We walked along the shore of Lake Champlain as far as North Beach which is right below Burlington College where my daughter is a student. We sat there on blocks of marble at the edge of the sand and the girls talked…sister talk and mom talk…and I messed about framing the beach, and leaves in the litter, too lazy to get up and really go look for a picture. From where I sat on my block I eventually noticed, deep in the leaf litter, a strange smooth banded shape. I suspected a feather, and so it turned out to be when we finally got up to climb the sharp bluff to the college grounds above. I dug it out of the leaves and set it up on a rock for its portrait. Of course, out of its safe nest in the leaves the wind wanted to blow it away and it would not sit still for a shot. I would flip it to its good side and the wind would flip it back. After several tries on the bare surface of the rock, which I wanted for texture contrast , I had to let it blow to an edge, where it rested, at least right side up, and take the shot. The little round of acorn top was an unplanned bonus, as was the diagonal where sand meets rock.

Canon SX40HS at 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical zoom plus 2x digital tel-extender function). I am finding this combination useful for tel-macros as well as more conventional long shots. Program with iContrast and -1/3EV exposure compensation. f5.8 @ 1/125th @ ISO 100.

Processed on Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.

And for the Sunday thought. This is one of those much ado about nothing shots…just a little found still life…a study in form and texture and light. A happy accident…except that I don’t ascribe to the theory of accidents. Where others might tend to see chance, I see intention. Not fate, mind you…but conscious, intelligent, living intention…moving in time as I do, one second at a time, but with the perspective of eternity where every second contains all the seconds…where every instant is all, and every found feather placed by hand and wind where rock meets sand contains the universe. Within the limits of my perspective, and tempted to count every second against some unknown store…my attotment so to speak…I cooperate with that intention, and, at my best, resist the temptation to count, and simply live within the moment I am given, with shared intent. That attitude allows me, often enough, to find a feather along the Champlain shore, to pick it and place it, to chase it where the wind puts it, to frame it…and to share it with you.

Happy Sunday!