Over the weekend, I went to the Umpqua National Forest for a shoot, and I had a terrible day. First I went with the notion that it would take only two hours and ten minutes to get there. Wrong. It only took two hours to get to Tiller Ranger Station, but it took another two and half hours to get to the location I was shooting, because the map only had creek names and we got hopelessly lost. 

First we went forty minutes up a windy road in the wrong direction. At one point I got out of the car and went trekking around an empty campsite that looked like something out of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Once I realized that nobody was there, I jumped back in the car and continued in the wrong direction until I admitted defeat and turned back in the direction of the Tiller Ranger Station.

Back at the station, I tried to keep my composure as I watched the sun start to set, knowing that sunset lighting was what I had come for. My model and I studied the map, realized the mistake, and started up the CORRECT road in the direction of our destination. I drove like a maniac up very windy roads, and I think we are both still happy to be breathing. What took me about 50 minutes on the way up took me an hour and half on the way down - a little frightening to think about now. Thanks to my crazy driving we made it in time, and I was able to get the shots I needed. Unfortunately, they were not at the angle I was hoping for, but they will work. My model also decided that he was afraid of heights once he was looking down the face of a 200 ft. cliff, but with a little of persuasion and a lot of swearing from him, he did what I asked. The overcast day did not provide the breathtaking sunset I was hoping for, but at that point I was grateful for what I did get.