Bumble Hum

The other night I was out in the garden making photos of whatever caught my eye. I was about to go inside when I heard humming…very loud humming. I looked and found this bumble bee struggling to scavenger nectar from a wild flower. As I photographed him, we seemed to be struggling up and down the plant with his legs, and beating his wings furiously. He seemed tired and alone, without the stregth to even fly to the next flower. I thought he would surly die here this night.

After a few minutes of this, but what seemed much longer, he suddenly got his second wind and flew out of the yard.

Often we don’t know what we (or others) are capable of.

 

Child Laying on Sand

This blog is about photography and design…I promise.

I used to work as a salesman/computer repair dude at a local university bookstore. I talked to hundreds of people and answered endless computer related questions. And I always cringed inside when I heard, “My son is a computer expert, and he said…” (fill in son with neighbor, friend, cousin, aunt). It was then that I made up my own definition of what an expert is

Expert: [n. ek-spurt] A person who presumable knows one thing concerning a particular subject that you do not.

Thus anyone can be an expert.

The widespread adoption of digital cameras has created many experts, and I’m not here to discourage that. We all look to others who know more than us, so that we can learn and grow. We all need people that know what we do not, so that when problems come our way we can find the answers we need.

But let me not fall into the trap of being the expert who is not teachable, who is beyond the magic and amazement that captures me when I capture an image. Let me not know just one thing more than another. Let me seek out all the knowledge that I can every day. Let me approach photography with the enthusiasm and wonder of a child.

I don’t want to be know as an expert.

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