Tom, and others...
I very much enjoyed this post. (And the replies to it).
I read it the day you posted it, but have been unable to reply until now.
Consequently, I have had time to mull it over, and this post has stuck
with me.
I enjoyed your writing style, and I felt like I was right there with you
and shared your disappointment about the "one that got away".
This post was funny, as it took me right to a conversation that
someone...I think John H. on this list, but I could be wrong...posted
last week or maybe even longer ago, about a pesky Blue Heron that he was
really hoping wouldn't come around this spring/summer.
Mentally, I was thinking..."Oh man, I have literally spent 4 years, many
mornings, evenings, or whenever I can (kids, husband, family, life, all
precluding me from spending the time I would like) just **trying** to
photograph the elusive Great Blue Herons we have around here!"
One day I had a client waiting for me at a state park to have her senior
pictures taken.
I chose the park where I had been tracking the GBH.
Don't you know...I had seen nothing for weeks...and that day, not only
was there a GBH in the water, there were several...AND there were many
white birds, I think white egrets (?) which I have never seen here
before...we've lived here almost 18 years.
Without purposely exaggerating, I think there may have been about 20 of
the large white birds, and at least 3 GBHs. I stopped...looked down at
my camera bag...looked at my camera with the 14-54 and the FL50 on the
camera on a bracket already...
Thought about the fact that I would need to change to my 50-200 and
maybe also put the TC14 on. Was just about to do that, looked away from
the pond towards the road, and saw my client, her parents, and her
brother all converging upon me on foot, and I knew that "fun" picture
taking for me at that precise moment was out of the question.
When the senior portrait session was completed...about one hour, I went
back to the little pond...and every single bird was gone.
I went back for the next 3 days at the same time, but never saw the
birds again.
So, two posts with completely different intent on this list became stuck
in my head. One post lamenting the "ones that get away", which I can
certainly commiserate with, and the other complaining about pesky
wildlife that I have been trying to get a decent photo of for about 4
years, and represents my "one that got away".
And again, two days ago, on the 18th, I had occasion yet again to wish I
could photograph something, but I did not have my camera with me, and my
children were waiting at school, and I was delayed by about 45 minutes
to get them because there was a 40 acre fire at the end of my street
(about 1/3 of a mile from my back yard), and no one could go anywhere,
except the eternal detour that the city workers lead us through. But, I
am sure you can image how badly I wanted to be able to photograph the
fire and mostly the Firefighters.
Here is a link to some pictures the newspaper took, I have no idea the
gear used to take the photos, but thought you might like to see the
local excitement at the "one that got away" from me.
> http://www.gjsentinel.com/ap/mediahub/media/slideshow/index.jsp?tId=149850
Candace
Tom Fenwick wrote:
> I saw a picture today go sliding past the car as I was driving. A bus stop
> a bit like the one with the apple I posted the other day. Two people
> waiting, one at each end, facing each other. On the left a woman in black
> with full headgear - I'm not sure of the correct terminology, but anyway,
> only eyes. She was facing the guy at the other end, who was facing her.
> Older, white, seated. With dark glasses and a guide dog.
> I nearly pulled up round the corner and went back (which is what I did for
> the older lady and frankenstein poster you got the other week), but I was in
> kind of a hurry. I was still thinking about it three hours later when I
> drove back and looked wistfully at the empty bus stop. Only then did I see
> the advert which would have been between them. Not sure what it was, some
> dental thing probably; a huge grinning kid's face with the slogan "Go on,
> give us a smile."
>
> Why am I telling you all this? I dunno. Maybe it's the ones that get away
> that make you try harder. I want to make these pictures. Sometimes I even
> make one I think might mean something that people should see. Why do I only
> go out looking for them so rarely when I'm not traveling? Why is the camera
> so often in the bag, or even the trunk, not in my hand or on the seat?
> There's nothing else I want to do more, or that I find more rewarding. I
> know a lot of people don't know why I bother, but that's no big deal for me
> :-)
>
> So I guess maybe I'm just venting... One or two of us do that here every
> once in a while. Or maybe I'm saying right, that's it - I'm going to start
> WORKING.
>
> I guess we'll see.
>
> Thanks for reading, if you did.
>
> Tom
--
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