THE UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

This is a guest post from my wife, Chris, of Exartizo Images. 



DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

 
I have always said to my husband, "Photography is the tool I use for capturing images of the things I love."  I am not a techie person, but I love taking pictures of nature.  My husband is my guru for anything techie and in turn, I am the perfect subject for him to learn how to communicate simply to someone who does not get anything techie. 

So, here we are the guru and the nature lover out in the woods on the hottest day of the year ( 91 degrees with no shade) with our 11 year old daughter.   I really do want to learn how to use my camera to its fullest so I can share with others what I enjoy. 

My assignment was to take pictures of tree knots. I did get a lot of cool pictures of tree knots, but my daughter's patience was waining.  The woods looked drab, it has been very dry here, hardly any snow this winter and now no rain to speak of.  Things just don't look pretty.  Thus, I think the reason for the assignment. There is beauty in nature, just look.

HOW ABOUT NOW?  THERE ARE TWO SNAKES

We spent about an hour in the woods and I knew my daughter was hot and bored.  She had forgotten to charge her camera battery from the previous day.  We took a shortcut to get back to the car.  Suddenly, we heard a rustle in the leaves. My daughter jumped with a scream. I looked down and two Garter snakes were slithering away.  My husband unknowingly walked right over them. It took a few moments for my daughter to say her usual, "Aahhh they are cute."  Once we all got over the initial reaction of something moving under our feet, we enjoyed the photo op.

THE FEMALE

I smile at how nature surprises you.  It turned our hot boring day, in my daughter's eyes, to "That was fun, what a great walk."  All because of a couple of common Garter snakes. 

THE MALE

This was an unexpected surprise.