Why you should say “Yes!”

Waiting for your return (TMAX 400)

I’m really enjoying this one camera, one lens, film thing. Kudos to Chris for shoving me off of the edge! I developed my second roll of film this morning. I should have stayed in the bed, as I’m still rather sick, but I can be sick for the rest of the day! The processing of the second roll was a breeze. I was in and out of the dark in about 2 minutes or less.

This morning I was feeling a little bit better. Let’s say that I was operating at about 60%. Friday was 20%, Saturday 40%, this morning, 60%, right now, probably about 35%. I’m heading downhill again, but I’ll be just fine.

Having stayed inside of the apartment all day yesterday, I really wanted to get out this morning! Really! When I awoke at about 6:00 AM, I put on my shorts, shirt, and shoes and headed over to the river with the 645. After being there for about 5 minutes, I ran into a guy who just walking around. We chatted for a bit, then these 12 ducklings came right up to his feet and arranged themselves into neat little rows. I was rather amazed. I asked him: “They seem very tame. Do they know you?”. He said: “Yes! I feed them and their mother every morning.”. Well, I just made myself comfortable right there and snapped away. I hope that I got some good shots because there were many good ones to be had.

It was quite comical to see how they followed him nearly every step of the way between the water and his car, once alarming the mother because she’s so used to him that she turned her back and all of the ducklings ran off to follow him. When she turned back around I could see her start to get a bit agitated. Finally, she flew in the direction of the car and found her family. In one respect it was nice to see the man/animal interaction, but on the other hand, to have the babies so habituated to human contact could be a problem. Not everyone is so nice and friendly, unfortunately.

Anyway, after I had walked outside to go to the car, I almost talked myself out of it. I’m glad that I didn’t. Each time that I “almost” say “No”, I find something wonderful waiting on the other end. You’ve gotta give it a chance to happen.

You know! The more that I practice, the luckier I get! — Gary Player

About the photo: A Portuguese Water Dog, I believe. Taken one day after work when I almost decided to go home instead of shoot! He was a wonderful dog. Very friendly. He had such a beautiful, soulful voice. His owner left him in the truck, but he decided that he really wanted to participate. Eventually, he jumped out of the truck, but he was tied up. I left after I made sure that he had sufficient length of leash so as not to choke himself.