how's your luck?

I’ve written before that I’m not a very lucky person.

I mean, just look at my health for a start!

But it goes deeper than that and I honestly feel everything started to change around my 50^thbirthday.  My mother died, and I started to get ill with what turned out to be myeloma.

And other things changed too.  Small but really noticeable and annoying things.  Stuff would break, accidents would happen - over and over.

And then there was my photography.

I recently looked back at my body of work going back 8 or 9 years or so, and found something really interesting.

Before my illness, I was always seemingly in the right place at the right time. For example, just after I put a telephoto lens on my camera a beautiful robin just perched on a post nearby and stayed there while I snapped away.  I would always, and I mean always, get really good light if I set out on a dawn or dusk shot no matter what the conditions when I actually left the house.

no I did not put super glue on that branch.......honestly.  I used a staple gun.

Contrast that with now.

Just the other day at while out in the snow, I stopped to take a photograph of a small stream set against the white background.  But the very second I put my camera away, a robin (again) flew over and settled down just feet away from me.  I waited a few moments to see if it would fly away.  It didn’t.  So, I carefully and silently got my camera back out and…… well you can guess the rest. This isn’t an isolated incident though. It seems I now miss moments like that a lot. 

And the number of images I now get with decent light are far, far outnumbered by those where the light is so grim, I don’t even get my camera out.  I can set out in perfect conditions only to watch the clouds roll in and spoil the scene, or pack up and head back to the car just in time to watch the light magically materialise.

I guess I could look at it that at least I did get some luck.  

I just wish it had lasted.



Post script:

My "luck" (ha!) continues.  I've been given a date for my heart operation (13 May) and it just so happens that's the date of my daughter's 18th birthday.  You really, really (really) couldn't make this up.  I mean, if someone wrote a book it'd be lambasted for being too far fetched!