I love living on the lake. Many mornings, as soon as I am dressed, I open my front door, sit on my steps and watch whatever may be happening on the lake or on my bird feeders right in front of me. Not a bad way to start the day.
This morning is a bit chilly, but not bad. It is overcast, quiet and peaceful. I have been drinking my coffee on my steps watching a large flock of canvasback ducks (Aythya valisineria) feeding and cavorting just off shore. There are probably 40 to 50 of them drifting back and forth. Each one occasionally ducks his head (no pun intended) beneath the water and quickly disappears as it goes underwater to feed. Sometimes it seems as if there was a signal given and almost all of them go at once leaving a dozen or less still on the surface. Good entertainment for a quiet morning.
The canvasback ducks don't usually come down to the more open waters near me. They are normally in the more secluded shallow water that has lots of little islands and inlets. That shallow water provides a lot of nutrients in the way of buds, snails, tubers, roots and insect larva that makes up most of its diet. It is also more secluded and normally away from human activities. However, it is still duck season and the area where they normally stay is not a safe place. Down here, closer to human activities and in the open is definitely safer for them. That is good for me for I get to shoot them now. Yes, it is a bit of a cliche, but I am shooting them with a Nikon.
The foggy light is nice and there is a large group of cormorants sitting in the twin cypress tree just beyond the canvasbacks.
I am about 100 yards from the water. The ducks are another 50 yards from the shore. From my steps, I cannot get much of a picture with my 300mm lens. (I have a cheap 500mm but there are issues . . .). If I walk down towards the water, the ducks immediately head away from me. Now if I really wanted, I could walk way around back of my RV and go into the woods. There with a bit of stealth, I could probably get close enough to have a chance at some closer pictures. Ah, and there lies the rub that got me to thinking.
I could try that, but I know I am probably not going to do so. Here is the issue or I should say "here are the issues":
- My floor is filthy and MUST be cleaned today
- All my photo gear is stacked up as I am moving things into a new backpack/camera bag and I need to get that done
- I haven't fixed breakfast yet
- I promised myself that I would work on the ETNs website today
- There are two Lightroom courses that I am in the middle of and must finish today
- There are a few piles of things that need to go to storage and I need to do it today
- After setting up my surround sound and new TV stand, I have a mile of wires that must be moved out of sight
- I told myself I would hook up my computer to the surround sound (so I could play music from my digital library of over 800 albums)
- Excuses ad infinitum
Now all of those reasons are legitimate. I had set today, Sunday, as the day to complete these tasks. While I am far from regulated in my habits, I am trying to get most of these things done today. No interruptions for photography? Nah. That just isn't going to work long term.
In the real world, I do drop what I am doing and take pictures. That is the undisciplined side of me and I have no problem with that. I am actually more likely to drop a planned task and grab the cameras when an opportunity presents itself. However, I rarely plan many photo trips - times for photography. They just occur, often in conjunction with other activities. That simply is not enough. Photography often does not have a high priority. I am determined to take my photography more seriously in 2016.
I made large strides in photography in 2015. I probably took at least twice as many pictures and easily doubled the amount of equipment. Hopefully the quality of my efforts has improved. I made progress, but I need my photographic efforts to a little more planned; to have a higher priority.
With that thought in mind, I have set a few goals. One of those concerns this website.
Currently in my photo gallery on this site, I have 104 photos posted. Next year, I plan to raise that number to 290. Here is a little table of my goals showing the number of photos in each category and the goals for next year.
Category NOW 2016
Reptiles 14 30
Insects 23 60
Plant Life 10 50
Scenic 12 40
Birds 20 60
Spiders 5 20
Nature 20 20
Amphibians 0 10
Total 104 290
With that goal comes a small amount of pressure to produce more but it is really more than that. I really want to "work" on my photography. I want to vastly improve the quality of my images. That means dedicating more time to it; spending more time in the field; improving my developing skills; and giving more priority to taking pictures.
Somehow, I must also come up with a good 400mm lens, too. Another goal. Got to have goals. Many good things don't or won't happen without goals.
Michael is a former biologist and Texas Master Naturalist. Originally from Newsome, Texas (Between Pittsburg and Winnsboro), educated in Dallas & Garland schools, then off to the University of Texas system where he received a degree in biology and worked as a biologist with the University of Texas system. After many years away from nature and biology, he relocated to the banks of Lake O' the Pines where he has been rediscovering the joys of nature. He is somewhat surprised that he has become a birder. Most of his interest in nature was centered around reptiles. Perhaps just like birds evolved from reptiles starting in the late Jurassic, he has begun his own evolution. During his formal education, his interests in biology/nature grew to include community ecology and population studies, all with a binding of evolutionary processes. He liked birds, but they were secondary at best. All at once he finds them fascinating.
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