I’m big on honesty and well the truth is, I feel like my photography that you see isn’t always honest. Maybe that’s not a good way to say it because it isn’t that I’m faking anything or like I’m photoshopping the crap out of anything but, it doesn’t always tell the whole story and sometimes that feels like it’s not totally honest.
I’ve been wanting to host a photography retreat or workshop for quite sometime. I dream of it and yet can not seem to get my footing and get people to be as excited about it as I am. I want to share all the cool places and things I see with others and I love to learn from other people when I can see things from a different perspective. The reality of it is that I don’t know if I could do it. I’m not sure that I would be good at it and I’m terrified that people would be disappointed. I think those fears keep me from pursuing this dream, let me show you why.
I recently visited one of my favorite spots, Grand Teton National Park. We got to see an awesome wolf feeding on a bison carcass.
It was AWESOME! I mean seeing a wolf is fantastic and rare so this was a great experience for me. The thing you didn’t see with this image is this…,
This was a zoomed in shot of a wolf sitting on a hillside waiting for it’s turn to eat but afraid of the people who were creeping too close. You could see it with the naked eye but mostly just as a dark dot on the hillside. You also can’t see the people….lots of people, nor can you see the time sitting and waiting, just hoping that these little guys would decide to show up. The internal debate of keep waiting or move on and hope to see something else is hard to capture with a camera but it’s all part of the experience.
So, I struggle. I struggle to know if sharing what I love with others will be tarnished by the experience others have if I can’t meet their expectations. One thing I love about these trips and wildlife in general is that there is no guarantee. I hope but never expect because you can not predict what or where an animal will be, what the weather will decide to do, or where people will be.
I come home from each trip. I post images that receive a lot of love on social media. I get that ego boost I need from time to time telling me that I am good enough, that what I capture lifts people, that I have a talent and this is what I should be doing. Once the confidence is there I think, ok this time I’m going to throw the idea out there and get planning. People would love it! I would be able to teach and help, I could do something with this besides show off my pictures online. And then these images show up during editing….
You can see the ears of a female moose in the front but what is harder to see is the male moose right behind her…. here I’ll zoom it a little to see if that helps…
Can you see his rack now? It’s still tricky I know. The point is sometimes this is what I see on a trip and these moments are some of the best ones. They usually mean it’s just me and my husband watching or maybe a very small crowd. These moments feel a little like I’m a child again playing “Where’s Waldo” in real life. ( I knew all those hours would pay off eventually lol). However, me loving it, doesn’t always translate to everyone loving it.
So basically, let me know in the comments, would you want to do a photography retreat? What would make it something you would want to do be a part of? Does the knowledge that it’s not a guarantee that you will see anything super cool make it feel like it wouldn’t be worth it? And finally, the real question, were you a “Where’s Waldo” fan?
