This summer I planted flowers on my deck.
A continuation of the many lovely, colorful gardens that run in my family.
Mexican sage, lavender, star jasmine and angelonia for the bees,
butterflies and hummingbirds.
Toss in a dahlia, geranium and a few others for their vibrant colors et voilà …
I now have a garden that nurtures my soul, comforts and inspires me.
It seems so small, tiny in fact, when I think back to all the ones I’ve created.
It’s perfect!
Standing by the railing I look out onto the redwood trees,
pondering, yet again, over the settings on my camera.
Still plodding in search of the perfect combination of focus, shutter speed and f stop.
Frustration mounting with thoughts of how all this eludes me,
the ‘I’ll never get it, might as well give up’ mantra.
I hear my mother’s voice
reminding me that it takes hundreds of photographs to get the few we like.
Suddenly you appear.
A few feet from my face, eye to eye.
Body still, wings blurred in movement.
You dart off in your erratic way
hovering next to a lavender flower,
and then another.
Arati, take the photo.
It will never come out!
You’ve been wondering how you would ever capture this little guy.
Now’s your chance
It’s not going to work!
For sure it won’t work if you don’t take it.
You have the camera, TAKE THE PHOTO!
And I did… several…
My lucky day!
Here’s to perseverance, creativity, inspiration,
And listening to the inner voice that believes in us.
Dancing to the Words 
I love how you mixed your inner process with taking the photo. The hummingbird photos are wonderful, and having the shadow in the first one is a exciting bonus!
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Thank you Karuna. And yes, the shadow was a sweet bonus!
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lovely clicks….
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I’m glad you liked them Sudhir. Thank you for following my blog. I enjoyed visiting yours, especially the visit to Punjab and the deliciously, makes my mouth water, breakfast in Amritsar. 🙂
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Thanks a lot…. I enjoy reading your blog….
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I like the shadow of the hummingbird.
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Thank you. I had no idea it was there until I saw it on my computer. I was just focusing on the hummingbird and clicking away, hoping one of these photos would come out!
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I love finds like that.
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I have precisely the same issue with a newly acquired camera (my first digital one) Arati. I bought a mirrorless one capable of all manner of things, but as of yet have not pushed any buttons apart from the one marked ‘Idiot’. 😉
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Are you enjoying this new adventure? Would you be willing to show a few photos some time? I enjoy the idea of seeing your neck of the planet 🙂
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Thankyou Arati. I’ve only taken a couple of hundred stills and a few videos so far, and am still pretty unsure as to whether I’m going to get bitten by the bug, so to speak. I live in the countryside here in Somerset, England; actually within what are called The Levels, which is a huge tract of fenland that naturally attracts lots of birds – it’s called The Levels because it was formerly the seabed 6k years ago. There are many nature reserves and opportunities for wildlife and landscape photography, though my interest is really in finding abstract patterns in nature – really, quite near-range, but not macro, photography. My blog isn’t suitable for displaying my amateurish efforts, I don’t think, but if over the years I develop any sort of eye and skill then I may begin a Flickr page or something. 🙂
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Thank you for offering me a hint of your surrounding area. It peaked my curiosity and I skipped over to Wikipedia for more information. From the descriptions and the photographs it seems beautiful. Sooooo green indicating to me that you get a lot more rain than we do around here! Over the years I have heard about Bath and it’s a place I would like to visit. Wishing you a continued joyous journey in finding close up, but not macro, abstract patterns in the nature that invitingly surrounds you.
I appreciate your mentioning Flickr. I want to check it out more. I like the tons of storage space they offer.
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Thanks Arati. My most regular walk is along The Sweet Track: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Track It’s always extremely quiet other than for nature’s sounds, and I’ll only rarely cross the path of another person there. Here’s the view from the back of my house, and in which you can see a rare (for The Levels) sandstone outcrop known as Glastonbury Tor, the other side of which lies the town:
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Wow, this image takes my breath away. I love the pattern of the trees and clouds and the relationship between them, as if they were engaged in a dialogue. Glastonbury Tor looking out over the landscape reminds me of a lighthouse. I imagine it being visible from a long ways. I enjoy how me eyes move between the different types of grass in the foreground and Glastonbury Tor. There is a peaceful rhythm in this image that is nurturing and comforting to me.
Thank you for sharing. I love how I feel when I look at this place that is your home! I will check out the link for The Sweet Track.
Once the rains return to these parts I will attempt to capture some of our green rolling hills. Still a few months to go probably, and I very much look forward to our winter land/skyscape.
Wishing you a wonderful day/evening Hariod
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How do you insert the photos and videos into the comment section Hariod? I’ve always wondered how you do that.
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For a YouTube video, say, you need to click the ‘share’ button and use that link rather than the full page URL. For a still, you need to open the picture in its own tab so that a URL is revealed ending in ‘jpeg’. For Bing, select ‘view source image’ [icon] to get that link. For Google, click ‘view image’ [tab]. Both those ways will give the image along with a link ending in ‘jpeg’.
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Hmmmm. I will look for those things. Thanks.
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Is something not clear?
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It sounds very clear to me…. I just need to try it. I’ve saved your message so I have it the next time I want to do it!
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Thank you Hariod for this info. I too saved it.
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Interesting narration and those flowers are fantastic.
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Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. I’m glad you like the flowers. I love dahlias.
If you like flowers you might want to check out Cee’s Photography https://ceenphotography.com/2016/09/16/flower-of-the-day-september-17-2016-dahlia/
She posts a flower a day and many of them are stunning. I greatly enjoy seeing them as I start my day (I’m in California)
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pretty.
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I’m glad you liked it. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
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