Changing Perspectives

The doe and two fawns danced through the backyard early Monday morning. I looked around for my camera and to my dismay it was in the other part of the house. By the time I limped back after it and returned, I could not see the deer.

I ventured into the garage and peered out the door. They had vanished as if sunlight had hit fog. Or so I thought.

The back door opened soundlessly and I stepped out. I moved three feet, and there they were. The mother deer and the two fawns I've seen her with several times.

All I had to do was move three feet to see something breathtaking, to watch the deer watch me, to see them glide silently beneath the fence and into the neighboring pasture field. I watched through the camera lens, finger clicking away, as the elder deer gave a loving kiss on the forehead of one of the children before they meandered on into the woods and out of my sight.

Three feet. I had to move because my husband's pickup truck was blocking my line of sight. I could have easily given up and thought that the deer had bounded on into the meadow and over the hill. But I moved a few feet.

I gave way. I did not stand firm, I was not entrenched in my belief or thoughts. I was curious and I moved in a different direction in order to see a bewitching and beautiful sight.

Afterwards I wondered at what I would have missed had I not made that move. I'd have missed seeing the mother deer kiss her young one. I'd not have smiled at the antics of the littlest deer as it scrambled under the fence. I'd not have seen the sun shining on spider webs wet with dew, creating a field of diamonds.

I'd have missed all of that if I'd not taken three steps.

Just a little change in perspective is usually all it takes to make or break a photo. A slight adjustment of angle, a drop of the body, raising or lowering the camera - all of these changes in perspective can ultimately make for a better or worse photo capture. Following the rules, breaking the rules, or using different lenses - these things make the reality of a photo different depending on use.

I can't help but ask myself what would happen if in, say politics, the folks who are so entrenched on whatever side of the aisle took a sidestep in one direction or the other. Maybe not even left or right - how about north or south? Or up or down? Is everyone afraid of what they will see if they look behind the pick up truck? Would using a wide-angle lens so change their perspective that their minds might also widen? Couldn't we do away with these narrow points of view and stand out in wide open fields so that we can see all around us, all 360 degrees? Sure there are mountains beyond, but my goodness, if we can't even move the three feet it takes to look beyond the backside of the pick up truck, how will we even reach those hills, much less climb mountains?

Three feet. Three feet made a huge difference in that morning, in what I saw, and in what I took photos of. They are small, tiny steps.

Why are those steps so hard?