Catching my Breath

This week, I am I am giving my self permission to catch my breath....to take some time to make friends with my new camera, to refocus my energy as I move into the home stretch of this project, and to share from a place that is less goal oriented and more real life. So there may be some outtakes, some new stuff, some re-shoots, some silence, and some deep exposure.

There's a funny story behind this picture. One day, in search of a graffiti shot, Lara and I went for a drive, as we often do. We found ourselves in the foothills behind our house where there are ranches and farms and gorgeous scenery, but no graffiti at all. As we drove down the country road, we passed a farm where dozens of chickens had escaped their coop and they were strutting towards the road where their fate was certain, death by automobile. Well, Lara has an endearing dharma around saving animals so I turned the car around and safely parked so she could get out and herd the chickens back to their home. At first, I sat in the car watching but then I realized we could be there for along time, as there were lots of chicken. So I got out to help and grabbed my camera just in case. As Lara was rounding up the foul and I acting as a deterrent to keep them from coming back towards the road, this hysterical goat was loudly instructing us on how to go about the task of flock herding. I had the impression that he had seen this done before. He prattled on and on until all the chickens were safely back in the yard. Afterward, he posed for his picture and then headed into the yard himself, I think to scold the chickens about trying to escape.

We never did find graffiti that day but being present to what was there in the moment was much more rewarding than worrying about the theme of the week.