My Dream is to Follow the Birds with my camera and pen

Watch me fly, watch me learn and watch me travel...

Following a Dream

Some day, some time, during my childhood, I looked into the sky and saw a bird flying free and wished to be soaring beside it. I dreamed about escaping a childhood filled with hate and abuse into a world of peace. The freedom of birds soaring with the clouds, the tips of their wings glinting in the strands of sunlight and the vastness of their world captured my childish imagination and has only grown over the many years. Today I shoot any bird that happens across my path with a Nikon camera and a lens that doesn't get quite close enough. My dream is to load my dog and cameras into a small travel trailer and follow the birds as they migrate South and North.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Frustrated Photographer Syndrome

Sandy, you are are shooting in the wrong direction...

The girls are much cuter...


      
Oh look, there is still a bird left on Fernan Lake!



And a mad one in Harrison!



Just some random guy standing on a remote country road with his horse...



And double trouble on Fernan



Deby, it is snowing, don't you think it is time to go home?


Friday afternoon, while sitting in class, my friend Sandy called and said that she had the rest of the day off and was heading towards Fernan Lake to shoot the Osprey.  For a change it was me, stuck behind a desk, when there was blue sky and bulging bright white cumulus clouds adding depth to the landscape, while my friend went out shooting.  Suddenly I knew how she felt.

Still, when class was over I realized that it was "frustrated photographer syndrome" that I was suffering from and that it could be a deadly disease.  I hadn't shot anything, in what seemed like weeks - not anything worth my while - and this feeling of desperation threatened to choke me.  I'd been out on Fernan that morning, before class, but nothing was going on.  So, as I drove down I-90, my D700 rested on the steering wheel while I punched the shutter button.  That was interesting.

And, back out at Fernan, after being tied up in construction traffic for more than 30 minutes, there were no birds, or ones that were cooperating.  I went home and decided that it was best to concentrate on school work anyway.  That is until Sandy emailed and asked if I wanted to go shooting on Saturday morning.  YES!  Getting out into nature and practicing my photography, feeds my soul.  It is like drinking water and breathing air.  I had to go and like Sandy says, "It's my thing."

We headed East, down to Rose Lake in Idaho and took the road to Harrison, stopping to shoot elk and birds along the way.  The days was psycho, going from sunshine, to clouds, to rain and finally to mushy snow.  It was cold and warm but we rarely seemed to notice, particularly when the horses began running in the pasture.  Both of us are hungry for some frolicking equine photography.  The man with the horses was polite and allowed us to shoot him and his horse.  

By Harrison, it was raining, which meant it was time for lunch.
"The rain will be gone by the time we are through," I told her.
And it was.

Onto Osprey and Eagles, fast flowing streams and back to the Heron on Fernan.  My hunger fed for the time being.  One thing is certain though, with my new busy schedule, "frustrated photographer's syndrome," will raise its head, probably lasting until it is no longer possible for to raise the camera and push the shutter.


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