Oct 15, 2009

Mind's Eye



This post is more about the mind's eye than outward vision. On a late summer weekend trip a few of years ago to Maryland's Eastern shore we were blessed by a enthusiastic hotel manager and his excellent advice to spend some time at the nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. We did and found an awesome area of scenic beauty and plentiful bird watching. While on the lookout for one of several reported bald eagles, we came upon this spot featuring the pictured graphic dead tree.

Our son, 7 at the time, saw this tree and exclaimed "this is where the eagles are.... in the 'leafless' trees!" seeing in his minds eye all the classic bald eagle photos with the magnificent bird alone, surveying the landscape on a craggy branch. I chuckled at his simple 'truth' and made this exposure. After a little bit and around a few corners, we did in fact see an eagle.... perched in a 'leafless tree' as predicted and shown in this second image. His mind's eye had proven itself out in reality this time and reminded me of the many times on shoots to places or in situations that I didn't know before hand, my own foresight helped to pave the way for a successful image.

As he turns 10 today, I wanted to honor him with this post and his always optimistic mind's eye and inspiring attitude about life.