Through the years I’ve read countless books, articles, and blogs on photography techniques and composition.  I know that in an ideal world, when photographing wildlife in the field, my lens should be parallel to my shadow within 10 or 15 degrees to get great lighting on the face of the subject.  I also know that on that perfect planet I don’t want a blade of grass (even if it’s out focus due to depth of field) to appear in my shot because it obscures the image and distracts the eye from what is important.  But when I drove around a bend in the road and saw a young fox looking for breakfast I had a couple of choices…wait for the perfect moment…ask the fox to please strike a pose in a location with better lighting and cleaner foreground…or…take the shot in spite of its potential imperfections.  Needless to say, I chose to take the shot without hesitation and a moment later, without striking the perfect pose…the fox ducked into the cornstalks.

            So often in life, when we’re faced with decisions to be made or opportunities to be seized we wait, we hesitate and procrastinate because we’re not certain that everything will be perfect and then we are disappointed when the moment passes and we are left with a distant dream of what could have been or should have been.  Life isn’t and never will be perfect.  All we can do is trust ourselves, trust the people around us, and yes, if we believe…trust God...and take the shot.  Will everything be perfect…probably not…but having tried and learned maybe next time…it will be.