March 21st, 2019

This past weekend, Tim and I spent some time down on the jetty.  We were delighted to see quite a few dolphins larking about.   There were several groups actually.  One particularly charming group was a mama dolphin with two babies.  Just so dang cute!  I took photos of them for quite some time.  See the picture I got?

"Ummmm Sam..." I hear you saying, "Isn't that a picture of clouds and sky as opposed to dolphins?"

Why yes!  Yes it is.

And here is where I tell a story on myself.

I love taking pictures.  While I am not and never will be as good at photography as Tim and my sister are, I still enjoy it.  AND I have gotten better over time.  Practice, practice, practice as they say.  I have even joined a rather large online photography group that offers tutorials and tips and it's interactive in that the photographers encourage each other along the way and set up challenges and contests.  While I have only won a few small awards, I have ranked in the top 10%  of quite a few so I suppose I have developed some sense of confidence in my skills along the way.  

No...honestly ..l have!  Here are a few of the photos that I have recently received high marks on:

So perhaps I can be forgiven if I thought, for just a few minutes over the weekend, that I had even the tiniest clue was I was doing.  I was wrong obviously, but maybe it's understandable how I made the mistake?

The thing of it is, dolphins are tricky little buggers to capture of picture of.  I never know exactly where they are going to surface next.  Just the general vicinity.  And then there is my cell phone camera.  I don't know if this is true of everyone's cell phone camera but on mine there is the teensiest little delay between when I push the button and when the camera actually captures the intended photo.  And the little delay can be the difference between getting the picture and not.  And of course, as always, there is operator error.  Sigh.

​So I get the "genuis" (and I use the term loosely) idea to video tape the little varmints instead of relying on still shots.  In theory, it sounded like a great idea.  So there I stood, out there on the jetty, being buffeted by wind, threatened by rain (or at least clouds that looked like that possibly could have been rain clouds), ever in danger of an errand flying fishhook or a pelican with poor depth perception (they sometimes fly low and close), patiently video-taping one group of surfacing dolphins after another.

Another thing I should mention.  The sun that day was hanging in the sky directly in front of  me, which means that I could see almost nothing on my phone screen, so between the sun's position and my doggone sunglasses, as far as I could tell, I was video taping black cats in the dark.   I had to trust that I truly was video taping adorable dolphins frolicking in the ocean.  Which, I suppose, proves that I place my trust foolishly.  My intention was the grab a carefully selected still shot from one of the  multiple video's that I took.  BECAUSE I was positive that these videos were amazing.  I was certain of it.  I held very still. I took multiple video's, just to be sure.  The dolphins were just stinkin' adorable.  And after all, I'm starting to get awards for my photography now, right? I've got this!    HAHAHAHAHAHA!  (sometimes I just crack me up)

It doesn't hurt to add here that I rarely video anything.  Oh I've posted a few attempts here and there on facebook, but  most of them are poorly shot, poorly centered, and poorly timed.  I really should practice that more.

These all sound like excuses and I suppose they are.  Or rather they are the reason.  I don't much care for excuses.  To me, an excuse means you anticipate forgiveness.  I am not.

You see, after we went back home and I actually sat down inside with no sunglasses on and watched the tiny movies that I made. To my surprise,  instead of smiling at film after film of dancing dolphins, I saw video's of the clouds and sky and occasionally a bird while listening to Tim and I exclaim over these ever so cute dolphins. What the actual hell??!!!???

After the shock fell away, I began laughing at how ridiculous I am, thinking I'm all that.  Who do I think I am anyway?  The next Fellini?    Oh me oh my, I am just too absurd.  HAHAHAHAHA  ...excuse me a minute.  I'll pull myself together here.  teeheehee.  Oh my.

How did this happen?  Well the only thing I can think of is that it's the same thing that happens to me when I'm bowling.  (????)  You see, it has been pointed out to me, more than a few times, that when I release the ball, I twist my hand every so slightly.  Therefore no matter how carefully I line things up, no matter how perfect my posture and my step forward is, when the ball leaves my hand, instead of rolling straight toward those pins, it veers off to one side or the other (depending on which hand I'm bowling with) and winds up in the gutter.  Yes,  the truth is that my all time high bowling score is 64.  Sixty-four.  It's a sad truth but still the truth.

I must be doing the same thing while video-taping.  Every so slightly tipping the camera (phone) upwards. Which of course resulted in about a dozen video's that were immediately deleted because they were useless.  I got a good laugh out of it though.  AND I learned several things.  At least one of which is that I should probably stick to still photography.

​I had to find this photo online:

YUP this was the photo I was TRYING to get.  But it wasn't me.  It's a stock picture from an image gallery easily found online for free from Shutterstock.  

​Oh well, live and learn I suppose.