A Morning for Mom

Celebrating her birthday with a morning of photography at my local park

A work-in-progress edit of the first composition I photographed on mom's birthday. I used the morning breeze with a slower shutter speed as a means of "hiding" out-of-focus grasses in the foreground and representing the movement in the landscape in general.

October 28th, 2024: a date I'd been somewhat dreading since mom passed away back in March. For months, I'd planned on spending her birthday in one of the canyons I explored last fall in southern Utah, as she had commented about how much she enjoyed it when watching one of my videos from that trip.

2024, with its relentless ability to find new ways to throw our lives into turmoil, had other ideas.

A diagnosis of breast cancer for my partner, Heather, warranted the cancellation of my trip to Utah. Instead, to stay a little closer to home in case of emergency (we also have an elderly cat with end-stage kidney disease), I had planned to join my friend Jon Fischer on his trip to northern Arkansas and southern Missouri (which, in turn, was a backup for his original plans to head to North Carolina).

A photo made in the canyon mom was so impressed by when she watched my behind-the-scenes video on YouTube.

Although I was disappointed that I wasn't going to be in Utah for mom's birthday - not to mention just being in Utah during fall again - I was excited to head into Missouri for some photography as it's where I grew up. Ironically, I've spent very little time exploring my original home state with a camera; I didn't discover my love for photography until moving to Texas in 2012.

But wait, said Life! In a surprise development, Heather's surgery was scheduled a good two weeks sooner than we anticipated, so Missouri was not to be, either. I mean, sure, I was disappointed... but Heather comes first.

All that is to say, I found myself still in Texas for mom's birthday.

Fortunately, Heather was well on the mend from her lumpectomy and the removal of some lymph nodes for further testing (the results of which will determine if she needs chemo plus radiation therapy, or "just" radiation on its own), and I was able to get out of the house before sunrise on the 28th.

I encountered many deer, especially when I first arrived at the park. Mom always loved her deer visitors in her backyard (as long as they didn't eat her flowers).

Somewhat surprisingly, I didn't find the day nearly as emotional as I'd anticipated. Perhaps that was thanks to being out with the camera, catching snippets of the mindfulness that almost always comes with photography. Any sadness may also have been tempered by my frustration - and sadness of a different kind - at finding most of the small side trails within the park inexplicably blocked off by timber barricades (albeit very poorly constructed ones).

One of the "blocked" side trails, near where I made Lifeblood and My Soul to Take in years past. Although these barriers would be easy to bypass, I do try to respect the rules and set an example for other visitors.

Many of the photos I've made over the past decade of exploring the park were found along those side trails. Fortunately, and ironically, not all are barricaded, and there are some alternate routes I can use to still get to a couple of my favorite spots, such as the meadow where I've photographed the witch tree so many times.

Gripes aside, although things were a bit of a challenge with clear skies and zero atmosphere to work with, the lake the park boundary runs against was lower than I've ever seen it. While that is sad in its own way, I took it as an opportunity to walk out along the exposed sandy beaches and seek out compositions along the tree line that would otherwise be inaccessible when the water is at more normal levels.

Wide open beaches along the lake give potential for lots of new compositions that are normally inaccessible.

I only made a few photos from those sandy areas, but I'm looking forward to getting back to the park several times in the coming weeks as fall colors (hopefully) make more of an appearance, and one of my goals is to explore the shoreline much more than I was able to do on this one outing.

In addition to the first photo I shared at the start of the post, here are my other works-in-progress from this special outing:

I've had my eye on this scene for years, but never had the right light or, ideally, foggy conditions to work with it. Even though I still didn't have fog, I'm really pleased with how this one turned out.

I found this little scene in one of the meadows I like to explore, seeking out compositions on the fringes of the woods. The dead branches snaking up from below make me think of stirring creates from the underworld.

I'm happy with this composition - it was tricky as there's a large group of trees just off-frame to the right that are close enough to cause depth-of-field issues - but I'll likely try to revisit this a bit earlier in the morning when the light is a bit softer.

I'm not quite sure about this one: I love the foreground grasses and the little pops of color near the bottom of the frame, but the empty patch of sky and the intruding darker leaves on the left pull my eye more than I'd like. I may have to let this one percolate for a while...

I'm happier with this tighter framing of the same tree, where I used a slower shutter speed to capture the movement of the leaves in the morning breeze. This photo, and the one before, would not be possible if the water was at more normal levels as I stood a way out on the exposed sandy beach to make them.

This is another composition that would not be possible without the low water level of Eagle Mountain Lake. I think I may have spotted this tree before, but the location where I set up to make this photo was well under water.

My setup for the above photo.

This last photo was also made from another stretch of sandy beach, although it's more often accessible than other areas I explored on this morning.

All things considered, it was another enjoyable morning of photography at my go-to spot near home.

Happy birthday, mom.

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