The Thrill of Success

5 CommentsTuesday Tells, , , ,


It’s difficult to achieve successful sunset photographs from my suburban apartment building. Other structures and treetops block the view. My generous friend decided that it was time we took a trip to the beach.
We chose to go to Tunnel Park, in Holland, MI. I went snap-happy even before we’d reached the shore.
Besides sunsets, I like getting shots of sailboats. That day, I wished I had better distance vision and a bigger camera than the point-and-shoot I own, because most of the boats were too far off shore for ideal shots.
Still, I could capture the late afternoon light on the dune grass and the waves, people-watch, and use the shoreline vista in an attempt to catch a bird in flight. Unlike my Toastmaster acquaintance, photographer Jesse Raven, I need the entire shoreline, and often count success as capturing the tip of a wing, or a tail feather.
An adolescent gull stood on the dune near my seat. I took a shot or two of him, in his mottled feathers, but he didn’t fly, being more interested in scavenging snacks other people had dropped.
I checked the sun’s progress toward the horizon, then turned my head to the south. There, gliding in on the lakeshore breeze, came gull number 5609, on approach. I lifted the camera, got the bird in my view screen, held my breath, and pushed the button, hoping he wouldn’t choose that moment to veer away.
When I realized my reflexes had cooperated, I grinned. It’s always a great thrill to succeed at something. Better yet, it’s worth my while, and yours, to develop recall of that first thrill when a goal is more complicated than a single push of a camera button.
Sure, we’ve written a blog post, or a chapter, or even finished a manuscript first draft, but for some writing projects, achieving print publication takes a while. A success in one area can lead to an achievement in another field. On the day I caught gull 5609 on approach, I had no idea I’d be blogging about him for you, today.

5 Comments

  1. janhdk

    Reply

    Interesting article. So often we miss those first times, because we’re so intent on getting to the final goal. Yet, the first steps, those mini-moments can mean so much encouragement for us if we take a second to notice “I accomplished something of value. YAY!”
    Good article.

  2. Heidi Kortman

    Reply

    Thank you, Jan. Though I’m now raising my eyebrow at WordPress’s insistence that Thanks, Jan is too short a reply to post.

  3. Jan Verhoeff

    Reply

    Technically, and for purposes of SEO, etc… Anything less than a paragraph or two is too short a reply to a post. I’ve been reading a lot on sharing, scrolling, and supplementing blog links with comments. The key is to post a paragraph or two of legitimate response to a post.
    For instance, mentioning something from the blog post, about how well it applies to your own thoughts, or adding a thought about it can make all the difference in how a comment is rated.
    We all use comments on other blogs to drive traffic, but the quality of our posts, can make more difference in comments than about anywhere else. I’m getting better about it, but still not very good at mentioning keywords and adding value always, in my comments.

  4. Krystine Kercher

    Reply

    I’m glad that you blogged about the effort it took to create a photo of this gull in flight. I have experienced difficulty capturing birds in flight too. Sometimes, I’m more successful than others. I find a bird like a gull a little easier to photograph than a murmuration of songbirds, for example.
    They move far too quickly for my camera to focus on at all.
    I would encourage you to enlarge this photo and center it so that we can see it better in your post and enjoy it a little bit more. Another great SEO tip: move the photo down a paragraph or two so that the SEO generator reads your first paragraph first instead of trying to read the photo.

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