causes dew to be present which is great on plants and not always
so great on critters.
(3) Go Slow – I move slowly around critters and try not to cast
shadows over them unless the shadow is very slow moving. I take
my time. I am in no hurry because there is nothing in particular I am
looking for.
And now for the pearls of wisdom upon which no price can be put:
(4) Found Photos – I stopped “looking” for photos or critters a long
time ago. Expectations of any kind are never the friend of this
photographer. I am not a stalker. Instead, I wander through nature
until I am struck by the beauty of a shot. That is the one I take and I
pass up the low-hanging fruit, even if it is a rare critter... well,
maybe just a shot or two of the rare ones. In other words, I wait for
something to strike me with its beauty and then I photograph. (5)
Breathe – I breathe in that fresh early morning air. I feel the
invigorating cold and am refreshed. (5) Light – As mentioned
earlier, I delight in that pre- dawn and dawn light. I invite it. I
celebrate it. I am out there all alone and the natural world is waking
up.
(6) Critters – In my own way I wish that all critters might be happy
and not suffer. Most of their lives are very short. As the great
Tibetan Lama Chogyam Trungpa once said “Some of us will die
very soon, the others just a little later.” I reflect that I too am a
“critter.”
(7) Gratefulness – I am grateful for the opportunity to be out in this
very fresh morning and I wish that every photographer (and every
human) could experience this as well.
(8) Mixing – And last, but not least, I mix my photography with my
meditation.
Here are a few of my views on photography:
I started photographing close-up when I was about 16 years old. I
was a naturalist from the age six and a serious one at that. By my
teens I had learned a great deal about nature and my main focus
was herpetology, in particular salamanders. Of course by that time I
knew and loved about every critter that could be found in the
meadows and woods. I still feel that way. Loving all humans has
been a little more difficult.