Ebb and Flow
January 26, 2024
Everything has a rhythm, an ebb and flow, a cycle. There is an ebb and flow in my day, an ebb and flow in my week, and an ebb and flow within each season. Nothing is static.
This week, I’ve been noticing the ebb and flow of my nature practice and photography. I am in a flow right now when taking photos and an ebb when processing them. The flow of photos has been long, much like it is during spring migration, producing a longer-than-normal ebb in processing.
The flow has come from the ice blanketing the lake. The ice itself is beautiful, presenting many sparkles, shapes, and light reflections. As it thaws and refreezes, there are new things to look at each day. The frozen lake, along with all the local ponds and coves, means birds I usually see at a distance are coming closer. Small birds that flit about on the ground are suddenly more visible on a carpet of white. I feel amazingly full, taking in this beauty all around me.
The ebb is a lack of time to process all of the photos I have taken. My workflow for processing photos looks like this: 1) Copy photos from the camera card to my Mac, 2) load photos into Lightroom, 3) go through all the photos and select the photos to keep, 4) edit the photos I’ve kept, 5) export full-size photos and file them in my storage drive, 6) export smaller photos with logos and load them into iPhoto for use in Substack and social media. I have files so I know what hasn’t been posted and I delete them from iPhoto once they’ve been used.
It’s not a complicated workflow, but it takes time. Recently, I’ve been taking about 500-1000 photos each morning. Why so many? One reason is that my camera takes photos at 10 frames per second, which means I end up with multiple photos for every shot I take. This is a bonus because it allows me to catch moving birds and hopefully get some of those shots in focus. It also creates a lot of photos to click through.
Looking through photos often requires zooming in to see which ones are really in focus. Did the camera focus on the eye or the face? Did it focus on the tail instead of the branch to the left? It can take a bit of time to narrow down the possible choices, and then I have to cull them down to the best ones; otherwise, I’d keep way too many.
Another reason it takes time is that I often take multiple shots of the same object from different perspectives and angles. Sometimes, it’s hard to choose between shots that can look very different! I tend to love them all, so I have to push myself a little to delete the good and keep the better. Sometimes, I keep way too many, which means I have more editing and I have to choose between them when I post.
Because my Mac lacks storage space, it uploads all of my photos to iCloud to free up space. Since I can’t edit them in Lightroom when they aren’t on the Mac, I spend time downloading each folder again when I’m ready to work on it, which slows down the process. Editing is relatively simple, but still requires me to touch each photo. Usually, I’m just adjusting the light exposure, white balance, noise, and cropping.
If I spent more time on shot selection when I’m out in nature, my processing would be reduced. If I were more particular about which shots I take, it would reduce the number of photos and, therefore, shorten the process. I see guidelines like this in “how to be a photographer” posts all the time and if I had learned on a film camera, I might do this as well. But.
When I’m out in nature, I’m completely focused on seeing everything there is to see. I get really excited about what I see, and I pay only a little attention to the shots I’ve taken. I sometimes check to be sure my light levels are good, that I haven’t blown out the shots with overexposure, or that the bird is not too dark because the background is light. Sometimes I do really want to know if I captured that amazing bird that just flew in front of me. However, I don’t always have this luxury since my subjects aren’t sitting still and I don’t want to spend my precious outdoor time reviewing photos.
My access to the lake is on the west side, which is great for sunrise and ice photos, but it means birds are often between me and the sun, so exposure can be a challenge. I’ve learned that taking “bad shots” can sometimes work out really well. If I was more particular about the shots I take or followed good photography guidelines more strictly, there would have been many I’ve loved that I would have missed. It’s always a trade-off.
I also have 56-year-old eyes, which means looking at a photo on a two-inch screen is not altogether easy - especially when I have on gear that makes it harder to pull the glasses down and look over them at the screen. Some of you understand what I mean! I can get the general idea, and see how the light levels are, but looking at details is a nonstarter.
All of this is to say, it is a kindness to myself to simply let myself be excited and look for wonderful and amazing things when I am outside and save the culling and editing for later, even if it creates more work. It is also a kindness to myself to be patient with the time it takes to get through all of the photos!
What a blessing it is to have a bounty of beauty waiting for me. The flow outside will eventually ebb. We will have mud season, when everything is a little gray and gloomy, when the backgrounds aren’t so beautiful, and the little ducks return to the far reaches of the ponds and coves or the middle of the lake. The processing flow will increase and I will eventually catch up.
I’m starting to see the ebb and flow as a double spiral, much like the double helix of our DNA. The processes twist around each other and form a coherent whole. If I can remember this and be patient with myself when the processing ebbs or the flow of photos ebbs, it all works out with much less struggle. I have enough photos and enough time.
When I find myself being impatient and feeling like there’s not enough time, I’ve started reminding myself to slow down. I suppose it’s a little counterintuitive, but slowing down makes it feel like there is plenty of time, and speeding up makes it feel like there is not enough. I have reminder notes on my computer that say “slow down” and “create space.”
Sometimes, the thing that seems like a problem is really a blessing - like my aging Mac. It forces me to slow down and there is more spaciousness and enjoyment in the slowness. Some days, when I am running late to sunrise, I will end up with slow cars, stoplights, and multiple “roadblocks” that make me slow down. When this happens, I recognize it as a clear message from the universe that I am rushing. Slow down, she says, there is enough time. There is enough. You are enough.
Where do you notice ebb and flow in your life?
As I finished this post and went to save my offline copy, I realized I had another post titled “Ebb and Flow”, from this exact same time of year. Clearly, there is a pattern.
Take good care of yourselves this week friends!
Thank you ever so much, Karen. Both for another collection of your skilled and artful images, and that you shared what your image processing entails. Thanks also for explaining how your brain plus camera characteristics inform how you plan your shots. I’m fascinated! Years ago an architect friend gave my then young son a book from the “How Things Work” series. That gift to my son explained the sequence of steps needed to dismantle the Empire State Building, in great detail. Today, Karen, your post comprised another volume of “How Things Work.” 🙏🏽
I appreciate how the more deeply you go into the why of your how, it makes so much sense; the desire to spend the time in nature without making the photos the focus... even as you are creating to share. The more I read, the more I slowed to spend more time with each image, having some idea of what has gone into it, picking up on that time spent out side, with these little creatures...
Always glad I've slowed to spend time here--again, thank you.