It was very hot all day today and I was not looking forward to photographing much less anything else. The humidity wrapped you in a sticky quilt, and threatened to suffocate you in its sweaty embrace. Not really a good day for softball game, but my oldest had one out of town, so on the road me and family went. As it turned out, it was a good drive because I had not been so far on this road in quite some time. It felt good to see the old, familiar landscape again and it brought me back to to where I was in my life the last time it had rolled by my window. There wasn't much that was new to behold, but in a way it really was new. Now I was viewing all of this as a photographer. A photographer who desperately wanted to gather it all into my frame for a long and thoughtful study. The gentle, rolling fields of corn with rows that fell like dominoes as we sped by. A small backwater being stalked by a silent, White Egret under a mostly cloudless, summer sky. A landscape dotted with stoic trees that seemed to be keeping watch over the Earth as it dipped, climbed, and sprinted in all directions. It all seemed alive and waiting to be photographed. Wanting to be photographed. Maybe there would be a good find out there, and I should look forward to photographing after all. I was just going to have to wait till the game was over to find out.
The game went by rather quickly which was a good thing considering the unforgiving sun in the nearly cloudless sky. We had sat there on the hard aluminum seats cooking like hot dogs on a rotisserie while these girls tromped around in the dust playing softball. After all the handshakes and pats on the back were exchanged, we gathered up our things and headed back toward home. The drive back home was equally amazing, but this time I sat in the passenger seat to take it all in. Just a few miles down the road there was a huge, old tree on the right side of the road that looked like it would be a good silhouette. As we drew near, I asked my wife to slow down so I could get a better feel for it. I wasn't sure if it was the right subject till we had gotten about twenty feet past it. This tree was now lit from the the front and just looked amazing. My wife must have been able to tell what I was thinking because she asked me if I wanted to stop. "Yes", I said! Grabbing my gear bag from the floor board; I headed out the door into the heat. It still had a sting to it, but it didn't matter now as I was on a mission. This tree was no longer living, but still stood proudly along the road. If for nothing else than for birds to find respite among its leafless branches. It was an old tree; and I found myself wondering what had taken its life, why it hadn't been taken down, and what had it seen in it's life, "Perhaps life and death from its vantage point", I thought. "How many Brides and Grooms driving happily by, and how many racing ambulances carrying injured souls about to depart from this world", I wandered silently. "Maybe it was there before the road", I mused. Silently, I just stood there in awe of it hoping to do justice to it with my lens and knowing that I would never know the answers to those questions. After climbing back in to the car and driving away; I looked back at it until it grew small and finally disappeared from view. I was sad but thankful for what I had seen and captured that day. "What a good find on such a hot and steamy day", I thought to myself as I reached over to turn up the air conditioning.
Happy Shooting.
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