Blustery Abundance- (Swipe for Un-Insta Squished) The presence of great opportunity without the skills to seize it can be one of the most frustrating experiences to reflect upon for anyone. At the same time these lost opportunities can be the most motivating avenues for future growth. -Please share an event in your life that caused you to dig in and improve due to your own sense of failure. Seriously, do it or at least think about it on your own time. I truly appreciate everybody's complimentary comments and fire emojis, but I would love to have a more sustantantive dialog/thread that goes on here. So throw me some curveballs and let's have some fun. Back to the picture now...On this day, constant 30mph winds combined with gorgeous lighting conditions in the blooming hills of central california presented exactly this kind of personal test: How to keep all of the blowing flowers in focus from front to back without them being either too dark or too grainy. I am sure many photographers of varying degrees of skill have experienced unbelievable beauty in the field (or studio) and come home disappointed once they realize their shots don't capture their experience. It is bizarre to feel pressure and stress in tandem with awe and appreciation in such beautiful natural settings as this, but that's what it was. I know many people who believe that that taking pictures interferes with our ability to "experience the moment". This is absolutely true, but the personal contract I keep with myself is an acceptance of having my experiences interefered with while I improve in my ability to capture, preserve and share them with others. I am passionate about this and it is a sacrifice I'm happy to make even as I yell at my lens cap for falling down a gopher hole while the sky explodes with color around me...And the truth is as we improve there is less and less interference until certain things become second nature and we can take it all back in again. This picture is made up of a series of different focus points taken between huge gusts of wind and meticulously blended together by hand. I think it turned out pretty well, but might make some different decision