Four events, four types of volunteers

I've now covered four volunteer events and photographed four types of volunteers. I now have far more keepers, and could easily come up with 35 photos for a book, even if I didn't shoot another event. However, I think the fun is in the variety and diversity, so I will keep on shooting.

On Saturday morning, I went to Great Northern Blvd. where volunteers were sweeping, shoveling, digging, moving, and trimming to make the bike lanes on that road more usable. The majority of the volunteers were from the neighborhood. It's nice to see neighbors so supportive of the cyclists and runners who use the lanes. One insightful volunteer mentioned that it even helps drivers because if the bike lanes are clear of plants, debris and parked cars, the cyclists and runners can be in the bike lane giving drivers plenty of room to safely pass. At this volunteer event, sponsored by the Austin Parks Foundation, I pitched in to help as well. The group's leader suggested I head south where there was a similar group working to improve a cemetery! That would have made for extremely interesting photos!

Saturday afternoon was spent at the Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory. This was a place I had intended on visiting for quite awhile, but never got around to it. I arrived there to photograph volunteers counting various bird species. I kept my expectations low, but was so surprised at how interesting, beautiful and fun it was. We were treated with views of some wonderful birds. I also met other photographers there with some massive lenses. It was amazing how quickly my biggest zoom lens became inadequate when trying to capture some photos of the birds.

Sunday morning, I ran around downtown trying to photograph a pair of runners and a pair of walkers in the Bun Run 5K. With so many participants and the running pair not looking particularly distinctive, this proved to be quite a challenge for me. With the out and back course, I only had two chances for photos. I am hoping to get some photos at a future training session this month to compliment the photos I captured today. This event was extra fun due to having friends in the race. The volunteers photographed here were running guides for blind or visually impaired runners and walkers.

I missed the fourth event for the weekend because I didn't have a specific time or time range to meet the person I wanted to shoot, and I was also exhausted. I got some sleep instead. There is an event with a similar type of volunteer later in this month that I may try to photograph instead.

Lessons learned:

• I'm not yet in the habit of checking all my camera settings before shooting. The one time I missed it this weekend, I did catch the incorrect white balance sooner.


• Contact information cards would still be helpful.


• A tripod would have been extremely helpful when trying to photograph birds quite a distance away. I thought it was in my trunk, but instead there were only light stands.


• Photographing birds is easier when you have a massive lens, an extender, and a tripod.


• There were a few times during the Hornsby shoot where my photos would have been much better had I narrowed my aperture to widen the depth of field. It's easy to miss someone being slightly out of focus when reviewing on the camera screen, but it's obvious later on the computer. Oops. If I had the camera in P mode, I'm sure it would have adjusted the aperture correctly. However by shooting more in manual, I make more mistakes and therefore learn how to be a better photographer next time.

The above photo was taken during an impromptu guided hike through the forest at Hornsby Bend.