A Midsummer Night's Drive

“A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed and is, thereby, a true manifestation of what one feels about life in its entirety.”      

                                                                  ---Ansel Adams

I read the above quote this morning in a feature story about legendary photographer Ansel Adams.  

To say it registered with me would be an understatement.

 Happily, I experienced the quote in action last night while driving through the farm fields of Selle and Oden and then down HWY 200 along the Pack River delta and Lake Pend Oreille.

After a nice visit with my brother Mike and his wife Mary, Bill announced he would be going to Lightning Creek to fish.

Yep, it was Tuesday night, and Bill usually designates Tuesday nights for fishing.  

Granted, he designates other nights and days for the same, but Tuesday has become his summer tradition.

So, off he went.  

After his departure, I spent time putting together some ingredients for chicken-bacon wraps, enjoyed the fruits of my labor with a couple of yum-yum wraps, finished all evening animal chores and jumped in the car.  

It was a glorious summer evening, and there was plenty of time with the sun still shining to drive around with my camera.  

In this mid-summer farm life and waterways provide ideal and dramatic settings for camera buffs.  

Last evening's attractions just kept coming:  the gorgeous cedar waxwings sitting atop trees near the delta, bright and gorgeous wild flowers scattered along hillsides leading down to the lake, swimmers at Trestle Creek, neighbor Gary Finney cutting hay, old rigs and a neighborhood girl alongside Selle Road reminding me of the good ol' days on our North Boyer farm.

I have a LONG, LONG ways to go before I'll ever capture a photo of Ansel Adams' magnitude, but his words captured me, as they have many, many times:  a deep sense and true manifestation of what I feel about life and its entirety. 

There's a passion within every photographer, and when they can capture the manifestation of their individual being, those photos are truly great. 

Enjoy.