Fairies and Diamonds

  I love the Spring. When everything is so fresh and starting to sprout. By this time, even the dirty snow left on the side of the roads and gathered dirty and black on the flower beds, brings joy when you see a little green sprout poking its' little head out through the obstacles in its' path reaching for the sunshine that it knows is there, just out of sight. Faith, has it growing and pushing against the hardened blackened snow as it stretches to feel that glorious sunshine upon its' tiny little leaves. Stretching, stretching until now, now it feels the warmth of the sun.

  I advance into the park, anticipating the wonders of the spring. Waiting to see the earth raising up and coming awake. I don't even mind the little drizzle of rain. I am probably one of the few who enjoy walking in the drizzle, so long as it has a certain amount of warmth in the air and not biting cold. With the spring air and the drizzle of rain, I feel like it is bringing me alive and a re-birth of myself, as if I had been asleep and hibernating all winter. Now it is time for me to shine too.

  Spring is about new beginnings, and if you've ever had doubts about what you are doing or hope to do, Spring always seems to be the starting point for those new beginnings to transpire. That is why I like Spring. It is like 'eternal hope'. Each year you can try again. Each year you can try something new or try again on something that has been your dream that you can't quite get right. 

  My dream is capturing the essence of Spring. With my camera hanging from my neck, my camera backpack diagonally slung across my back, I'm ready to capture it all. I'm looking for that 1 enchanted picture. I'm looking for the euphoria that I will get when I snap that special shot. See that special something that speaks to me.

  My excitement builds as I walk along the path of my own special little park. I love it so much, because hardly anyone even realizes that it is here, so you meet very few people along the path and that is perfect because it leaves the trail untouched, unspoiled by the busyness of people walking and not really appreciating the beauty around them. It leaves areas waiting to be captured, but left alone, like I do with my camera. I capture the moment, but by capturing the moment, I haven’t disturbed natures’ peace. 

  Quietly I walk along, seeing how the light captures within the bare branches of the trees I see and on some, little buds poking out their tiny little heads, checking to see if it’s ok to push on through and become a leaf. I lift my camera and focus in on one of the branches, the drizzle has settled on the branch, just sitting there, it doesn’t drip off like you would expect, but stays there, right where it landed. There is a half dozen of them dotting along the branch. Amazing! They don’t puddle together or even run down the branch to drip off. They just sit there. I shoot picture after picture. Some of my shots are of the cluster of drops, some are zoomed in to make the one drop look gigantic and you can sort of see right through it. I’m delighted.  

  My euphoria is building rapidly as I continue to walk. Never in a million years could I ever explain how taking these photos make me feel. I’ve been asked multiple times about what I am going to do with all the photos I’ve taken, and my answer is always the same. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do with them. My plan is to organize them into photo groups within my computer so that I can find them easier. Groups such as sunsets, sunrises, buds, leaves, flowers, trees, barns, cemeteries etc., but the program that I had before my computer crashed is no longer available and I haven’t taken the time to see if there is another one out there that I like. I also don’t have the money right now to get it, even if I did find such a program. Enough of these thoughts, as they just take away my delight and right now, I'm out here to get that perfect shot.  

  I hear a bird calling out and another answers. I can hear them, but I haven’t seen them. I scan the trees, trying to figure out where they are hiding. Why do they hide when they sing so loudly!? A flash of blue streaks just outside of my right peripheral vision. Turning my head quickly, I try to catch where it is landing. Is it near the other bird that is answering his call? I can’t tell, as I scanned the trees. I want to catch the pair together. Very rarely do you see a male and a female together.  

  Oh, look at that! Last year’s pinecone, shining silvery amongst its brown. A trick of the light, drizzle and coolness causing it to shimmer. Something that will disappear completely as it warms up. I snap my camera again and again, at multiple different angles, trying to capture that perfect angle with the perfect shimmer. I’m ecstatic! I think I’ve got it. Unfortunately, I don’t really know what I’ve got until I download them onto my computer. Sometimes I even surprise myself. Sometimes, I get something that I don’t even realize that I’ve captured.  

  I was so absorbed with the pinecone, that I forgot about the Blue Jays. I glance up and there they are. The pair of them. I get my camera ready and I shoot them. I manage to get 2 or 3 shots before they fly off into the thickness of the trees. I tried to get them as they flew away, not sure if they will be clear or blurry, but I tried anyway.  

  Meandering along the path, I snap pictures of trees, shrubbery and little greens that are sprouting up through the ground. 

  Beyond my photography and writing, I love to walk, and this path is one that gives me the length of walk that I like to accomplish each day. 2km. It might not be a walk that makes my heart beat faster although when I stop to capture photos, I’m sure my heart must go faster with the anticipation.  

  Time marches by as I roam through the woods and take my photos. I’m getting warmer and realize that the sun is shining brightly now, and the drizzle has stopped. Paying attention to the sunshine, I look around with new appreciation of the day. Wondering why it is that the day seems to brighten when it is almost over. Evening will be upon me soon and I haven’t gotten as many photos as I would have like to. 

  I’ve made my way out through a clearing and as I look up and at the brilliant sky, I aim my camera at the blueness and before my very eyes an eagle soars overhead. An Eagle, I am beyond excited to get a glimpse of this majestic bird and take snapshot after snapshot of it swooping and swooshing around the treetops. It soars with the wind currents gliding it along its’ path. This is the type of thing that I hope to get. That unexpected pleasure of nature doing its’ thing and me being present to capture it.

  I keep walking and snapping photos. Shadows are now part of the overall scene as evening falls and the sun doesn’t make it through the woods as much now. I get closer to the edge of the woods, coming out towards the clearing and I see the sun slowly settling down in the West. Giving its’ last bit of sunshine but leaving a lot of shadows and a whole new perspective on the same imagery that I’ve taken pictures of. I turn to my right heading towards the parking lot.  As I near the edge of the parking lot I look at the trees. They’re sparse here, not as condensed as they were. The sun from the West shines through onto the gravel lot.  

  Diamonds are sparkling between the trees creating magic among the forest. With little clouds of dust looking like Fairies dancing around making whistling sounds bringing magic to the air. Now I must capture this fantasy. I aim towards the trees to get the diamonds. As I zoom in, I notice that the diamonds are really cobwebs that have been weaved among the trees and the sun shining down bounces off the web giving the appearance of diamonds. My challenge now is to capture it the way my eyes see it. I don’t want to do anything fancy. I never do anything fancy because I believe in the raw photo to capture what the eye sees.

  I finally emerge from the park and walk back to my car. Excited to see what I have on my camera. Joy overloads my consciousness and blinds my mind with the possibilities of what I have saved.  I can hardly wait to get home and download the pictures. My minds’ eye whirls around with all the shots that I took, and I see them over and over in my mind, wondering if they’ll meet my expectations or surpass them. I pray that they won’t disappoint. 

  My eagerness to get home makes it so that I can barely control my speed to get there.  

  I have tens of thousands of pictures on my computer that only I see, and I have no idea how or who would want to see them with me. I’m not even sure that they are noteworthy photos, but my soul needs to be fed and the best way for me to feed my soul is with photography and writing. I believe in time I will know what to do with the photos. I also believe, in time I will know if I’m a good enough writer, or not. 

 Home with my camera hooked up to my computer, I download all the photos that I took. 796 pictures. A productive day and evening if I do say so myself. I watch the photos fly past the computer screen as they download. Each picture bringing me more and more joy, even if I only see them for a split second. I will take the time to look at them properly once they are completely downloaded. 

  I hold my breath and I click through them one by one. Buds, little leaves, the water drops — all good. I like the photo of the closeup of the water drop. It is all and more than what I expected it to look like. Then I see the eagle. I just about jump out of my chair in my excitement. The wingspan is awesome. I even captured the wing detail. The highlights and lows of its’ feathers shows in detail. I can’t believe that I captured it!  

  I keep scrolling and I come up to the cobwebs with the light shining through. I can almost see the Fairies dancing among the sparkling diamonds. The evening light was perfect. My evening walk was perfect.