Persistence

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry".

~Robert Burns

I had some good plans for this afternoon. I was getting restless in my apartment, so I decided I needed to get out. But where? I had been wanting to get out and shoot some time-lapse work for a while now, and there was a beautiful park somewhat nearby, with a fantastic river running right through the middle. That was the plan! Grab my gear and head out to the park and create a time-lapse. I quickly packed my bag (fore shadowing here), and headed off to the park. 

I had picked a spot on the map called “Rapids Bridge” that sounded promising for some water over rocks time-lapse goodness. It was a short hike from the parking lot to the bridge, and it was a beautiful day. It felt good to be out walking through the wooded park along the rolling river. I was excited to find a nice section of “rapids” and get set up. It wasn’t long. Maybe another 200 yards past the bridge, I found a perfect spot. There was a beautiful arching section of rocks jutting up from the bottom of the river. The water flowed generously over them and swirled through the rocks below. And to top it all off, there was a thick tree branch jutting out over the water framing the top of the falls. It was perfect! I set to work on getting everything set up.

I had decided on my framing and the motion of the time-lapse I wanted to create, and now it was time to set up all the necessary gear to bring my vision to life. I had placed one tripod firmly in the river itself and planned to put the other end of my slider on the rocks along the bank. Once that was set, I began the fiddly process of setting up the pan and tilt head for he camera to slide along the precariously positioned slider. After several minutes, I was almost ready. I had plugged in all the motors needed to drive the motion portion of my time-lapse vision; all that was left was to power up the unit and program the motion. 

This is when it all fell apart. I left the battery bank behind. I had no way to provide power to the complicated and somewhat questionably placed piece of precision equipment I had just spent twenty minutes setting up. I had no way to make any of it work. I was crestfallen. This was arguably the most essential part of the entire setup, and I did not bring it with me. How could I have overlooked something so necessary? How could I do something so stupid! This was going to ruin my entire day! And I almost let it.

After sitting on a rock at the edge of the river, in stunned disbelief for several moments, I took a breath and reflected on where I was. I was no longer in an apartment, feeling the grip of restlessness tighten around me. I was outside, surrounded by trees, listening to the river flow by. The sun and the breeze are washing over me. It was peaceful, enjoyable, and relaxing. I didn’t have much to complain about, the more I thought about it. After all, I set out to get outside. I had done that. I still had a camera and a tripod with me. I could still take a photograph. I could still create something, and so I did. I captured the moment when I decided not to let my failed plans ruin my day.