There are good and bad parts to "social media" which we call can agree to. For me the ability to log into my accounts and see what other people are posting and liking is at times inspiring and other times surprising (puts hands in face).

When I embark upon trips, if I have my camera, I'm always thinking of what will catch my eyes. I've often told those around me, "This town is small" and within this little box a lot of people are found within the same space, hence why I'll more than likely post to my blog over the course of the next month or so.

It's funny what causes me to think/my mind/heart to race.

My childhood buddy RJ insisted that we take a trip to capture the evening sky, last night, and of course I obliged him without carefully taking into consideration the fact, I was feeling a bit under the weather (my body is tired).

As we drove two hours away from home, the weather dropped by close to forty degrees and we were allowed to dawn beanies, sweatshirts, and gloves. For hours on end we spoke of our past, our childhood, people we used to go to school with, play sports with, or people whom we just had zero clue where they ever landed in life.

Between the two of us, I'm definitely more of the worry-wort, merely because I'm the one who would throw his camera bag in a car and then drive two hours to find that there isn't a camera in said bag and I've left it on my bookshelf, when I unpacked it to put my lenses in (note to self, always have multiple cameras if possible). This actually didn't happen to me on this particular trip but...

We made it out of town and up the mountain in order to watch the sunset and the stars roll in from all around the galaxy. This was my first time sitting atop of this mountain, witnessing all of magic taking place out in the cosmos.

The ability to shoot in the dead of night and capture quality is something which I'm not accustomed to given the fact I'm one who primarily shoots when most things are perfect (lighting, subject, and weather). I just don't geek out enough to learn all of the techniques people share on the Internet because I'm really all about the trial and error.

Anyway, back to this story! So RJ had sent me an article earlier in the morning concerning 9 basic camera hacks for nighttime photography and in typical Nemi fashion, I skimmed all 9 and didn't truly retain the information. You know, the way it goes, "Class, we'll have a quiz over Chapter 9 tomorrow, so make sure to study". And of course ten minutes before class, I'm the one skimming over the key definitions (I have zero idea how I got a B, I literally looked at the stuff before we sat down).

RJ is all about the nighttime stuff, he and his wife took a trip a few weeks back to catch the same stars and feel of the mountain and he came back saying, "Next time I'll do it differently." Well, the next time was my time was my time and I packed all of my favorite lenses so that I could capture everything nature had to throw my way. There was a small issue which I figured out/remembered whilst on our way up to the mountain, RJ didn't have enough lens to "do things differently". Psssh and people scoff at the idea of socialism!

It seemed as though we were standing in the cold for only five to ten minutes when we looked down at our watches to find that we'd been atop the mountain for over two hours. I wasn't having the greatest time shooting because I just wasn't into it fully and my shots where coming out too dark despite my lens and any changes applied to my camera; sometimes one just needs to know what they're doing in order to make things work.

"You know in that article it talked about exposure and...." (slaps face) That damn article, you know the one that I read again as we parked the car!

My cousin recently told me, "A picture doesn't have to be perfect for it to be perfect" and there I stood, firing off a few pictures which weren't perfect but are perfect to me. The ability for us to time warp is amazing, one moment I'm lost, the next I'm found within the darkness.

I'm not shooting for the masses like some, I'm also not attempting to be the newest/coolest kid on the block with my photography, however, I am attempting to tell you that there are so many stories to be had if we take the time to capture them.

We live in a small town, others are shooting the same things but I'm not competing, I'm seeing things anew... (no hearts to be had here)