One of my favorite places to be is with my chickens. It is peaceful to watch them scratch and peck, search for yummy things to eat and occasionally stop by for a pet or to sit a spell with me on my lap. Yes, chickens can be lap pets. They make me laugh. They each have their own personalities. I enjoy gaining their trust. I like taking care of them knowing that in return they will give me breakfast, and if I allow them, babies. And, like any pet, they certainly have a calming effect to them. And so, I try to get some "chicken therapy" everyday.
Some days I grab my camera on my way out to the coop. It's my brief chance to escape. When I'm taking pictures of my chickens, I don't think about the laundry that needs to be folded, the marketing I should be working on for my business, the bills that need to be paid, or the home repairs we should be tackling. Or the blog I should be writing. Actually, that goes for anytime I'm focused on my photography.
Holding the camera, trying to capture their personalities in the blink of a shutter, is challenging. And just the kind of distraction I need from time to time. When I am photographing them (or attempting to) my mind is full of thoughts about wind direction, lighting, shutter speed, iso, aperture, and angle. I try to send mental telepathy messages to them to move around more or to stop moving, to flap their wings or to stand up taller, to group closer together and at other times to move away from the group. (Dang, why don't they listen!) And the whole time I am practicing patience. That's something I think most of us need work on. Like children, chickens can not easily be directed. Nor can the wind or the sun. Most people think photographers create a photo. Not really - we capture it. Rarely are we able to orchestrate all the ingredients in an image and have it come out just the way we planned and wanted. In fact, as I contemplate that last sentence I realize rarely is even too strong of a word. It's more like NEVER. Like I said, I have no control over the wind, the sun, the clouds....or anything mother nature can throw at me. And so, I have to use what is given me. And to have patience.
Patience to wait for what you're looking for. Patience to know it when you see it. Patience to grab the unexpected shot. And patience to realize that it may not even happen today or this week or this month. But that's ok. It's all part of the process.
Maybe that's what time with my chickens and my camera gives me. I get to experience patience in the midst of days that we often feel like we don't have enough time to be patient. Patience requires time. And in this day and age of instant everything, I think many of us lose the ability to be patient. We think everything needs to be done quickly. To have no forethought. No preparation.
When patience allude me, when I feel like I have not enough time and too much to do, that 's when I carve out time to sit with my chickens and capture their images. Patiently.