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Switchback Surprise

My mom loves owls and I grew up with owls around me. It's the thing that any of her family or friends can use when getting her a gift. She has owl pictures, owl salt shakers, owl mugs and other owl stuff. 

So, when I heard about a local nature center having an owl hunt, I was all for it. I'm sure I had seen one in the wild at least a few times in my many years, but this was a chance to bring my relatively new digital SLR camera and possibly get a picture of one.

It was a fun time and a wonderful spring evening to be outside. Before going outside for the main event, we learned a good bit about owls. Then we went outside.

It took a while, but we finally spotted an owl! However, my camera equipment I had at that time wasn't even close to being what was needed to capture an image of that bird. I tried to take a few anyway, knowing that they wouldn't be good... and I was right. 

The few photos I took turned out to be just images of a dark blur on a limb. (At least you could tell that it was limb! That was something.)

After not getting that coveted owl photo, I tried even harder to find and get a photo of an owl in the wild. I did some hiking and was always looking for one.

But I never did find one of those elusive creatures.

Fast forward a little over a year. I was at a professional conference in Nashville, TN and not only was it a beautiful day, but I had the afternoon off. I checked into outdoor options and found Radnor Lake State Park.

I packed my camera and a few supplies in my backpack and headed out.

My goal wasn't to find an owl. My goal was to be outside and play with my camera. During the few hours I wandered around their many trails, I saw and took photos of deer, squirrels, and even a river otter. I took beautiful pictures of trees with wild, twisting vines and different views of the lake. 

Even without seeing anything I would have had a great time just being outside of that classroom and getting some exercise.

I bet you can guess where this is leading.

It was getting close to the time where I had to make a choice to find my way out of the woods and back into civilization when I heard a "whoooo, whoooo." I started looking everywhere, slowing my pace drastically. I pulled out my camera and got it ready, hoping this was the time.

That dang owl wasn't anywhere! I could hear it but I couldn't see it. 

I kept walking and walking and was about to give up when I went around a switchback and it was right in front of me. Not only that, but it didn't fly away when it saw me!

As I tend to do, I took a photo as soon as I saw it. I always try to do that because I'd rather have a bad photo of something than no photo at all. Then the wonderful times, if whatever is going on stays long enough, I can play with angles to find the best photo possible.

This owl posed for me! It was amazing. It just sat there and looked at me until I got what I had hoped to photograph for years, then it flew away.

I made my mom this print and it now lives in her living room, reminding her all the time how much I love her.                                                        

                                                       (All images by Tracy Riggs Frontz)





All of the images above are available to order as custom prints, fulfilled by a professional lab, at https://NovelPhotos.Instaproofs.com.

If you don’t have time to order today, feel free to take a business card and order later using the middle QR code. The photos will be under “Trussville Library Gallery.”

If you have any questions, email us at NovelPhotos@yahoo.com.

If you want any hand-signed, get in touch with us before ordering. We can direct you to a gallery that doesn't have our digital signatures on them and we can work out what works best for you to get the signature you want.

To order a signed copy of Tracy’s book: Behind the Lens of a Storyteller – My Journey as a Photographer/Writer, go to https://NovelPhotos.instaproofs.com/BehindtheLens Note that shipping is included – be sure to use the coupon code “SHIPPINGINCLUDED.”

Do you need a highly experienced, budget-friendly photographer for your family or business?

 Go to https://NovelPhotos.com to see our work. Use the “Contact Us” page or email us at NovelPhotos@yahoo.com to find out how we can meet your photography needs.



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