Morning Walks

A month flew on top of the flower and covered it completely, flapping its wings the entire time.

Many of you are no doubt tired of hearing about ‘Morning Walks.’ It gets old, doesn’t it? Unless of course you, in this case, me, happen to be the taker of said steps. Yes, every morning, or almost every morning, I talk the same walk, down the same road, with the same dog, and mostly at the same time of day, but not always.

Like everyday we live, it may feel the same or you may think; “It’s another day, just like yesterday.” , when it is not. Everyday we live is a different time, a different place in the universe, a new spin of our rock around the sun. In that space of time we are conscious, something different happens to us. It is our responsibility to affect that time.

For example, this morning’s walk was Sunday wonderful, quiet, cool, humid and wet. I wasn’t even thinking about shooting anything. I saw the flowers from a small group of what I think are wild watermelons. Crossing the road I peeked into one of the open flowers. A bee was inside clinging to the pistil, the part that displays or holds the pollen, I took one shot and realized the shutter speed was too slow. In the moment of adjusting for the speed, a month flew on top of the flower and covered it completely, flapping its wings the entire time. I shot a burst of four or six shots before it flew away. After the moth flew on, I took several more shots of the bee still inside the flower.

After the moth flew on, I took several more shots of the bee still inside the flower.

What propelled me across the road to examine that particular flower? There were others I could have looked into, but didn’t. Every morning walk, when I expect nothing, I receive a gift of some kind. This was one of those. I hardly ever leave the house and take these walks thinking: “Today, I’ll expect nothing, and maybe something will come my way.”

I practice an Andy technique that has served me well in shooting as a Photojournalist; and that is: Just be open. I leave the house generally thinking about the weather, the time, the light, or some interaction I’ve recently had with another human. If I think about the walk, I’m searching for something instead of letting it come to me.

By being open, it seems the universe or those spirits who share some of their time with me, influence what occurs. For some of you, that sounds absurd. For those of you who have had this happen, there is an embrace of understanding.

Too much of our lives is taken up with attempting to make something happen. That only builds a force of resistance, and non-compliance of the energy around us. Oh, I know that, all to well. It is the letting go of expectation that ushers in what we seek; though sometimes it isn’t the exact item, thought, outcome we had in mind. It is, however, what we needed at the time. Sometimes, it is just a small thing, like this morning. For this occasion, the gift was  several wonderful shots, the unspoken lesson was: continue to be open.