Calm

More reflections.

I’m really not a nature photographer. For many years I took no notice of it. Along came really good smart phones with cameras that could produce fairly high quality images. Phones are ubiquitous. We carry them everywhere. Like on dog walks. I started seeing things that interested me, so I started making pictures. That made my dogs happy. They could poke around while I composed around.

That was a huge change for me.

Remember, I started life as a photojournalist. I made pictures of events, or people, or hard news. I didn’t have time to look closely at the world of nature. For sure I started to understand the qualities of light.

It wasn’t until I used color slide film almost exclusively that I really put a lot of what I knew into practice. Even then, 95% of my work still involved travel, location, people, places and things. But, not nature.

I think I confuse folks who find Storyteller because my work looks like that of a nature photographer, not a faux nature photographer. I know true nature photographers. They work very hard climbing to the top of a mountain, wading through swamps, walking across deserts. All in the name of photographs.

They typically follow one of the guiding principles of anybody who works on location. “Sometimes the hardest part of making a picture is getting there.” I think the late Professor Will Counts said that.

Me? I’m walking around the block. The hardest part of making these faux nature pictures is crossing the street and making sure the all seeing dog does walk into mild traffic.

That’s okay. It served me very well when I was in too much pain to do much more. My pain taught me to see. To really see. Little things, Subtle changes in nature as the seasons changed, not that they change much in Southeastern Louisiana.

Now, most of the pain is gone. You’ve read that story. While it’s true that I still have osteoarthritis issues, they don’t bother me much. Mild pain meds helps to control that. The pain that was limiting turned out to be bursitis in my hip. It took two years and three doctors to figure that out. Don’t ask me about my feelings. They vary from relieved to aggravated.

If I think about it very much, my former pain helped me to see all the things that I wouldn’t have seen. I’m grateful about that.

The Picture

I made it on an early morning dog walk. I’ve been getting up way too early. I try not to wake the house. But, she hears. She knows. She’s ready for a walk. It’s not a problem because we beat the heat of the day. Kind of. It’s always hot this time of year. Let’s just say it’s a little cooler.

That’s also when the nights rain might still be drying. If it’s a really humid day, the moisture is pooling.

That’s really how I made this photograph. See it, push the button. Make every sure that image is tack sharp because it needs to be in order to work.

Stay safe. Stay mighty. Enjoy every morning.