Up with the lark

I've been going out a little more, reacquainting myself with my camera. Taking photographs is one of those skills that never really leaves you, yet it all seems so hard and unfamiliar if you let it slip. You suddenly remember all sorts of little things just a little too late. Yesterday I went out again, but this time with the benefit of a couple of failed sessions behind me. And this time things clicked. As in things came together, rather than just the noise a camera shutter makes. I remembered isolation again, I changed my posture to get different backgrounds, I automatically dialled down the aperture when I was very close, I had the right sun angle rather than being too eager to compromise. In short I am beginning to remember again.

I found a Skylark singing from a post and it was mostly unafraid. Just after sunrise and by altering my position I could get a rich orange background that totally belies the geography and geology of Wanstead Flats. I managed to sneak up on a Green Woodpecker, which hardly ever happens, and I sufficiently anticipated the next moves of a Little Owl to be quite close when it swooped down on some hapless insect. There are surely blank days ahead of me, but I on this particular morning I felt creative and I felt happy. The hulking lens that was taunting me to the point that I very nearly sold it for a song at the start of the year was once again a joy to have at my disposal, and the next day that has some spectacular light forecast will see me and it out there again. I was out for four hours all told, nearly half a day, but yet once home had a full day in front of me. I just wish I had rekindled this particular flame about a month ago!