The Pelican

This image was taken in one of our favorite spots for photos down at Atlantic Beach. We were excited about catching stormy images but hadn’t been successful up to that time. Right at the time we were packing up to leave, a little gift from heaven appeared, there they were, in all their glory, “God Beams”. There was something unexpected and magical about that moment. I remember thinking I’m not prepared and didn’t have time for a lot of technical manipulation and simply pointed the camera framed a bit and shot. Everything about this shot was right there and easy.

As lot of us photographers are equipment junkies and get really involved with all the technical. We drive ourselves to know everything about all the equipment we have and get even crazier about the equipment we want.  The trap of “if I had this latest gadget, then I could make great photos” has kept a lot of great images from being made.

Later that day we were on the beach I noticed a Pelican. It was in the air with wings spread and soaring two hundred yards or so and circling back without a single wing flap. After seeing this happen about four times I then realized, that bird has everything it needs and it’s doing what it wants without any effort at all. What I have learned, and it generally goes for everything in life, is “we have everything we need, to accomplish whatever we want”. We just need to get our heads on right to see it. I think I’m going to try harder to not try so hard, and maybe I can soar like the Pelican.

David is a NC based photographer. To see his online gallery click here.

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