Back at the beginning of July, Amy and I had a few days in Lake Shasta, CA on a family vacation. During the trip, some members of the family decided it would be fun to take a tour of Shasta Dam, which is the 2nd largest in the US.

Normally, industrial areas are not the locations I like to shoot. But I figured, well we'll take the cameras along and just try. I should know by now that being open to just trying has been the way many of our best images have been taken, but somehow it always takes a little bit of mental effort to be willing to get out of my comfort zone and try something different.

I don't think I got any truly breathtaking images, but the dam did break up our normal routine as photographers, and helped loosen up the creative muscles. Trying to crop and create contrast in an industrial environment is far different than nature photography and so I found myself trying perspectives and lenses I don't typically use. You can take a look at some of the images that turned out below the post.
So, the moral of the story is, in creative endeavors, just try! I know it is something we all know, but I think it is easy to fall into a mindset that "trying is the first step towards failure." Sometimes that is true, but more often than not it can be the first step towards success, and in the cases it isn't, trying is still the necessary ingredient in learning! So next time you (or I :-)) have the opportunity to do something a little different, let's just try it, and who knows, it could be a success!
 

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