Hello Friends,
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted here. In that time I drove to New England and back, began the busiest time of the year at work (one week in and I want it to stop), and spent some lovely moments in nature.
I bought myself the photo editing software Lightroom during the Black Friday sales and I’ve taken my wildlife photography one step forward by taking my photos in what’s called RAW format instead of jpeg. I just wrote and deleted five times what this means, because every explanation is really boring. So, suffice it to say, I’m able to do a lot in editing what the camera used to do for me. I’m enjoying the challenge. And just to be clear, of the photos above, the up-close ones are taken with my Canon camera and the landscapes are taken with my iPhone. I love using both whenever I go out.
With the leaves gone from most of the trees now, I’m able to see lots of hawks! I will post more hawk photos next week, but pretty much every day that I’ve gone out lately I’ve been able to take a picture of a hawk. This is really exciting, but what I *really* want to take pictures of are owls. Oh, I am so eager to get an owl photo. I look at Instagram and see so many owl photos – you would think they’re on every corner (perched in front of the Dunkin’ Donuts). But I have yet to catch a glimpse (except for last December when I saw an eastern screech owl, but that’s just because everyone knew where he lived).
I’ve been sitting here with still fingers trying to decide what else to write. What have I been thinking about lately? It’s been difficult with work being so busy, but I’ve been trying to rise above all that stress and remember what is real and what is important in life. Last Sunday I reached the milestone of ten years since my final cancer treatment. That has been on my mind. Chris, Sam, Chloe. They are always on my mind. My mom, my family, my friends. My relationship with the natural world, and how I experience and share that with my photography. When I think about what I want the rest of my life to contain – wrap up those those things I just mentioned and that’s all I need. The knowledge that life is short, my interactions with my loved ones, and the miracle of nature. Everything else is just noise.
I hope you have a wonderful week. Northern hemisphere peeps, stay warm. Southern hemisphere peeps, don’t gloat about your flip flops and shorts. 🙂
Love,
Michelle xoxo