Burrowing Owl, Gilbert AZ

I had a breakthrough in my photography this year. Not a technical or artistic one: a conceptual one.

Chase Jarvis, a pretty good photographer (you know, awards and all that stuff), wrote a book about iPhone photography: The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You. Over the last few years, as I caught myself deciding to leave my heavy DSLR at home because it was just Too Much Trouble, I began to see his point.

But my breakthrough was not that, but this: The best shot is the one that only I could/did see. After all, I try to write about the things that amaze, amuse, or annoy me – the things I see in a figurative sense – so that others can see them, too. Why not use that same principle when taking pictures?

I might see the shot while taking it. With digital photography, I might also see it while reviewing and processing. That’s what happened with this slightly other-worldly burrowing owl, apparently conversing with the mother ship.

Beam me up, Scotty!

Chase would have gotten a better shot, but he might not have gotten this one.