Photographer Looking for Help

[rawgimaheather]

Hello! My name is Heather. I'm a recent BFA -Studio Arts graduate from the University of South Carolina.

I have been in the planning and testing phase of a new project that I'm very excited about! I'll try and give you the short and sweet version.

 

The idea is to travel across the US, stopping in various places in each state, and photographing locations that geocaches are found with a 4x5 film camera.

Then after all the images are captured to make a book and an online source to look at each image in relation to a map. (With the possibility for others to add their own.)

 

I want to share the idea of being able to explore a familiar or new place with out having much experience and allowing people to be introduced to this ideal and mindset that it is okay to put down the screen and go outside.

I see far too may people sticking their noses to their screen and wanting to explore the world but feeling like they have no way to do it. Not to mention all the parents that willing give their children iPads to keep them occupied.

 

What I've started of the project can be viewed at heathermariephotographs.com/cache

 

I am proposing this project to the National Geographic's Young Explorers Grant. As part of the grant I am required to have "Local Collaborators".

So I am reaching out to the community for anyone willing to take me to some interesting GeoLocations and let me find them and photograph them!

Even anyone willing to send me the right direction in their state will be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you so much!

Edited December 31, 2014 by Keystone

[+scooby_loves_pooh]

I'm in East Texas and a bit of an amateur photographer myself. I can show you a couple of caches in the area that would probably work. One with a breathtaking view. Another that comes to mind is a virtual at a 1930's replica and a 1780s house that was in the oldest town in the state of Texas. If you are interested let me know and I can give you more details.

[+KatnissRue]

I'm from northeast Kansas and know of a couple beautiful places you can go to. Geocaching related, and not.

[+Touchstone]

Although soliciting for help in the Forums is one approach to achieving your goal, I believe a more productive method would be to either Host an Event/CITO in the areas you're traveling, or attend existing Events/CITO's. A very small percentage of the Geocache Community actually sets foot in the Forums. I'm sure you'd find legions of people willing to help going the Event/CITO route.

 

Good luck!

[+geodarts]

Caches are found in amazing locations. For many of us, the game is about location. This game has taken me from stunning vistas - the Toroweap Overlook 3000 feet above the Grand Canyon to wonders in Yosemite, Yellowstone, Lassen, the Arches, or the Everglades. I have cached on rocky coasts in California and Maine, walked through Valleys and climbed volcanic palisades not too far from where I live, hiked through slot canyons in the Southwest, and traveled to waterfalls and beaches of the Olympic Pennindula and the Northwest.

 

I think everyone here might have had the "I never would have discovered this place but for this game" type of experience. I probably would not have walked through a two mile long tunnel in Washington if it had not been for the old APE cache. I might not have explored some of the ruins, folk art, or petroglyph sites I have found through caching. And even urban caching has brought me to quirky oddities, fading Americana, or locations that were as much about the photo op as they were about a container.

 

It is an endless adventure because caching in its various forms (containers, virtuals, earthcaches) can take you anywhere. When traveling, I look for places I might want to visit and generally there will be a cache nearby. To begin something of the task you propose, I would start by looking through the photography forum here, check the profiles and personal galleries of people that you find; search through blogs or Flickr sites to give you an idea where caching might take you and people who might take you there. There are regional groups and forums as well.

Edited December 31, 2014 by geodarts

[+geodarts]

Perhaps I should have looked at your site before writing my earlier post. From the pictures there, it appears you are more interested in the spots where where caches are hidden than in the area where a cache is placed. There is a big difference.

 

One of my favorite caches I have placed takes you along a redwood-lined creek, to a small dam site that is well over 100 years old - associated with the story of a quirky settler and the legend of his lost treasure. The general location is beautiful - I have taken several photos when water is flowing over the remains of the dam, but the rocky nook where the cache is hidden is simply a rocky nook. Similarly, on a recent trip we found a cache at the end of a slot canyon. The hanger in a bush was not what the location was all about, and the pictures I took focused on the canyon rather than the nondescript bush.

 

To me, the hiding spot rarely shows the reason why someone may or not want to go to the cache. What kind of locations are you looking for?

[+Panther&Pine]

Before offering to help, I also need more information as to your subject matter.

Are you looking for grand vistas? Geologic formations? Flora/Fauna? Human impact/locations?

[+Manville Possum]

Heather, have you looked at the Waymarking side of geocaching? I also have my own geocaching/Waymarking photos posted on my Flickr account.

 

I'm in SW Virginia/ NE Tennessee border. I'd be willing to let you photograph my geocaches.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Manville Possum Hunters

[+Shaved Ewok]

Hello! My name is Heather. I'm a recent BFA -Studio Arts graduate from the University of South Carolina.

I have been in the planning and testing phase of a new project that I'm very excited about! I'll try and give you the short and sweet version.

 

The idea is to travel across the US, stopping in various places in each state, and photographing locations that geocaches are found with a 4x5 film camera.

Then after all the images are captured to make a book and an online source to look at each image in relation to a map. (With the possibility for others to add their own.)

 

I want to share the idea of being able to explore a familiar or new place with out having much experience and allowing people to be introduced to this ideal and mindset that it is okay to put down the screen and go outside.

I see far too may people sticking their noses to their screen and wanting to explore the world but feeling like they have no way to do it. Not to mention all the parents that willing give their children iPads to keep them occupied.

 

What I've started of the project can be viewed at heathermariephotographs.com/cache

 

I am proposing this project to the National Geographic's Young Explorers Grant. As part of the grant I am required to have "Local Collaborators".

So I am reaching out to the community for anyone willing to take me to some interesting GeoLocations and let me find them and photograph them!

Even anyone willing to send me the right direction in their state will be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you so much!

 

I am located on the OH PA border and know of several such caches in each state.

[rawgimaheather]

EVERYONE! Thank you so much for you assistance! I am submitting the pre-application tonight and will update you as I here back!

 

Although soliciting for help in the Forums is one approach to achieving your goal, I believe a more productive method would be to either Host an Event/CITO in the areas you're traveling, or attend existing Events/CITO's. A very small percentage of the Geocache Community actually sets foot in the Forums. I'm sure you'd find legions of people willing to help going the Event/CITO route.

 

Good luck!

 

This is a great idea! Since I am unsure of my actual departure date and most of my location stops will be no more than a day or two I will have to plan these very strategically. I've never actually been involved in a Event/CITO. Do you have any suggestions?

 

Perhaps I should have looked at your site before writing my earlier post. From the pictures there, it appears you are more interested in the spots where where caches are hidden than in the area where a cache is placed. There is a big difference.

 

One of my favorite caches I have placed takes you along a redwood-lined creek, to a small dam site that is well over 100 years old - associated with the story of a quirky settler and the legend of his lost treasure. The general location is beautiful - I have taken several photos when water is flowing over the remains of the dam, but the rocky nook where the cache is hidden is simply a rocky nook. Similarly, on a recent trip we found a cache at the end of a slot canyon. The hanger in a bush was not what the location was all about, and the pictures I took focused on the canyon rather than the nondescript bush.

 

To me, the hiding spot rarely shows the reason why someone may or not want to go to the cache. What kind of locations are you looking for?

 

The type of locations I am in search of is very vague as of right now. I do know I have to put limitations on myself for this project. After talking to various other photographers I think I've come to the conclusion that I want to show the area where the cache is physically hidden. I would love to fine more wonderful landscapes to photograph along the way that could be an extension of the project (especially since most of what I've shot I can easily get back to the location). Part of what I love about geocaching is "I never would have discovered this place but for this game" type of experience that you mentioned. There are so many avenues of this community that I could explore and share along with this! But as I mentioned I need to give myself some limitations so I want to try and focus on the idea that I was brought to this locations that many others have been brought to. The person who placed this cache saw this location important in some form or fashion and I want to capture that. Even if it looks just like a lamppost in a parking lot or a rock on the edge of a magnificent mountain. They are all equally important because of one individual and they are sharing that moment with the world.

But knowing me I could end this trip with enough work for 3 projects! So I plan to have more than enough film and a willingness to photograph the rooky nooks and the waterfalls. =]

 

Before offering to help, I also need more information as to your subject matter.

Are you looking for grand vistas? Geologic formations? Flora/Fauna? Human impact/locations?

 

I hope the above answers your question. =]

 

Heather, have you looked at the Waymarking side of geocaching? I also have my own geocaching/Waymarking photos posted on my Flickr account.

 

I'm in SW Virginia/ NE Tennessee border. I'd be willing to let you photograph my geocaches.

 

I have not looked into Waymarking. I've actually never even heard of it. Part of the reason I am focusing on the caches (for now) is because of the physical containers that are hidden just below our noses (more or less).

 

Thank you for your offer and if all goes to plan I would love to check out some of your caches!

[+Bear and Ragged]

Perhaps I should have looked at your site before writing my earlier post. From the pictures there, it appears you are more interested in the spots where where caches are hidden than in the area where a cache is placed. There is a big difference.

 

These images depict the various locations caches are hidden. A cache is hidden in each image, some obviously visible while others are cleverly hidden in plain sight.

 

Spoiler...

 

Nice idea, not sure about showing the cache, with the co-ordinates -especially if its a multi-cache of Unknown/Puzzle.

[+sophydra]

I agree. Heather: Please try very hard to understand all about Spoilers before you proceed. I still think there should be a way for you to make this project with Nat Geo a viable effort. But hopefully not at the expense of the geocaches and locations you document. Some of the more "convenient" locations out there, are already ransacked, land eroded, or have had collectibles stolen due to mugglers (people who may not have the best intentions/follow the rules for preservation of a cache)or folks giving away co-ordinates. You may need to leave out the last 3 numbers or at least encrypt them in order to have a positive, rather than a negative effect on the "sport".

 

I'm sure you wouldn't want to have a negative impact. Think about it. These finds are meant to be continued in those locations for years, even for decades, and some of them are so tricky, so fun to find without the look or location being given away. If hundreds of non-cachers go there, then there is a good chance of things getting stolen or exposed to walkers by also. I hope you find an easy solution. Maybe you could give away the coordinates to some of the most difficult or easiest caches or perhaps to a few earthcaches, but you wouldn't want to give away a bunch in one location, because then geocachers or potential geocachers who live in that area might never read the article or if they do, they may not have the joy of discovering those co-ordinates on their own.

 

sophydra