Chasing the light...

Friday, 5:50 a.m.

I woke with the light, pulled on jeans and Keds, and headed for the shore. On the way out the door, I grabbed my Nikon.

The lake is flat calm, a mirror. There's no blue in the sky yet, just shades of gray with golden light, and pink streaks in the clouds, and building mist blowing across the surface. Ten minutes later, I'd have missed it. Just ten short minutes, and the mysteriousness was gone, replaced by brighter light and growing distinction in the trees, and more than a hint of blue in the sky.

I've been reading a book called "Reading the Landscape," by photographer Peter Watson. Among the stats for each photograph, he also lists the time he waited to get the shot. I've never seen anyone do this before. Reading this book gives me new appreciation for what a photographer has to do to be in the right place at the right time. There is lots to appreciate in this book on landscape photography, and I recommend it highly.

I didn't have to work hard for this shot, and it might not appeal to anyone but me. But it speaks to me of this small lake that's just outside my cabin windows, just one of the many faces it has shared with me over the past twenty two years.