"Placid Moment"

My husband and I took two trips to Shiloh this past week to photograph the nesting pair of eagles.  Shiloh is about an hour drive for us, and it's a beautiful drive, filled with interesting things to take photos of along the way.  I'm the queen of 65 MPH shots, grabbing pictures along the way...barns, fences, fields, and even some animals.  My newest thing is yelling out "STOP" as I see something I "need" to photograph, and my driver {my husband :) } is getting quite adept at coming from 65 MPH down to a full stop in a matter of yards.  Because he knows if he doesn't stop then, I'll make him turn around down the road and go back.

We pass this little pond in Chester County along the way.  It's on an industrial site {tractors, trucks and equipment sales} so I've never really given it much thought, as the setting overall isn't that spectacular.  But on the way to Shiloh on day #2 this week, I noticed something...a little blue boat.  The sun had just risen and the fog had lifted when I spotted that small pop of turquoise blue color.  We were on the wrong side of the highway at this point, but I decided right then and there, what time of day we needed to come back by the pond on the way home in order to get the sun setting over this small body of water, and to be able to capture my little blue boat on the camera.

The little blue boat was embedded into my thoughts all day while I watched the eagles.  It never once left my mind.  And my husband was actually able to get me to leave Shiloh on time {for once!} because I knew I wanted to get that little blue boat in the right light.

We arrived at the exact moment we needed to...the little blue boat was still in the same place, and the sun was right where it needed to be to cast its glow over the boat.  I first took pictures with the telephoto, and got some great close up shots of the boat.  But that wasn't the image I wanted to portray for this art.  I wanted to show more of the entire pond, so my viewers could get the sense of peacefulness I felt while experiencing this country scene.  So I pulled out my camera with my smaller lens.  It wasn't until after I reached home and opened this up on the computer that I saw the lone goose off to the right of the boat, which adds a nice touch to the overall scene.

We've been by this pond many times over the past year, but this was the first time I'd seen a boat on it.  I'm not sure if it's always been there.  Perhaps it was and the light just happened to be right on this day for me to notice.  Or maybe it's a new addition.  I just knew I had to have this treasure, captured forever, as a beautiful, peaceful moment in time.

InJoy,

Jai