Spring Gathering - UPDATE 2/28/09

Well as most of you know, now is about the time of year I begin planning our annual Spring gathering for CSNP. In an effort to expand our shooting experience, I am looking for your input and thoughts on having the 2009 event in Texas during the annual wildflower explosion.

We may have a couple of options for shooting locations but for this thread I would like to get your general thoughts on the idea and if you are personally interested in attending an event held in Texas this coming spring.

Let me know. If there is enough interest then I will begin making more definitive arrangements. Thanks in advance!

Wayne

As someone living in Texas I would love it and definitely try and attend!

I would love to shoot wildflowers in Texas. Just please don't ask me to camp out in Texas in the Spring...... I may be crazy - but I'm not stupid...

I will be tied up the first two weeks of June on a fishing trip to Canada. Other than that I am open at the moment.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to organize the gatherings. I appreciate it.

Merle: You afraid of a little wind and rain perhaps? Depending on what you want to shoot the best time for bluebonnets is the first two weeks in April. I hang out in the Brenham/Washington County area mostly and the bloom is about a week earlier than the Hill Country. One of the very best areas for bluebonnets is near Ennis southeast of Dallas. Ennis bills itself as the bluebonnet capital of Texas and it would be hard to dispute. The Hill Country offers more interesting terrain but sparser flower concentrations while Ennis has rolling hills with tremendous concentrations of flowers and a lot of farm buildings and implements. I'll post some shots from each area in this thread in the next few days. >=))>

Bill, I would really appreciate it if you could post some shots from the areas for us to consider. Frankly, Ennis sounds better to me for two reasons. First, it's nearer to our large Arkansas contingent of photographers and second, the concentration of bluebonnets, buildings and hills sound marvelous.

Looking forward to seeing your posts! Thanks!

Wayne: Here are some links to Washington County (Brenham) that I already have loaded on my site. I'll post some Ennis shots this evening if I get home from a staff meeting early enough.

Independence

Washington County

Independence 2.

Wayne: I'm going to have to put up a single photo for each post. This is near Ennis.

Wayne et al: I've tried to respond to this post with attached image and it won't go. Perhaps you could post the shots I e-mailed to you yourself. >=))>

Bluebonnets near Ennis, TX

Another bluebonnet shot near Ennis, TX.

The third near Ennis.

And last but not least.

Wayne: Thanks for putting up the shots. The nearest state park with camping facilities is Purtis Creek SP in Eustace. Its about 40 miles east of Ennis and a fairly straight shot between the two towns. Also, most of the really good shooting is east of Ennis anyway. Here's a link to park info and one to Ennis info. Hope this helps. >=))>

I'm always interested in a Gathering, but it is unlikely I'll be able to attend. I'll watch the plans unfold, and we'll see what the spring brings.

Thanks for the email Wayne. If its at Ennis there is a chance I could attend but I wont know until very close to the date. if I can make it i will.

Wayne, I would love to go but I would need to wait and see what the wife & I plan for my vacation time, plus the twins birthday is April 7, probably right when this would be happening. To help the odds would anybody be willing to carpool?

Bill the your images of the bonnets are some of the best I've seen!!! Wonderful!!

Wayne The hill country is a great idea. I have been wanting to make it to the hill country for the past couple of years and have researched it some also. I would not know until closer to the gathering. I have some other plans for 09 and am not sure if I could afford to spend my time away from home there. Let's see what some of the other members think.

I would caution about having a gathering in Texas - once everyone sees the incredible wildflower displays, most everything else will look pitiful! It is one of the great natural displays of beauty anywhere on the planet for sure! I've got photo workshops every weekend in the spring but might be able to slip down for some pre-shooting during the week with someone...

Hi Wayne,
Sounds like a great destination and Bill's images make my shutter finger itchy. Depending upon the number of days, I'd definitely be interested. I'm already running out of vacation for '09, so a long weekend would work best for me.

Guess I should put my vote in here as well. Texas wildflower extravaganza sounds great!

Hello, I'm new to NPN, My name is BJ and I'm a travelling contract nurse. I go all over the country, so it's hard to decide what forum to get into. But I see that your're planning a spring fling in Texas wildflower country and we're leaving south Texas in April and were planning to got thru the hills to shoot wildflowers,so we (husband and I) would love to join in the experience of a group of like minded photo nuts. I'll watch this thread and keep in touch. Right now we're in Pt. Isabel, Tx. on the southmost Gulf Coast by South Padre Island. The birding here is fantastic, but I'm ready to shoot something else for a while. BJ

I don't have photographs of Bluebonnets, but do have a video from April 2008 in the Fort Worth Area.

http://vimeo.com/996919

I am game for Bluebonnets in Texas.

I am also heading out to Big Bend National Park for a week. April 12-19. It is actually a trip I put together for my other photo group (Fort Wolrth Camera Club), but if anybody wants to meet us out there it would be great. There will probably be 20-30 of us and we are a friendly bunch. I'll be camping at Cottonwood but others will stay in Terlingua.

Thanks everyone! From the looks of it there is enough interest in moving this forward. Based on Bill's suggestion (and the proximity of the AR contingent) I was still leaning toward Ennis for the gathering. We aren't locked into anything yet.

I know timing these natural events is a shot in the dark but in the little research I've had time to do so far I thought the weekend you mentioned Darren (18 & 19) was probably going to be the target weekend. One conflict already.

However, if people are going to be camping out and we don't need to have advance reservations to get some campsites we could leave the dates open ended and just keep close tabs on the wildflower progression.

Any further thoughts from those who are interested in attending? Thanks!

Go when the flowers are best. Mid April is the time for flowers- so do it then.

If I cannot make it then I just make the next one.

To all: After discussions with a few CSNP members I have decided to cancel the Texas Wildflowers Spring Gathering for 2009. A less than promising outlook for the wildflower bloom combined with a high number of "maybe" responses being the main reasons.

This doesn't mean we won't have a Spring Gathering. I will begin planning with Bill to see if we can arrange one in Arkansas again this spring. If anyone has suggestions on when & where please contact either Bill or myself asap.

Thanks for your continued support. Wildflowers & Waterfalls in Arkansas anyone?

This is such a dry year here in Texas the wildflowers look to be very disappointing. I think that Arkansas is probably a better destination for getting better conditions for a group event.

This is a wise move.

Let us know what you come up with.