| Sunday, July 23, 2017 | | Lucky or Led? | Am I lucky or am I led?
Folks often say to me, while viewing my images, you were in the right place at the right time. And I agree! I tell them what I say in virtually every presentation I give:
Being in the right place at the right time has become a lifestyle rooted in gratitude.
I say, I am in the right place at the right time, as intention, and in prayer. I ask to be led. I ask to be sensitive to those little nudgings that say, here, there, now. And then I say, in gratitude, I AM in the right place at the right time! It happened again! So my “please” turns into “thank you” and “thank You.”
You see, I don’t believe I am in this photographic life alone. I do believe I am more than lucky—I believe I am being led. What’s more, I believe the experiences I have, of being in the right place at the right time, of finding unique images meant for me to have and to share, are available to anyone who seeks and asks. I really do believe it is that simple…and that hard. Seeking and asking inevitably involves waiting and wondering. And then, all at once, that waiting and wondering reaps its reward.
Last week I had to run a quick errand after dinner to pick up extra credit card machine tape, so I would have it first thing in the morning. The timing of my need coincided with this brightening glow in the sky to the east. The sun was beginning to sink in the western sky but the clouds had not picked up a lot of color yet. The white glow intensified in the east and I decided I just had to go look. I pulled into a beach access that wasn’t too crowded and heard in my mind this thought: it will wait for you.
Good thing, because I had my longest lens attached in my case, and needed to switch to wide angle, which I did. By the time I walked up and over the crosswalk the glow had faded. The sun was more obscured by the clouds than it had been earlier. But I had those words in my mind and heart, so I waited. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the sun broke through the clouds in the west and I turned back to the ocean to witness the brightest and most glorious anti-crepuscular rays I have ever seen. What a dull name for such a beautiful sight! These are sunrays that stretch all across the sky and appear on the opposite horizon from where the sun actually is. Regular readers know the phenomenon from my sharing here before. But never have I seen them like this. Right place, right time, and willingness to wait provided a spectacular gift.
Speaking of patience, I checked on the Sunset Beach Grille osprey nest in Duck recently. At 7:53 a.m. I could see Mom clearly and movement below her that told me there was at least one baby osprey resting. At 8:06 a.m. it lifted its head. And then the real waiting began. At 9:10 a.m. Papa flew by with a fish, showing the family his catch, before landing on a nearby dock and proceeding to eat his breakfast, all while his mate and babies were calling out to him to hurry and bring breakfast home! Cruel behavior? Not at all! Hungry babies will eat more heartily, and soon that same hunger will propel them skyward on their first flights, ready to learn their survival lessons of how to fish for themselves. A little waiting turns out to be a very good thing. But oh, it can be hard to do! Finally at 9:22 a.m., Dad finished his meal and flew to the nest with the remains for the family. He then proceeded to fly down to the water and repeatedly dip his talons, presumably to wash them, before flying out of sight. By then, after 90 minutes at the nest, I was hungry too, and treated myself to breakfast at the Sunset Grille. I think I enjoyed my omelet as much as the baby osprey enjoyed their fishy breakfast, made all the sweeter for the waiting.
I wait all winter and spring for our sea oats to rebloom and finally they have emerged! Hotter and drier conditions favor bigger crops. When we have a damp late spring, they tend to be sparser and later blooming. I always rejoice to see them. Our dunes look loveliest when they are wearing their full coats of grasses. The same day I photographed the sea oats in early July, we had dramatic deep blue skies over the ocean just before dinner. The bluest blues make the greenest green waters, as you will see below.
As I photographed and watched the light, I had two experiences that confirmed, first, that I was in the right place at the right time, and second, that waiting pays off! Dragonflies were flying ashore, not by the hundreds as I witnessed earlier in the spring, but in enough numbers for me to notice—and finally to photograph. A little later, the light conditions were perfect for one of my favorite visuals, rainbows in the wave spray. Both made a perfect end to a beautiful afternoon.
What are you waiting for? Is it worth the wait?
|
click for larger image | No, not sunrise. SunSET. Sun is setting behind me to the west. So where did these sun rays over the ocean come from? |
| | | | | | 
click for larger image | If you look closely at the right and left sides of this photograph, you will see two dragonflies, just arriving on the Outer Banks from their Atlantic flight. |
| 
click for larger image | Deep blue skies, bright green water -- it almost looks fake! But I assure you, these were fabulous light conditions. So glad I was out there! |
| | 
click for larger image | See the rainbow in the wave spray? Worth the wait for the light to be at just the right angle. |
|
posted by eturek at 3:29 PM |
Comments [8] |
|
|