Lately I have been working a bit each week on my skills as a photographer. Now that isn’t too impressive other than the fact that I have purposely tried to capture unique pictures showing something that delighted me or caught my attention. Or I could have been practicing my stance.
For this picture it was a bit of both. Delight and stance. I loved the color so I stopped…and brought my hand up to support the camera long lens. I am proud of this picture, although I did crop it a bit to focus on the color and flowers.
Delight for me is found in color (flowers or sunlight), balance (symmetry or reflections), and unexpected surprises (dragonflies, butterflies, rainbows). Delight is that burst of joy, the moment that springs quickly upon me.
One day I decided to not spend the time trying to focus on the small body of a dragonfly as I had on another walk. And, the delight was the joy of watching many dragonflies flirt around me…just watching. I even saw one attack another! [I later asked a ranger about the attack and was told that some do attack others as it is mating season, which was evident in the numbers of dragonflies that were paired.]
Sometimes delight comes from seeing something so ethereal and brief, like the swirl of colors I saw on my bedroom wall one morning. I had enough time to take a picture and then it was gone. But so beautiful and not the usual reflection of a rainbow from the crystal hanging in my window.
Sometimes I call those delights, magic. Sometimes, miracles. Whatever they are, they feed my soul and spirit in a way that the usual natural beauty doesn’t. It is something about how wondrous and fleeting those moments are. And how impossible they are to share with another because words and descriptions just do not convey the moment of joy.
Feathers of My Mind 