Well here it is in black and white.

A while back I uploaded this and the prior picture to a nature photographer's site and they could not agree whether the color or black and white version was better. This has to be the best compliment I could hope for.

Time to step aside and talk about one of my favorite exercises. I work at my craft and one of the things I do fairly often is tackle a totally mundane subject and try to make it beautiful photographically. I think it is easy to take beautiful pictures of beautiful things, it is another to move past your limitations and find beauty in the ordinary. Try it. Go to a fence row, or a ditch beside the road, and find the beautiful photos. They are always there. If you find them, you will find another level in your craft and learn a lot.

I have to confess something about these last two photos. They were the product of failure. I went to the Boxley Valley looking for nursing calf elk and could not find even one elk. In disgust, I headed back up the valley to the Ponca low water bridge and just parked and wandered aroud looking for something, anything. This was the gift for that day. I think there is a lesson in this. We must be opportunistic and expect to find something, we must absolutely believe it. I think it was Lincoln or Pastuer who said that "chance favors a prepared mind". Do the exercise above and you will be better prepared for these chances.