Yesterday, K and I went show shoeing at Hidden Lake Gardens. On every trip I carry my camera and binoculars. I try to capture bird close-ups whenever possible to use in my art. When it comes to Cedar Waxwings I learned that it’s best to let them come to you and not go out to actively search for them. Flocks come and go. When they show up they show up in large numbers. As my luck happens to be…they usually show up in very large numbers when I dont have my camera with me. But yesterday I was ready. And, still I only ended up with one usable photo. Is it frustrating…perhaps. I recently read a blog by a fellow artist about frustration and wondered how I deal with it personally. In art, photography, or flyfishing I can control the many fine details of the craft to the best of my ability. But sometimes there are things I have no control over. Sometimes things happen the way I want them to, but most often they do not. Is the search for perfection a fruitless task? Is the end result what means the most? Or is the means in which we get there more important? I’ll probably ask these questions the rest of my life. But, whether I can capture a Cedar Waxwing, or catch a Smoky Mountain Brook Trout is not up to me completely. God has given me the tools and I can chose to use them to the best of my ability or not. But God controls whether a Cedar Waxwing lands in a tree facing into the sun or away from the sun for a photo. Had I not gone back to look for K’s lost pedometer I may have never seen the flock. My point is that there are too many variables in life to say that we are in control. I try to deal with frustration by simply accepting what God gives me and thanking him for allowing me to do the things that bring me joy.
The Heron 