WHERE IS THAT GREAT PICTURE YOU PROMISED US? - by guest Stephen M. Kohler

Today, I would like to turn my post over to a friend and fellow researcher who had some good words and advice. I couldn't say it better than he did. So enjoy some words of wisdom from Stephen.

I wasn't always a soldier. Before I made a later in life choice to enter the military I was a certified teacher, artist, photographer, journalist, and the editor of two local periodicals. I was a guide for waterfowlers and my Miranda Sensorex 35mm Film SLR Camera always slung around my neck. I wasn't the average avid outdoorsman, I was the real McCoy! In the ten years slogging salt water marshes and patrolling around deep forested ponds I took thousands of photographs. Canned shots took time to set up, but always looked canned. The number of great catches didn't exceed five or six photographs. Why, so few great shots... ...here's why -

 1 It's Been Done Before.

 2 Photo Opportunities Are Rare.

 3 No Control Over The Subject.

 4 Wildlife Is Unpredictable And Dangerous.

 5 Long Times Away, Alone.

 6 Preparedness.

 7 Difficult To Make A Living

   (The real thing you do  for a living gets in the way)

 8 Equipment Cost.

 9 Travel Cost.

10. The Risk To Life And Limb.

Now apply this to the great shot of the Grizzly Bear playing with her young, or the Bobcat pouncing on a Tom Turkey, or Bigfoot relaxing by a brook.

So for those of you wondering why great photos are so few and far between, there's another perspective on it, from one who's been there.  Makes me even sadder when we frenzy over a photo, tearing at it like wild dogs. But then, that was a different post. LOL

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

WRITE A BLOG, THEY SAID. IT'S EASY, THEY SAID.

Well, it's not.


Easy, that is. Fun, yes. Inspiration to research, yes. But easy, nope. No. Not a chance.




photo by Nancy Marietta

At least, it can feel that way as one sits basking in the (finally) sunshine staring at the computer screen, leafing through notes, checking the files, grabbing one idea, then another, discarding them all, and resorting to changing one's stare from the screen to the window. Looking at the trees and grass, and blue sky, and mentally in those trees, walking and ................

Well, it is a sort of disease, I guess. Wanting to be outside and perhaps experiencing something wonderful, life changing, exciting yet scary...............

Yeah, we've probably all been there.

But back to writing a blog.

I don't know about others, but I feel a responsibility to go with it. To write something worth reading, something that gives another some knowledge, or confirmation, something that makes someone, somewhere, sit back and say "Wow", or at least, "Never thought of it that way."

And I continue to learn I have to have a thick skin, to let certain comments, taunts, insults, misunderstandings, negativity roll off me. Not to let it stick. Because those are the ones I am NOT writing a blog for. But on the other hand, even those negative types are reading the posts.  I suppose, in a way, it fulfills a need in them. Gives them something to disagree with or dislike for the day.

So, thanks for caring enough to read my thoughts. I'll hit the publish button and share this a couple places and then go back to my research. Hopefully, I'll find something that might interest more people.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

5 FUN THINGS TO DO WITH SASQUATCH AS A NEW NEIGHBOR

Here are my top 5 fun things to do with sasquatch if he should become my new neighbor.

1) Let your kid take him along to boy scouts to show them the proper way to make those teepee structures.

2) Make sure you let him know about any Highland Games in the area so he can enter the Caber Toss. (sure win bet. LOL)

3. Ask him to be Cheerleading coach. WHOO-OOOOP !  WHOOO-OOOOP! Grrrr!   Grrrr! GRRRRR !

4) Help him get a job at the local day care center. Will keep them busy all day trying to find him when playing hide and seek.

5) Sign him up for your photography class at the local Y.

 

 

Thanks for having a chuckle with me today.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."