Obscure Wildlife

Exciting announcement: Two of my photos were accepted into the juried exhibit "Obscure" at the Center for Visual Artists! The opening is Friday from 6:00 - 9:00 which means that in a single week I will have had to come up with two fabulous outfits. I may need a vacation after all of this. Also, my talk at the Multicultural Resource Center went really well (no stones thrown…) - about 40 people were there, including my parents, so that was a great feeling. I really want to turn the photos and stories from Mexico into a book, so I will be doing some more investigating regarding how the heck things like that happen.

Egret grooming in Catemaco, Veracruz

In the meantime, I read an interesting blog posting from photographer Moose Peterson regarding the declining number of nature photographers. I was surprised by this because I always assumed that was what everybody was doing and so I shouldn't do it, but rather look for something else. After reading his post, my interest is piqued and so I will also be doing some sniffing about for info in that arena as well. I did spend an hour crouched down outside today waiting for the birds to forget I was there so that I could take some pictures. We had bluejays and juncos in the yard, but they apparently have a longer memory than I have strength in my hands and since I didn't have a tripod and, in my excitement, had forgotten to put on shoes before I went out, I gave in before they did. I'm going to regroup and try again tomorrow with less impetuousness and more long underwear.

I really did enjoy stalking wildlife in Mexico and would have spent a lot more time doing it if I hadn't been around children who broke the silence every 2 1/2 seconds. I don't blame them, it's hard to remember to be quiet when you have so much going on in your imagination. My fantasy is to get a 300mm lens for the next trip and a babysitter. I love traveling with the kids because I think it is so good for their brains, but it would be good to focus some time on being able to be in the quiet watching and waiting because that keeps me sane (well, that's always relative of course…)

Heron giving chase in San Blas, Nayarit