Troop 367

Posted by Russ Devan (New Hanover, United States) on 22 April 2008 in Sport & Recreation and Portfolio.

Thank you for all your kind comments on my fog series images. I appreciate them more than you can know.

This past weekend, our Boy Scout troop went on one of our monthly weekend campouts to nearby Green Lane park. Our troop, like most Boy Scout troops, camps one weekend each month of the year, regardless of the weather or the temperature. This weekend happened to be near perfect weather conditions for camping: warm sunny days with cool, crisp nights in the low 50s that was perfect sleeping weather. Half of the troop, comprised of mainly younger scouts, learned their compass and orienteering skills during a five-mile hike followed by a two-mile hike around a lake. The other half of the troop, comprised of older, more experienced scouts, learned how to handle a canoe on the lake. I'm please to report that only one crew of scouts somehow swamped their canoe. All got back safely, albeit, in a canoe half full of water!

This image was shot last Friday night after it was "lights out" time for the scouts. What you're looking at is about half of the tents that we had set up that weekend. A total of 28 scouts and 9 leaders went camping (which is about half of our troop). This was a two-minute exposure lit entirely by the full moon and the flashlights that some scouts had on inside their tents. The blue lights that you see are chemical light sticks that some of the scouts used at night. The tallest tent in the back that is just left of center is my tent. Yes, I like to be able to stand up inside my tent. I'm too old to be stooping or crawling inside a tent, unless I'm backpacking.

Although this image looks quiet and peaceful, it was anything but. While I shot this, many of the boys were still wound up and making plenty of noise and some kept trying to open their tents to see what I was doing. Friday nights are usually the noisiest on any weekend trip as the kids are energetic and excited about the weekend, so they usually receive a few warnings to quiet down at bedtime. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Mr. Devan, are you done taking your picture yet?" while I was shooting this.

Thanks for stopping by.

"The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both."
- Zen Buddhist Text

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