Day 273. September 29. Countdown 93 Days.

Day Two Hundred Seventy Three. September 29. Countdown 93 Days. "Forest & Trees" or "Blinded by Preconceptions". It was raining this morning when I woke up. A massive system of storms was moving it's way through central Texas. Weekend mornings usually start with me sitting on my third story balcony with a great cup of coffee. My eyes study the sky forming the background behind the steam rising off of the hot coffee. I am thinking about the day's picture. I am studying the clouds,the lighting, already starting to form ideas about what I will be aiming my camera at on this day. Bright clear skies push my thought towards shady areas, flowers and close-ups. Foggy and hazy conditions will steer the camera towards ephemeral and stylistic pictures. Today was dramatic storm clouds.So it seemed obvious, I would be driving northeast into the lower plains, in other words,big sky country. Unfortunately life had other plans for my day. Besides everyday household chores there was three days of neglected editing and posting waiting for me do. In the afternoon I had to meet a coworker at the Austin Convention Center to take down a show. When the show was finally down and in the crates,the question of where I was going to find my picture was not as important, as when. Old southern expression time, "I was burning daylight". As I was closing and locking the gate at work, I was searching the sky looking for the most dramatic clouds which would determine my direction of travel. I did not even see this dead tree because the sky behind it was dull and lifeless. I did not want dull and lifeless, I wanted dramatic. The only reason I even saw this shot was because this bird chose this moment to land on the top of this tree. Almost resenting the time, I  grabbed the camera and shot a few exposures of this bird and tree. Jumping in the truck and with limited time, I then chased the clouds, ending up with sixty or so exposures of the clouds with various foregrounds. I did not have time to edit the pictures last night, so I sit here this morning viewing the day's pictures with a different mental filter. I understand now, if I had edited last night, today's picture would be some generic shot of the sky, instead of this minimalist, monochromatic image. I believe this is the more powerful image. Canon Rebel T3i, handheld. 28-135mm lens. Focal length 28mm. f/8, ISO 800. Exposure 1/400 second.