In a Pinch…Desperate for Relief
Welcome back in! Hope all are well and out adventuring. The title of this weeks posting allot of you may not relate to and, if you’re a regular reader of my blog, some of this will seem repetitive but it all comes full circle to what my point is throughout all my postings. Follow me in and I’ll show you!
So, when the day to day rigors set in and they interfere with the thing(s) that you’re passionate about and want to be doing as much as possible, there is an almost urgent feeling that sets in, at least for me, to go out and get a fix as soon as humanly possible. I have mentioned this place I go to many, many times in my blog posts and it falls right in line with this weeks theme. It had been almost 3 weeks since I went shooting. Before yesterday, I was a bit testy and not in a good space because I hadn’t satiated the part of my brain that is creative and needs to capture subjects that are, at the very least, interesting to me.
The feeling at that point is almost stemming from desperation. The weather has been crappy, overcast, drizzly, and just generally mood crushing.
I then decided to go back to Ridgefield and do a couple laps around the Wildlife Reserve. Now, it can take me 60 to 90 minutes to complete 1 lap, depending on how many subjects I find to capture, and after those two laps I felt so much better for allot of different reasons.
The photos I captured really made me happy. One in particular, a little further down, actually ticked a bucket list box. So my elation was quite satisfied with the 3 1/2 hour block of time that I spent in the reserve. There were several hawks, as pictured to the right, and several types. This is a Redtail Hawk, a species that’s pretty prevalent within the park.
Now this awesome specimen very nearly checks a bucket list box. This is an immature, American Bittern, which is part of the Heron family. If it were a Green Heron, that would’ve checked that aforementioned box. But, this guy is a close second and is the same size as the Green Heron. But my first time seeing one in the wild and a definite encouragement to keep going back! I absolutely love when I have a first time encounter with a subject. If it weren’t for the yellow on its beak, I probably wouldn’t have noticed since it blended into the dead grass where it was hunting for a morning snack.
Now this specimen was the subject of much glee and tremendous satisfaction for taking yet another sojourn to this place. This ticks the bucket list box I have for the Great Horned Owl. Ever since I captured, twice now, the Great Grey Owl, I have been looking forward to the day where I could capture this magnificent raptor. So, a trip that was made more out of desperation because I hadn’t fed my need for photography in awhile, it turned into a very fruitful 3 1/2 hours. It also gave me confirmation that I need to hold, near and dear, this animal sanctuary, to my heart and know that it will provide me photographic opportunities that will continue to bring me joy and satiate that creative part of my brain that needs to capture images of subjects that bring me joy.
That does it for me. The moral of this story, and you can leave photography out of it if you wish, is to have and go to a place that makes you happy. It should bring you joy and fulfillment when you’re there. A place that has the ability to center you and bring about a peace of mind, body and spirit. You can go back and read older posts where I talk about this place and the subjects I find there and, although there may be repeat customers that I’ve captured, there are new ones that I have the privilege of capturing every time I go there…EVERY time! Something new waits for me on the next go round and I’m nothing, if not excited, less than giddy with anticipation for my next trip there! So, until the next time, take care of yourselves, and each other, go out and find your happy places and spend some time there. Let it center you and make you want to go back time and again. Those places are vital to us as humans and we need them to stay whole. See you all next time!
