I stopped briefly at lock & dam #14 today on my way back home from a business trip. Unfortunately it was just about the same time when a big field of clouds moved in from the west that covered the sun. You could tell that the quality of light dropped from one minute to the next or from gorgeous light to stupid gray. I counted six Bald Eagles sitting in the trees and about three times more photographers who waited more or less patiently for the birds to come down and start some fishing action. The eagles didn’t leave the trees at all while I was there and shooting against a gray sky wasn’t really what I had in mind.
Sometimes we have to accept that we come home with nothing on the memory card, but if we don’t try we will miss the opportunities that come at another time. Today’s photo was made almost exactly one year ago and the metadata of the image reveal that it was even almost the same time, between 3 and 4 o’clock. It can be a fine line between success and coming back with nothing in your hands…