Autumn at Lac Lawrann Conservancy

Today brought another photo walk with my camera, the latest in a recurring series of “artist dates” I’ve begun to schedule with myself. The artist date is a concept I picked up from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. Wikipedia explains:

The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity is a self-help book by American author Julia Cameron. The book was written to help people with artistic creative recovery, which teaches techniques and exercises to assist people in gaining self-confidence in harnessing their creative talents and skills.

The changing season is bringing me frequent opportunities to watch the changes in God’s creation. It does my soul good to get outdoors with my camera. Today’s destination was Lac Lawrann Conservancy in West Bend, WI. I was the only one there on this drizzly, overcast day. I’ve gotten fond of going out with my camera the day after a rain. Today was another of those opportunities, as it rained last night. I love to get photos of raindrops on flowers and leaves. What you see is all real…no cheating with spray bottles of water!

Today was also a celebration of my recovery from a serious leg injury in 2016. I ripped the quadriceps tendon off my left kneecap in a fall. My knee had to be surgically reconstructed, which led to two months in a metal leg brace that spring. Nineteen rehab sessions followed. I had to learn to walk again. Today’s walk was one of my longest so far this year. Maybe a couple miles is nothing to most people, but it’s a lot to me. Especially when it gets me out into the woods to marvel at the wonders of nature.

I wasn’t striving for photographic perfection in today’s shots. Rather, I was simply using my photographic eye to spot interesting combinations of shapes, colors, and textures. That and playing with the elements of composition: leading lines, repetition, texture, rule of thirds, etc. I was focused on simple pleasures, and getting enjoyment out of my hobby. Mission accomplished, again.