Challenges

Writing a blog consistently is sometimes quite a challenge due to time constraints as well as just plain forgetting to make it a regular part of my schedule. And, one thing that I have learned this year is that my hobbies/interests seldom get the priority that they need for me to ever move beyond beginner status.

Writing this blog regularly or continuing the new blog that I started this month or the short story that I tried to do at the beginning of the year…it just will not happen until I make it a priority. In view of that, I have determined to try to write on my two blogs at least weekly as well as determined to do the writing workshop next week to advance my initial, very meager, beginnings on my short story. Wish me luck with all those plans because so far I haven’t carried through on the blogging plan in the past two weeks!

Part of the reason for not writing this specific blog more often is that, when I began it, I determined that I would use my own pics as inspiration for it. The downside is that, if I am not taking pictures, I have nothing to draw from to highlight the blog.

So, along with my decision to blog regularly was a decision to do field photography weekly.

This picture was taken from a hike at the Audobon Foraging Ponds. That was a day that I was attempting to hike at least a mile as well as do my field work. There were not so many opportunities to take pictures of birds so I attempted other pictures…trees and bugs. The place was overrun with dragonflies, which created a real challenge for this beginning photographer, since I use mostly automatic focusing on my SLR.

Trying to focus on the slim body of a dragonfly sitting on the end of a grass was most definitely a challenge and called for a lot of aborted attempts not to mention the number of times I nearly got the picture only to have the dragonfly dart away!

Then there was the issue of trying to hold the camera still enough to get the detail I wanted.

On top of that, I was aiming for pics of a blue dragonfly out of all of them. Wow! When I choose a subject, I make it as difficult as I can, apparently. I did end up with several pics…after many more attempts and lots of swallowed frustration.

And, I felt the glow of the achievement for the rest of the day. I was delighted when I finally uploaded the pics to my computer, again reliving the glow and delight at the pictures I achieved. I hope everyone can feel that wonder at achieving something difficult.