Reflecting Back and Moving Forward in 2018- Patience is a Virtue

Many people make resolutions for the new year and that is great but I can honestly say I do not. I make goals but then I make goals through out the year. Sometimes they are about making myself a better person, or perfecting a certain skill with my camera, or spending time in my wood shop or a better balance in my life.

The ending of the year is about reflecting on the past year and how to improve on the coming year. There is always something to learn. 2017 was all about learning patience. We are all busy people and I tend to always make myself as busy as I can. There is never a day I can ever say I was bored. Busy is good, right?

Somewhere in there, there must be a balance which can not be obtained in my opinion without having patience. Patience is a work in progress. I have been at it for 61 years and I can tell you, it has not always been with the best results.

In April of 2017 I learned patience probably better than any time in my life. On a routine followup with the doctors I was discovered to have an emergency need for a five bypass heart surgery. No symptoms, no warning, no pain but there it was. I spent four days in the hospital under watch of the doctors awaiting surgery. Surgery went well and for the past eight months I have worked hard on exercising, getting back into shape through recovery and on patience.

But what does patience have to do with photography? It has a lot. In my opinion, patience has as much to do with nature photography as knowing how to use your camera. You can know that camera inside and out but when you are out trying to capture moments in nature, it is patience that rewards you with the greatest opportunity.

If I have learned anything in all my years in the mountains around nature it is simply this. Nature does not care if you have patience or not, but nature teaches you that having patience brings you rewards in the beauty it offers. Nature does not share its best with you unless you are patient.

Wildlife waits to show itself only when it is comfortable and only when you are patient enough to reward you with its more intimate side. Animals and birds may show themselves to you quickly, others do not. If you wait long enough, they will show you their more playful side, their courtships, their daily rituals. You must have patience for this opportunity. The rewards are greater than you can ever capture with a camera. The memories are etched forever in your heart and in your work. So when you are out with the camera or even without the camera, remember patience has great rewards.

Even the sunset and sunrises require patience. Often the best colors come when you have given up or not expecting it. A cloud, a glimpse of sunlight, misty rain falling all change the landscape from mundane and ordinary to something extraordinary and mystical if you have the patience to wait for it.

So here is to 2018 and all it brings to us when we exercise the value of patience.

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Thank you
Doug