Tag Archives: photography

waiting for the light

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There’s a gravel road off Highway 89 in Grand Teton National Park that leads to a creek and a beaver dam. The pond the industrious beavers have created conveniently reflects the Grand Tetons in the distance and it makes for a quiet and scenic spot for photographers to capture the beauty of the mountains. The thing is, you can take hundreds of pictures of views like this but when you look at them later they never quite measure up to the real thing. There were times on the trip when I had to force myself to put my camera down and just be in the moment, to take in my surroundings without trying to “capture” something in my viewfinder for future screenings. Looking back on our vacation I know we didn’t do enough of that. We ran from one end of the park to another looking for animals and views to photograph, we hiked up a mountain, our goal was to make it all the way up and we did. At the top of the mountain we took a few pictures, drank the remains of our water, and then headed quickly back down. We wanted to experience as much of the park as we could knowing we may never get back there…plus we needed lots of pictures for the photo album I was planning to put together once I got home!

We are a busy, goal orientated society. It’s the American way to keep your eyes on the prize, to see and take and always be on the lookout for the next challenge, the next conquest. The older we get the faster the years seem to fly by and I can’t help but wonder if that’s because we are always seeking, always counting on tomorrow to bring us the better job, the baby, the love, the good health, the closure, the peace of mind, that dream vacation and whatever other dreams our little heart’s desire. We say it’s the journey that really matters yet we spend much of our lives chasing the results. I like how the photographer in my photo has stepped away from his camera. Perhaps he is waiting for the light to be perfect before he takes the next photograph, but I hope not. I hope he was enjoying the moment, not looking forward or backward, but simply looking out.

wordless wednesday

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On Sunday, Doug and I went to the University of Michigan Botanical Gardens hoping to get some butterfly photos. As you can see from the picture above, the gardens were in full bloom, but we were disappointed to find only bees buzzing around the flowers. We took a few photos, whining a good deal of the time about the lack of the lovely winged insects, and then we set out for home. As we were driving down the freeway there was a sudden loud “plunk” as a large insect hit the windshield. When I turned and looked over at Doug he simply said, “Yes…it was a butterfly.” The irony continued at home when while sitting out on the deck the swallowtail pictured below fluttered and flapped and feasted leisurely on the flowers growing in our own backyard pots. As I looked at the photo of Doug on my computer the next day, surrounded as he was by masses of beautiful flowers, I realized how foolish we were that afternoon not to be grateful for the present moment just as it was, even if it did happen to be butterfly free. So I guess our lesson for the day was – You don’t necessarily need to wander far from home to find your heart’s desire, but if you do,  for heaven’s sake – stop and smell the flowers along the way!

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, it may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

See other (nearly) Wordless Wednesday participants here.

PhotoHunt Saturday: Creamy

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This is the creamy white clematis, Henryi. I moved him last fall from the back of the yard to an arbor that gets more sun up by the deck. So far he seems much happier in his new home, not only does he get more light, but he’s also protected from the harsh winds that can blow through my yard. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about gardening over the years, it’s that you have to be willing to be flexible and change your plans, things don’t always work out quite the way you want them to in a garden.

A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself. ~ May Sarton

See more PhotoHunt Saturday pics here!

thursday challenge: sweet

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At Thursday Challenge a theme is announced each week. You may either take a new photograph related in some way to the theme, or select one that you have taken previously. This week the theme is sweet. I thought about using one of my iStock pics of strawberries, but decided to go back in time and post a photo of my kids when they were little and oh so sweet! This is one of my favorite pics of them. They were playing in the backyard on a hot summer day, naked as can be, filling buckets with water and turning their sandbox into a lake. I suppose I have babies on the brain lately. Meagan is doing well and due in just two weeks. I bought a really cool little stroller to keep here at the house yesterday and the Fed Ex guy brought the Noah’s Ark toy box I ordered (which came in a million pieces so Mr. bookbabie will have to put it together this weekend!). I know Meagan is ready over at her house and the two grandmas-to-be are definitely ready too…now we just need us a baby to spoil:)

Sweet memories remind us of the roads we have traveled and the people we have loved. ~Flavia

teaser tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesday asks you to : Grab your current read, Open to a random page, Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page. I’m reading The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks.  I won the book at a giveaway from the book blog Reading with Ti as well as a pretty shawl like the one on the book cover, thanks again Ti! It’s about a woman whose life is turned upside down when her boyfriend dies in a mysterious accident. She takes off in an attempt to reinvent herself and begin a new life. My book club just finished Paul Auster’s, The Book of Illusions, which is a much darker take on the same theme. A character leaving a life of sorrow behind, isolating themselves from their grief and from other people. We had an interesting discussion in book club about this, about how we deal with what life throws at us and about identity, who we would be if you took away our families, jobs, and friends. My two sentences from this book are from page 282, I feel disorientated, one foot in Aromina, the other in Harmony. And the memories will be back soon enough. I did the photo-mainpluation a while ago and thought it illustrated this idea perfectly!