The World Before

We did a lot of walking this weekend.  That's usually part of the agenda any time I visit my family in Oklahoma.  Lots of activity, spending time out doors, telling stories, laughing.  What's not part of the agenda: computers.  It always surprises me how much I enjoy time disconnected from the rest of the world.  Life goes on without me needing to know everyone else's every step.  The world can continue turning without Facebook and Twitter and Reddit.  And then I return home and feel a little anxiety as soon as I pass this laptop sitting on the desk.  But while in Oklahoma hiking the trails around the lake I grew up on, there's a return to the life that existed before all the technological connection.  And it was nice.

I brought along my camera.  It was a gift from my father-in-law.  I know nothing about it.  I should really read the manual.  It received compliments from fellow photographers at the zoo who appreciated its features and advancements better than I.  Anyway here are my first attempts at photography.

 I hadn't yet figured out the focus.  There were quite a few like this.

 My sister took this one.  She's better at this than I am.

 Hey, I figured out the focus!  Turn it to auto and let the camera do its job.

 The next hurdle in photography is seeing the photo.  Seeing the image beyond what is just in front of you.

 This guy was blurry but I loved the colors.

 Elephants.  They make me want to cry every time I see them.  I made everyone wait until these two came back out.

 My nephew, Behr.  Such a stud.

 These two looked kind of stately.

 Caught him mid shake.

 I took way too many photos of the bears.  But they were hamming it up for the crowd.

 While I was taking this photo, a little boy came running up with his mom, asking her, "Mom, is that a werewolf?"  I laughed.

 I loved the strong colors in this.

 Not an attraction of the zoo.  I just liked this image.

 I loved the colors in this picture.

 I turned around as we were all crossing the bridge and lifted the camera up, she stopped mid-step and posed.  A total professional.

 My sister actually found this tree and said, "That would be really cool in black and white."  So this is for her.

 Barnabas.  Much like my niece and nephew, is very photogenic.

Barnabas and his brother, Magnum.  Not until they run would you think they were from the same litter.

Hopefully the more familiar with my camera I become, the more my photography will improve, with a little depth and variety.  I think, though, the problem is, some people can look at a woody landscape and see a photograph, while I look out at a rotten bridge deep within a wood and see little fairies flitting around, or an injured elf knight barely hanging on as his horse trots along the mossy, muddy trail, some dangerous fate following after him.  The hardest part of learning photography, will be seeing beyond the images I create in my head, to capture of magic of the realty around me.  

Take care.

Kelly