The day I shot the photo in question, I had set out with my friend Roman to shoot some waterfalls. The days leading up to our trip, and even the day of,  we had a significant amount of rain. it wasn’t enough to break the drought, but enough to significantly increase the volume of water running down these rocks.

On the drive up, I had begun to feel quite ill.  My head was pounding to the point that I was nauseated. So, when we finally got to the trail, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make the very short hike to the falls. I didn’t feel well and it was still raining. Still, I decided that getting out and shooting would be better than sitting in the truck and being ill. I hadn’t driven two hours just to puke in the woods.

Quite gingerly I walked up the path to the base of the falls, setup my camera and tripod, and began shooting away. An interesting thing happened as I stood there with the rain dripping on me, and the water fall roaring in front of me: I forgot about my headache. It was still there, and anytime I had to stop to think and make a conscious choice about something, I could still feel it. However, when I was shooting, my actions were almost completely automatic. For the most part, I didn’t have to think about what I was doing. Composition, camera settings, everything just sort of happened intuitively. I don’t know how long I stayed there taking pictures, but I know Roman got bored long before I was finished.

I shot some of my favorite photos that day.

Then, about a month later, I drove down to Callaway Gardens to shoot some azaleas.  Some of the more popular spots were quite crowded with photographers, but there was one shot that I had thought about doing and wanted to make sure I got, so I was willing to wait my turn. Again I setup my camera and tripod and was composing my shot, waiting for the photographer in front of me to finish up.

I was just standing there in the garden, when something caught my attention. In my memory, I just sort of sensed something was there.  I look down, and just on the edge of the creek, about 20 feet from me, is a snake with his head poking out of the water. I walk towards it for a better look and realize I’m looking at a copper head. He doesn’t seem to notice me and continues to swim through the water, just off the bank.

The photographer who was in front of me is lying on the ground with his feet nearly in the water, so I let him know that there’s a poisonous snake headed in his direction. I’m not sure whether he believed me or not, but he stood and asked me where, so I pointed it out. He quickly packed up his stuff and headed on his way.

In relating this story to my wife, she said I have a very keen survival instinct. Psychologists call it mindfulness. I’m pretty sure it’s what Buddhists would call Zen. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but these seemingly mystical, higher consciousness moments are just one of the many reasons I love photography.

So, when I first saw this particular image, I was immensely tickled. In fact, I couldn’t contain my laughter for quite some time. Even today when I saw it again, I laughed and laughed, as though seeing it for the first time.

John Maslowski at Sirius2 Photography has a couple incredible shots of a turbulent sea. Restless Seas 2 is probably my favorite, but be sure to check out the rest of his stuff. He does really great work.

I say all that because Sébastien’s Appalaichain Trail Photo on windal.net was inspiring enough to resurrect the theme.

Oh, and incidentally, this is my 100th post here on dakwegmo.com

I love you, Laura.

(8:41:49 AM) SubparSalmon: I’m from the Internet. I’m here to help.
(8:42:38 AM) dakwegmo: You’ve arrived just in time. I needed some help.
(8:42:38 AM) subparsalmon is now known as SubparSalmon.
(8:42:59 AM) SubparSalmon: I thought you said you were here to help.
(8:43:37 AM) dakwegmo: that was you
(8:44:19 AM) SubparSalmon: I don’t think so… If i may quote: “SubparSalmon: I’m from the Internet. I’m here to help.”
(8:45:03 AM) dakwegmo: <– that’s me.
(8:45:09 AM) dakwegmo: Subpar Salmon is you
(8:45:24 AM) SubparSalmon: …No
(8:46:11 AM) dakwegmo: …..yes….
(8:46:49 AM) SubparSalmon: Okay. Prove it.
(8:47:24 AM) dakwegmo: ….no
(8:48:03 AM) SubparSalmon: Why not? I don’t know who you are and you obviously want to play some sort of mind game. SO .. prove to me that I’m you.
(8:48:48 AM) dakwegmo: how do you know this isn’t part of the game?
(8:49:21 AM) SubparSalmon: Why would you think i care? I’m obviously bored and I obviously don’t care or i would have blocked you by now.
(8:49:35 AM) dakwegmo: precisely
(8:49:48 AM) SubparSalmon: Whats the point?
(8:50:02 AM) dakwegmo: now you’ve got it.
(8:50:27 AM) SubparSalmon: I never lost it.
(8:50:59 AM) dakwegmo: that’s one way to look at it.
(8:51:16 AM) SubparSalmon: Who says I’m only looking at it one way?
(8:51:32 AM) dakwegmo: you’re getting warmer
(8:52:21 AM) SubparSalmon: This is getting boring so i hope you do something soon thats a little more interesting than saying phrases that can be manipulated simply to keep the conversation going
(8:54:42 AM) dakwegmo: pot meet kettle
(8:55:14 AM) SubparSalmon: You’re getting warmer
(8:57:26 AM) dakwegmo: touche
(8:59:41 AM) SubparSalmon: Listen. I’m sure you’re having fun with your little game, but i have things to do so unless there is really something you want to talk about or something you actually in the slightest bit need help with ( besides catering to your insanity ) I’m going to go now.
(9:00:35 AM) dakwegmo: This is getting boring so i hope you do something soon thats a little more interesting than saying phrases that can be manipulated simply to keep the conversation going
(9:02:04 AM) SubparSalmon: Well that answers my question. Have fun trying to piss someone off today.
(9:03:00 AM) dakwegmo: same to you

Sadly, I’m not very clever or this would have been a lot more entertaining.

Today I’ve posted my 300th photo on InvisibleGreen.com.

He just called me back and apologized for what happened. He said he has people in Georgia investigating, and that he will let me know what he finds.

I’m very pleased that Comcast is paying attention and that they cared enough to have someone in their corporate office call me to apologize. Now, I’m eager to hear what they find out, or if anything will change.

Stay tuned…

Just after three o’clock this morning my dogs started going crazy, barking and banging against their crates. Normally, they only do this when someone is at the front door. I get out of bed to see what’s going on and notice a light moving across my lawn. Cracking the blinds, I see someone with a flashlight crouched over the green utility box at the edge of my yard. There’s not a vehicle in sight. This, to me, seems a little suspicious. Thinking it would be better to be safe than sorry, I pick up the phone to call 911. There’s no dial tone. Needless to say, I’m more than a little nervous at this point.

I leave the lights off and walk to the room where we keep the dogs, letting them out of their crates. They run downstairs and stand at the front door barking like mad. I follow then and check the phone downstairs it now has a dialtone, so I dial 911. The operator answers, “911 Can I help you?” I explain what’s going on, he confirms my name, address, and telephone number then says they’ll be sending someone to check it out. The whole conversation seems oddly informal. I look out the window again and now see the guy with the flashlight walking quickly down the street away from the utility pole.

I pick up my cell phone and call 911 again, the operator answers, “Gwinnett County 911 Dispatch.” I explain that I had just placed a call and wanted to confirm that a police officer was on the way. “What did you report?” I explained what I had told the other operator.

“When did you report it?”

“Just a few minutes ago.”

“Is there a vehicle around?”

“No, there’s just some guy in my yard with a flashlight.”

“It’s probably just Comcast, they’ve been doing work in your area for the last couple of months.”

“There’s not a Comcast truck”, (or any other vehicles around), “would you mind sending someone to confirm this?”

After confirming all of my information, she tells me “An officer has been dispatched.” I thank her and hang up.

While I was on the phone the second time, the mysterious man walked down the street and wasn’t visible from any of the windows in the house. We put the dogs back up thinking that maybe he’d disappeared for good. A while later, however, he walks back up the street and starts messing with the utility box in my neighbor’s yard across the street. My wife and I are both watching to see what’s going on, and a station wagon, with its trunk open, pulls up. It stops briefly next to the guy we’ve been watching, then heads down into the cul-de-sac.

The first guy walks back down to the box in our yard. Still not sure what he is up to, we let the dogs back out. They run downstairs and start barking like crazy again. The man with the flashlight quickly starts to gather some stuff from the sidewalk. The station wagon swings back around and stops in front of our house. The first guy throws his stuff in the back and gets in the car. Driving away without bothering to close the trunk.

It all seemed quite suspicious to me, but with the guy and his getaway driver gone, my level of concern dropped, and I was able to go back to bed. If the police ever showed up they didn’t bother to let us know.

My wife called Comcast this morning, and they gave us plenty of reasons why they might have people out working at that hour. However, none of the reasons they gave were backed by records of technicians performing maintenance in our neighborhood.

If this was Comcast, then they ought to take precautions to protect their contractors. Having them working at 3:00 am, without any outward indication that they were anything other than prowlers is an invitation for disaster. If I had let my rottweilers loose or one of my neighbors had confronted this guy with a gun, somebody could have been seriously hurt. If they aren’t going to let us know about maintenance in advance, then at the very least, they need to make sure they are working in very close proximity to a well lighted vehicle with the company name clearly displayed.

The puppies (as we affectionately refer to our 100+ lb. dogs) got some extra treats and head scratches.