Failure: its Own Reward

If you are you familiar with Middle Passages, you may be aware that sometimes I get an image in my mind and obsess over capturing it digitally.   Notwithstanding I have no training and rudimentary equipment, the urge to document a vision my mind conjures can border on a fixation.  I’ll level with you though.  I never get what I want.  But in failing to record what I hope for, I often get something else.

A bit of background here.  If you go back one post, and scroll to the bottom, you will find a picture of a lovely Herrshoff 12.5, anchored at the mouth of our harbor.  In the distance Minot Lighthouse guards granite ledges that chomp like monster teeth a mile out.  When I took that picture the other day during a walk, it occurred to me the scene I was photographing pointed east.  Aha…she plots.  A sunrise photo.   I could just see it—a vast orange ball straight-arming itself over the edge of the navy horizon, spliced in two by the stone monolith that has protected our waters for 150 years.  The sun’s reflection would lay a path to that simple sailboat.

So, when I woke at 5:30 this morning, I threw on some clothes, splashed my face with water, and raced out to give it a try.  

By the time I made it to the bench overlooking the boat, morning was beginning to scrub the night sky  with peach and pink. The sun had yet to crack the horizon, but it was clear its appearance would occur south of the lighthouse, eliminating any hope of freezing the image I sought.   

But that was okay.  As I sat amid the rhythmic lap of water and heckling seagulls, two herons with their long legs tucked flush, glided overhead like streamlined paper airplanes.  The chest-deep cough of a lobster boat sounded; a camper emerged from one of the colorful tents on the barrier beach lining our harbor and took a sunrise stroll down the length of the jetty. 

I sat, focusing on the lightening sky, the purple water rippling toward me on a steady breeze, the briny tang of low tide, the clank of halyards hitting the aluminum masts on the sailboats moored in the harbor.  Then, as the sun cracked the horizon, I lifted the camera and took what I could get.

   

Happy Labor Day Weekend All.  What are your plans for the holiday weekend?  I am participating in KarenG's Labor Day Weekend BBQ Blogfest.  Click here to check it out.