As I began my search for unnoticed beauty…this goose flew over…call it easy to find beauty.

It was a typical thought; time to get the camera outside. First mistake was to go hunting for subjects-and not take the camera with! You do it too…we both know what we should do…then we don’t do it. Back to the hunt for subjects. It was enjoyable. At this time of year, there are many Canada geese around. So, without getting too far from home, all the places that hold Canada geese got checked. Since all the birds were out of the range of my lens, my happiness level remained strong and steady. There were a lot of geese, but there was not much open water. Soon the geese will leave. Driving up the hill to the east, my happiness meter remained high even when three gorgeous and brilliant rooster pheasants flushed for cover in full view. My thought was, “It would have been nearly impossible to get a photo of those three, they were very cautious and hid as quickly as they could…they have likely been hunted.” Still, there was no urgency to have the camera with me.

How can anything top being able to see three rooster pheasants? My next move was to begin the trip home, it wasn’t far now. On the way there was one other place that needed to be checked for possible subjects. It was Hoot Lake. It wasn’t clear to me whether the lake had completely locked in ice for the winter. There was open water. And there were many large birds. It seemed that most of them were white. The first thought that sprung to mind was a late flock of tundra swans. The next thought was, “well if it is tundra swans, they are very late.” There was one simple way to tell, drive close enough, roll down the pickup window and listen. Tundra swans sound entirely different from the trumpeter. My ears picked up the French horn honk of trumpeters. It was then that problem solving began in my mind. My telephoto lens is only medium in range. Secondly, the closest place to photograph them was on private property. Asking for permission did not seem like fun-it felt like an unwanted obligation.

Guess what? It was possible after that to rationalize that not having my camera was actually a good thing. It wasn’t. Note to self: ALWAYS bring the camera with. Do you know what my last irrational thought was? You want to know. It was: It will be possible to get a photo of the trumpeter swans in the afternoon! Another note to self…Never put off the opportunity for a wildlife photo until later. You know why.

Wildlife moves!

Two hours later, on foot, my objective was Hoot Lake, and trumpeter swans were my planned subjects.

Did you think the light might change in two hours? You are way ahead of me. Halfway to the lake it became apparent to me that the brilliant white feathers which made such an impressive contrast in the morning sunshine would not show as well now that clouds had come. I had been self swindling myself all day…and continued. To justify the low light conditions my skewed thought was, “they are still white.”

There wasn’t one swan on the lake when I got there.

There was a single bird-a wounded goose. It proved to me how delusional my idea for swan photos was in the first place. The solitary goose looked like a song bird, maybe a sparrow, from that distance. But there were a few good moments of contemplation after the photo. Questions like, “how did the goose end up this way? Can it recover? Will an eagle find it first? It looked lonely in the middle of Hoot Lake…one solitary goose. But that is a side story. The question now was, “It is possible to take some photos which might be a blessing to others- (like you.) Well, my never fail “plan b” is when the wildlife is gone, search for beauty.

It takes a while to reprogram one’s thinking. Then it takes a few minutes to slow down enough to begin to see unnoticed beauty. To look for the small things…things that normally would escape the attention and notice of most people. The world is filled with small beauty. It’s beauty unseen by the majority most days. Don’t be upset. We are too busy. We disregard this kind of beauty. We believe it is a unwise use of time. Then, many of us spend most days inside. And, just as many of us cannot slow down enough to search for this kind of beauty. Because this type of beauty is small it is largely overlooked. Most of us expect beauty in a sunset, or sunrise, perhaps a full moon.

We appreciate grand beauty.

We miss joy in our lives because we overlook small beauty.

May this unnoticed beauty touch your heart.

God puts it outside every day.

Because He loves us.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion,

who turns midnight into dawn,

and darkens day into night,

who calls for the waters of the sea,

and pours them out over the face of the land—

the Lord is his name.

Amos 5:8