Today, Chuck and I headed to Rocky River Reservation near Big Met Golf Course. It’s not a new spot for us, but we went earlier than usual since it’s supposed to be very hot today and Chuck struggles in the heat. When we got out of the car, the grass was still wet with dew. In open fields and marsh areas, the morning sunlight was bright and warm, but the woods were still cool and quite dark.
I worked with manual settings again. It’s funny how I feel afraid to leave the safety net of automatic settings behind. It’s like swimming for the first time without any buoyancy. I’m afraid a great shot will present itself and I will miss it because I haven’t chosen the right settings. It sounds silly to say that I’m “afraid”, but I don’t know how else to describe it. In fact, when I think about it, learning new things always requires one to overcome some element of fear.
Actually, when you are a total novice, it’s relatively easy to start learning something because you have no real expectations of yourself and you can excuse errors because of your inexperience. Once you have a bit of experience, however, you start to expect a certain level of performance and you’re afraid to try new things or admit ignorance because you develop this feeling that there are things you “should” know or “should” be able to produce.
I did miss a number of great shots today. I had an amazing opportunity to get a close up of an indigo bunting, which is a beautiful very blue bird. The picture I ended up with is so dark it’s not even worth sharing. I also had a chance at a baby muskrat, but I missed it while I was fiddling with my settings.
Still, I did get some great shots of wood ducks and a deer in the river. I like the details you can see in the birds. Zoom in on the wood duck and look at her eye; she has a bright yellow ring around it, which I never noticed before. I also like the way the morning light looks so golden; you can feel it chasing away the nighttime shadows and ushering in the day.
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