so, this past saturday morning, my son and i rose out of our beds at 0345 am and waited for wendy to pick us up. we were heading to Middle Creek in hopes to photograph 65,000 snow geese and 2,400 white swans. this area is a stopping point for these birds before they migrate back north. and for a short while, they stay on this lake at night and feed in the fields during the day.
we were truly expecting a total 'God' moment.
well, we could barely see through the thick fog as we carried our gear down the trail to the lake. it was such a creepy feeling, only seeing in front of us with a flashlight but hearing the rumbling chorus of the geese as they were waking on the water.
although the weather wasn't the best of conditions, we felt we got a few good shots. but more important than photographs was experiencing the flight of the thousands of birds off the water. it literally sounded like planes taking off right next to us.
amazingly beautiful. i mean, how could anyone witness that and not believe in our Creator? that's what was going through my mind.
on the last leg of our shoot..
my camera started reading 'no files'. long story short, my SD card corrupted and i lost almost 800 pictures.
needless to say i was upset. okay, honestly, i was sulking. grieving for photographs i never got the chance to see and memories i had lost.
*****
fast forward to today. my totally awesome photo bud text me this morning and confirmed we could head back to Middle Creek this afternoon. so we didn't even let snow flurries stop us and off we went.
even though i lost all those photos, we were blessed with clear sunny skies today and the chance to capture this beauty through our lenses one more time.
i haven't even looked over all my shots, but wanted to get this post up for you to see what we saw, feel what we felt.
so look, then close your eyes and hear their chorus, the sound of thousands of wings. as dusk fell upon us and the temperature dropped, the snow geese had yet to return to the lake. they were still feeding in the fields. so we ended our journey.
hopefully my best bud wendy will do a post on the funniest moment of our shoot today..so please stay tuned.
shay
Shay, I am so in love with all of these shots. I love how you capture the small details of the events...the broken wing of the snow goose, the snow goose sitting patiently in the warm sun. Our adventure was one I will not soon forget. So blessed God crossed our paths! Thanks for the memories and here's to the next one!
ReplyDeleteI've been waiting to see some photos of your excursion. But honestly, I can't even IMAGINE how I'd react knowing my photo card was corrupted...ARGH!!!!! So glad you went back and got some shots. What an experience. Altho I have to tell ya, I guess I didn't truly understand the magnitude of number of birds that would be encountered. I'm kinda scared of birds...lol. Might have been a good thing I didn't tag along! :)
ReplyDeleteKathy, wait till you hear about the funniest part...stay tuned for my post later! You will die laughing!
DeleteI am thankful your words elevated the beauty of your photos. Luv the 3rd photo. You know, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting--a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing." HuGS!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! What an experience for you.
ReplyDelete