My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, coffee life, spirituality and asking deep questions.
I headed out east yesterday to follow some of the storm clouds as they moved across the eastern plains. They even stirred up a few tornados. Even had a funnel cloud spotted near DIA. All together I drove about a hundred miles, took a few images and picked up a speeding ticket that’s gonna cost me $145. It was almost a perfect day. 
As I mentioned yesterday we woke to a nice rain shower and received about 3/4 of an inch. That’s pretty good for us. Around noon the sun popped out and the skies turned a beautiful shade of blue. With blue like that I had to head out east and find open space. The rain and wind sure cleared the sky so images were everywhere. It was a time to gave thanks for the rain. Now I have to wash the mud off the car.
Another one of my most photographed trees that happens to be on someones property. I stake claim to the tree because I may have more images of it than the property owners do. I’ve worked this tree from different perspectives, in different light and in different weather, and all from the road and bar ditch. I shoot over the barbwire fence and under it. I’ve walked up and down that bar ditch a few times and know it pretty well. But, every once in a while I see everything differently. Which tells me one of the aspects of returning to familiar places is all about finding the unfamiliar.
It’s my belief passionate photographers have a voice inside that suggests ideas for images. These ideas randomly present themselves at the strangest moments: driving the car, taking a shower, dreams in the middle of the night, scrambling eggs, reading a book, etc. Some we remember and some fade off in the darkness of forgotten moments. Some inspirational moments are to motivate us, make us take action. The above image was just such an inspiration.
The inspiration came to me on a Saturday afternoon. The Idea was for a Sunday morning sunrise shoot. I knew about where on County Road 13 I wanted to setup and what time I needed to be there. Other than that I did not have any specific vision. I knew there were trees and fence posts that I could include in the image. I would not know what I’d come home with but I needed an image. It was also about experiencing a morning sunrise not. Probably more importantly, I needed to take action of that voice. As these small trees are on private land I needed to shoot from the bar ditch or road. I walk up and down the dirt road for places to setup. The temperature was a warm 34 degrees compared to the single digits we had the previous week. The cold was invigorating even though my fingers were aching when I finished. It’s not an image I will print but it was just what I needed. I followed the inspiration.