Rick and I like to make up games.
It happens spontaneously when one of us does or says something, and then the other one makes a play on it, and… let the games begin!
We were sitting on our little cliff deck when the cormorants decided it was time to air out their collective pits. There was only space for one pair of outstretched wings on the buoy, so there was some vigorous feather wrestling over how many minutes constitutes a “proper turn,” and who was up next.
“Quick! Get the camera!”
We passed our beloved Nikon D1500 back and forth, trying different angles, focal lengths, and compositions. Once the birds took off in search of a more spacious perch, our attention wandered to what else might be interesting through the lens without getting our butts out of our really comfy Adirondacks.
Quite a bit, apparently.
“Hey! Wanna try shooting the same thing, and see what happens?”
We often see the same thing through quite different creative perspectives.
It’s a huge positive in our relationship: we double our fun when we get to enjoy the other guy’s experience of beauty and life, in addition to our own.
It’s like the “find the animal in the clouds” game. The first fun is finding the seahorse all on your own. The second fun is the challenge of finding the right words to guide the other guy into seeing it, too.
All I could see was the question mark, asking where the seahorse was.
The game taught us anew that clouds don’t have a monopoly on having worlds hidden in their textures.
Frankly, this was a bit freaky once Rick pointed out the gnarly old man staring at us from the bark.
In the warm afternoon sun, we found ourselves composing around the pools of golden light that dappled our lightly wooded shoreline.
Is “dappled” a verb? Yes.
It was camera therapy, with a buddy.
Life tip: when stressed, go zen behind the lens with a friend.
Shadow play was fun…
And no, we did not experience any nasty surprises via large perching birds with an excellent sense of timing.
Taking time to let your focus drift to things just beneath the surface is a wonderful tonic.
Just ask Winston.
P.S. There’s another fun rickandkathy.com made up game coming your way shortly! Stay tuned for WWF_WTF (Words With Friends_Written by Two Friends).
You two rule.
Love this. Love you(se).