Shot Of The Day

Stop to shoot one thing and see something totally unexpected.

I was driving home at the end of a damp, dark day. There was a constant drizzle and low dark sky. I took my normal shortcut through my favorite park and saw a few geese on a small pond with a little snow and some alder and pine in the background. I thought there was a shot there so I parked down the road, put on the one lens I thought I would need and walked the quarter mile down the wet, goose pooped lawn area to get the shot without spooking the geese. Nice and peaceful, slow and calm.

It was wet, it was chilly, it wasn't fun.

When I got to the pond though I noticed something totally unexpected. The water was hanging in drops on the catkins of the alder on the edge of the pond. The long slender male catkins had clear water droplets hanging off of them. (note: there are both male and female catkins on each alder tree) The water on the female catkins had leached out the tanic acids of the wood and made the water droplets a beautiful amber color.

With the dark sky, the puffs of wind and cluttered compositions getting a good shot was a challenge. This is about the best I could do.

Regardless though the scene was remarkable and unexpected.