Thief

The other day I was walking in an affluent neighborhood I am just starting to explore. Yes, there are absolutely gorgeous homes and manicured gardens, but what I find myself drawn to most are the magestic oaks of the boulevard. Other items catch my eye, like stone walls being enroached upon by vines or a beautiful garden gate. I am awestruck by a number of the homes, but they seem more like fortresses to me than a place I would find comfort.

Anyway, I was nearing the end of my walk when I noticed a fluttering out of the corner of my eye. A lovely, dove-colored bird was angrily poking at a cluster of blackberries on a tree. She obviously felt my gaze and turned toward me. I stood still hoping not to startle her, waiting until she had lost interest in me before I slowly reached into my purse for my camera.

She moved quickly, grasping at the berries, pulling them close to her and then letting the vine snap away. Hopefully with every bounce back the branch took, she was able to taste a bit of the juice she so longed for. While I was watching her intently, trying to hold a pose through my lens' eye long enough to steal a bit of her loveliness, then a voice came from beyond....

"Is there a reason why you are taking pictures here?" A woman in the far traffic lane, far because a huge boulevard separated the east and west routes in this little community of mansions, apparently found my presence irritating. She'd rolled down her window and was yelling across at me. You don't belong here, is what I heard. She acted as if I was stealing from her.

"I'm taking a picture of a bird", I shouted back. Not in an angry tone, mind you, just loud enough so that she could hear me. Not loud enough, so I tried again. "I'm taking a picture of a bird!". "Oh", she responded. Meanwhile a truck had pulled up behind her and jabbed at his steering wheel to give her a little move on honk. I don't know that she was finished with her line of questioning for me, but she succumbed to move on.

Of course, when I turned back to the tree, the subject of my interest was long gone. I came away with only one blurred image in which his tiny head was hidden behind his tussel of grey feathers. I was disappointed, but I know you have to have time and patience to capture wildlife... You surely need silence, and apparently it was not my day for that either.

I came away wondering if I was intruding in that neighborhood, or others I have ventured to, when I bring my camera. I do not peer in windows, nor photograph anyone in a way they would be recognizable. Typically the people are a distant form. No more are they the subject of my art than a cloud or a crack in the sidewalk. Wait a minute, sometimes those are my subjects. But you get it, don't you?

I left that neighborhood with the thought I will still bring my camera in tow on my walks, and I will still enjoy trying to capture bits and pieces of the beauty I find. Even if I never use them to paint or draw, I can still filter through them now and then and maybe feel again what drew me to that place.