Instinct

A selection from an essay I submitted for a photo contest in 2007:

"After driving through luscious orange groves in central Florida, the land gave way to a grand waterway. I parked my rental car off the road to appreciate the view of the Sunshine Skyway and noticed this bird surrounded by shades of ocean blue. The curious heron pecked and bobbed his head while surveying the Tampa Bay landscape. Less than a mile away from our sanctuary off the road, the Skyway was brimming with mid-afternoon chaos. I observed the elements around me calmly working together. The implicit competition between a heron, a living creature, and the bridge, a man-made marvel, makes this photograph special. The ease of the sun striking the bird's face and the small waves gently rolling to the shore makes my memory simple yet remarkable."

The long side story:

I had been on the road for nearly five hours driving from the Orlando area to my father's winter home in Bradenton. I took two lane highways and back roads looking for photos and zigged and zagged my way through central Florida. There were two highlights that day: Ruby C. Williams, an African American Folk artist, had a roadside stand that sat on a plot of land once worked by her slave ancestors. We visited for nearly an hour and when I got home and Googled her, I realized that her art is quite valuable and the rest of her story was remarkable. She told me about Civil Rights battles, how she got started as a folk artist and she showed me the paintings that hung in a Smithsonian display one year prior. She sent me a very nice letter after I sent her photos from our time together. I also sent her a 5 x 7 of the bird above. She loved it.

"The bird" only happened because I was making a a last ditch effort to find "the photo I really wanted." I stopped off at a roadside rest area after crossing the massive Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Of the thousands of pictures I have taken, this is the picture I am most proud of because I followed my instinct to get off the road and I was smart enough not to get in my own way. In the frame of this photo, the bird looks like he is posing for the camera, but the the truth is that I had to wait him out for nearly 30 minutes just to get him to line up with the bridge in the background. When he finally cooperated, all I had to do was remain quiet and snap some pictures. Like so many things in life, it was all about just not messing up what was right in front of me.

Take a chance.