The morning did not look promising and I had promises to keep (and miles to go before my sleep). Wife to hospital to have her broken arm fixed, clients coming at 10, 2 & 4, daughter to pick up from school at 5, son’s special college sports signing event at Soccer Park at 6, and somewhere in the midst of all that I needed to rescue the afore mentioned wife from the clutches of the medical profession and get some photos in Forest Park.
Then the sun came out and somehow the day looked better. Clients were taken care of, hard drives backed up, college students given tour of studio, Lightroom lesson taught, photo equipment received for evaluation, our summer youth program planned, a daughter delivered to her destination, wife rescued from the hospital, son feted at special soccer event, and somehow, yes, somehow, whether by some herculean effort on my part or the good favor of Heaven, or even a combination of the two, there was an hour of great photography opportunity in Forest Park.
For one thing, by late afternoon we could see blue above. I like blue. For another thing, for the first time in several days we could see the sun. Yes, there were some clouds, but they were well behaved clouds, cooperative clouds, clouds that enhanced the glory of the setting sun rather than diminishing it. Clouds that obligingly turned wonderful shades of pink, purple and orange against the azure above.
Add to that the weathered cat tails standing tall among the reeds in the marshes of the park, the stately cypress trees silhouetted by the bright western sky, scrub trees glowing as if with fire from the setting sun, and the quiet background sound of the flowing waters from Deer Lake and the marshes nearby.
It wasn’t all poetry and passion, however, some of it was me lying on my belly to get the photos of the little things, or to get a low angle photo of the rapids, and then making various grunting noises as I hauled myself back to my feet. Other sounds were the sucking of the mud around my boots as I slogged across the rain, snow and ice saturated paths of the park, the twitter of the birds as they hid themselves from me, and a helicopter seemingly interested in my doings.
Still, I love this place!
Cypress trees against the late afternoon sky.