Keeping Your Eyes Open For The Moment

Last weekend I had the opportunity once again, to join my mom, my sisters, and one of my nieces for a quilting retreat in Little Falls, MN. I am not a quilter but I attend because I love spending the time with these women who are my best friends, meeting their quilter friends, and taking time to relax, read, and drink wine.

On Saturday morning, I took a break from all the wine drinking, grabbed my camera and headed out the door for a long walk along with Mississippi River which runs through the estate where we were staying. I love this time to myself with my camera because I am forced to slow down, to be watchful, and to take a closer look at all the beauty around me. Trees and flowers were blooming everywhere and I was enjoying this time to walk, photograph, and to spend some time with my own thoughts.

I was thinking about how there are so many metaphors for life within photography and that I should explore some of those similarities with you in future blogs. But I was most specifically thinking about the fact that when you are taking pictures, you need to be prepared to capture whatever comes your way. This means keeping your eyes open and being aware of everything that is going on around you. This is actually the primary reason that I enjoy photography because in my day-to-day life, I am so busy doing a multitude of tasks, that I often missing more than I’m actually observing. However, with a camera in hand, I suddenly see things I hadn’t noticed – the curve of a flower petal in bloom, the light as it comes in through a window, the lines on my mother’s hand that give evidence of the life she has lived. I don’t want to miss these things because, for me, they are where the beauty of life resides.

Anyway, I was having these "deep" thoughts and was so lost in my reverie that I actually wasn’t doing what I was telling myself I needed to do! I was walking and thinking so deeply that I was taken completely surprise by a bald eagle who suddenly took flight immediately in front of me. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with daydreaming, but had my eyes been fully open and I had been completely in the moment, I probably would have seen him much sooner which would have allowed me the time to raise my camera to my eye and to focus on what was in front of me. However, instead, I panicked as I tried to grab the shot and what you see above is the result.

Although it is out of focus because I tried to move with the eagle, I actually really like this image. To me, it represents the power of the eagle, the speed of his flight, and his almost ghostly presence.

But it also serves as an important reminder to me to keep my eyes open and to stay in the moment, before it becomes just a blurry memory.