner.  Using my tripod to help stabilize me as I went, it all turned out in the end, however.