Moving on out.

This week’s photo challenge was ‘on the move’ and you all saw my pick from my weekend mini adventure to one of my favorite parks.  I like that photo from a composition and color standpoint, but there was a lot of other ‘moving’ going on that Mother’s Day morning at the park.  So I’ll show you a few of the photos that didn’t make the cut.  Just for fun. Click on any of the photos to see them larger and with more detail.

It’s not that I don’t like these.  Some of them make me smile, and some seem sort of artistic.  And it’s not that these disappointed me or weren’t what I was looking for.  In fact most of them are exactly what I was looking for when I headed out to the park that morning.  It’s just that when I saw the one I used I just had that gut ‘this is the one’ feeling.  Though these make me smile they weren’t  the one.  You know?

You never really know when you head out to find a photograph how things will turn out.  Sometimes when you have something specific in mind you discover a surprise that works even better.  And sometimes you have no idea until you come home and look at everything just exactly what you found.  That’s what makes it all so fun…the adventure, the chase for the perfect image, the surprise when something unexpected jumps out at you, and the satisfaction when you capture more than you hoped you’d find.

But I’m rambling.

When I went to the park I expected to see a lot of runners, and walkers and people on bikes and maybe even skates.  And I was not disappointed.

Daughter daddy day.

There was all of that and more.  Individuals working out, focused on their heart rates and stride lengths, foot turns.

It was a really big hill.

And friends talking nonstop as they walked or ran together.

Catching up on events

People like me meandering around with cameras.

Really big camera.

Or just meandering.

It’s a wonderful park full of people finding their space, breathing deeply, living fully.

Riding together.

It’s one of my most favorite places in the world.  Soon I’ll show you some of the nature I found there.  But for now, enjoy one more shot of someone on the move.

Because I liked the bottom of her shoes.

Orange.

While I still seem unable to follow the WordPress photo challenge series, I am grateful that Heather sent me this week’s challenge.  Especially because the topic is spring.  I’ve been encouraged by the signs of spring around here in the last couple of weeks.  It’s still cold though, and today the 46 degrees (7.77 C) is augmented with rainy drizzle and clouds.  It didn’t feel much like spring, but it wasn’t winter either, and after all…anything is better than this past winter, right?

So I headed out on a photographic adventure.  I just drove a bit and thought about what things make me believe that spring is finally here.  Of course the red-winged blackbird arrival signals spring, as does the goldfinch changing from olive drab to brilliant yellow.  But I’ve shown you those before, and I wanted this to be different.

I hadn’t gotten very far along the road when I saw a bit of yellow green far off among the still leafless hardwoods.  And I knew.  Spring can sneak up on a person when they’re fully involved in their lives, commuting to and from work, filling the weekends up with chores.  And then one morning as you’re driving you see a simple willow tree turning yellow green long before the rest of the trees bud out.  And there it is.  Spring.

So this morning I headed out to a local park, hoping I’d find what I was looking for; the brilliant green of hope set against the dark trunks of tall trees still hanging onto winter.

It wasn’t long until I rounded a corner and found it.

I spent a wonderful few minutes just enjoying the quiet and the water and the green.  Then I explored deeper into the woods and found more hints of spring.

But that’s another post.