I am interested in seeing what you guys do to tread lightly while photographing wildflowers or delicate forest / tundra vegetation. Do you usually shoot from the trail or if you venture off trail what do you do to minimize your impact on the vegetation?
I am asking because I didn't have much luck last year while shooting wildflowers along the trail in the Snowy's last year, but didn't want to venture too far off trail out of concern for damaging the vegetation.
A famous photographer I know once told me, while we were shooting wildflowers in the Superstition Mountains, "Some wildflowers must die so that others may be photographed." That said, I always tread as lightly as possible when photographing wildflowers to avoid trampling them as much as possible. And, if an area is explicitly restricted, I will not enter for any reason.
Due to the lack of a "Mission Impossible" harness supporting me from a portable crane, I watch where every step is carefully placed to nestle between rather than on a wildflower or other plant. If the area is too dense, then I photograph with a telephoto and visually compress the image. Fortunately in Colorado, wildflowers don't usually grow so dense as to preclude a footstep. I also step on rocks rather than plants whenever I go off trail. I never venture into a solid patch of flowers and always shoot from the perimeter. And as Bret said, if it is a restricted area, don't go in (ex. Triple Falls in Glacier NP is a restricted area from the point in the season that the snow is mostly gone til when the snow returns---so according to a ranger I spoke with last year, any photo you see of it taken without snow in the photo was more than likely taken illegally, at least in the past 20 years).
Then there are those who take the approach, "Some wildflowers must die so that nobody else can steal my shot". Unfortunately a true story involving a now rather well known photographer who destroyed a patch of desert wildflowers after he saw another photographer considering them for a composition. Thank goodness such narcissistic a%#holes are few and far between!
In heavily visited areas, such as the turnouts on Trail Ridge Road, etc., I stay on trails. Otherwise, I don't see a single hiker treading carefully could leave much of an impact. Of course there are places where a single person could do a lot of damage - cryptobiotic soils in the desert, and the Racetrack in Death Valley when wet, are two obvious exceptions.
Posted by Anne K. Rusk on March 10, 2014 at 5:39 PM
I echo everyone else's comments. Where it is prohibited, I don't go. I look longingly, but I don't go.
Where there are flowers in patches, I typically skirt the edges looking around for what I specifically want and then get there with minimal impact (stepping on rocks, going around clusters, etc). I find the best way to minimize impact is to walk slowly and deliberately, including choosing where to put my bag down (if I put it down). One time in a little meadow near a friends cabin there were a bunch of columbines. I got all excited and found a great group and started shooting. I turned around after a bit and realized in my haste I had dropped my bag on another bunch of flowers! DOH!
It's the same approach to photographing sand dunes, I do my best not to ruin my shot or anyone else's who may be around by tromping through the image, but you have to walk on one of the dunes to get out a little ways. Pick the one with the least impact and go from there!
Discussion
4 repliesI am asking because I didn't have much luck last year while shooting wildflowers along the trail in the Snowy's last year, but didn't want to venture too far off trail out of concern for damaging the vegetation.
In heavily visited areas, such as the turnouts on Trail Ridge Road, etc., I stay on trails. Otherwise, I don't see a single hiker treading carefully could leave much of an impact. Of course there are places where a single person could do a lot of damage - cryptobiotic soils in the desert, and the Racetrack in Death Valley when wet, are two obvious exceptions.
Where there are flowers in patches, I typically skirt the edges looking around for what I specifically want and then get there with minimal impact (stepping on rocks, going around clusters, etc). I find the best way to minimize impact is to walk slowly and deliberately, including choosing where to put my bag down (if I put it down). One time in a little meadow near a friends cabin there were a bunch of columbines. I got all excited and found a great group and started shooting. I turned around after a bit and realized in my haste I had dropped my bag on another bunch of flowers! DOH!
It's the same approach to photographing sand dunes, I do my best not to ruin my shot or anyone else's who may be around by tromping through the image, but you have to walk on one of the dunes to get out a little ways. Pick the one with the least impact and go from there!