Geese Wandering Though Our Back Yard Don’t Mind the Snow (you can see some snow beside the tree trunk)

Spring is still arriving in Minnesota. It has just taken a short break to catch its breath. With temperatures hovering in the 30’s yesterday and intermittent snow and sleet showers (that fortunately did not accumulate) the contrast between the bright green grass and the white snowflakes made for an interesting afternoon.

Spring Takes a Break

The sun came out for short periods of time but in between sun bursts there were bursts of snow and sleet coming down.

While I avoided going outdoors in the cold windy off and on wet day, the geese and ducks in the neighborhood didn’t seem bothered by the weather. It’s so much fun to look out the windows and see Canadian Geese, wood ducks, and mallard ducks in our yard or swimming in the pond.

Yesterday afternoon I saw a pileated woodpecker fly past the house. A few days ago there was one pecking at the tree stump you can see in the photo above. There must have been some good insects in the slowly rotting wood as it spent several minutes working all around the top of tree stump.

I didn’t even try to run to find my camera when I saw the beautiful woodpecker. I just stood quietly at the window and enjoyed watching it for the short time it was there. (I have learned from past attempts of running to get my camera that I missed out on the enjoyment of seeing the creatures I loved because I was too busy trying to “capture” the experience with my camera. They are almost always gone by the time I have the camera in hand.) It was a wonderful “beauty break,” slowing down to take in the beauty that is around us so much of the time.

One of the paradoxes of being a photographer that I constantly grapple with the need to balance fully appreciating and experiencing the beauty that inspires me with my love of creating photographs of the beauty I see. I vividly remember a trip to Yellowstone we took when our kids were still young. I was so stunned by people who would rush to the overlooks, video camera in front of their face. It seemed that they often stayed only long enough to make a video of the scene I was so enjoying and that they rarely stopped to gaze at it without having the camera glued to their face. To me this seemed to be the worst kind of greedy acquisition with no appreciation.

Focus on experiencing, appreciating, and creating beauty

In all of my photography work I put my primary focus on experiencing, appreciating and creating beauty rather than taking and capturing. It may seem like only a semantic difference, but it is an important difference.  Intention is everything and when actions stem from appreciation and gratitude I think it makes a huge difference to ourselves and the world.

Celebrate Earth Day

On this beautiful sunny Earth Day I hope that you take a few minutes to look around you and enjoy the beauty of this earth.

I am thankful for this cool spell which will hopefully prolong these early spring days so that I can spend more time out photographing the early wildflowers. The past few days I’ve been a little under the weather and needed to rest instead of heading out to the woods with my camera, so I’m glad that spring has taken a  little break.

For several days I’ve been enjoying photographing a beautiful bouquet of California poppies and yesterday I did a portrait shoot, so I have still been busy with my camera, just not out and about with it.

I hope that you are enjoying the bright green haze of the new leaves emerging, magnolia trees in full bloom, graceful weeping willows bright yellow-green branches, and the vivid green of the grass. Even though it is cold outside we can be patient knowing that the seasons always turn, just not always to the schedule we prefer.

May you walk in beauty.

Gracie, my cat, has been supervising my indoor flower photography

Peaceful lake sky reflections

Zen Lake

Bare Trees at Sunset

Blue jay feather