The great-horned owl sitting in the tree in broad daylight along the bike trail.  The red-winged blackbird fanning its wings atop a hay bale in the field. The blue butterfly that stopped for a mere second on atop a black-eyed Susan.  The face of my dog mid-dream while I scrambled to get the camera.  All these and more…photos that I would love to have but was unable to capture in the moment. Call it photographer’s remorse or a bad case of Sod’s law, it seems that I always manage to see the things best worth photographing when I have either left the camera at home, or it is not ready in time. And I am an amateur, I can only imagine what it feels like for a professional!  It used to really bother me (and quite honestly, still does) but I have come to the realization that I can’t allow such missed opportunities to blind me from the “big picture”.  If I am to be perfectly honest, some of the best moments I have encountered in nature have been somewhat obscured behind the camera lens.  Whether it is trying to find the perfect angle, lighting etc.  who knows what I may have missed just by watching.  Recently, I have enjoyed taking walks in nature with my husband and two dogs, not attached to my camera waiting for the next photo-op.  It is nice to observe, relax and enjoy all of God’s creation.  Never mind the dozen or so birds that were posing perfectly for photos along the way.  So I will continue to look for those moments I can capture  that make me smile, appreciate God a little bit more, or even make me wonder…whether they be on the camera or just in my mind’s eye.