Expectations . . .

Ahhh.  The best laid schemes of mice and men . . . yup, they certainly DO go awry.  I guess Robert Burns knew a thing or two about human nature.  I had such plans for today.  I was going to be little Miss Productive and get a lot of things crossed off the to-do list.  Can't say I got much crossed off, and know the list has grown longer!

Although I had great expectations (is this turning into a literary referencing post?) for certain things to be accomplished, there were other things I did NOT expect to accomplish (and hadn't made to the to-do list!) that were taken care of.

I expected to have adults in the public work force return e-mails and phone calls today; that didn't happen.  I expected to provide information to the schools' payroll department so that when I do sell tickets at sporting events I can get paid for them; that DID happen.  I expected that when I got on the computer to deal with e-mails and facebook, that I would be able to do so efficiently without a lot of interruptions; what the heck was I thinking - that RARELY happens!  I expected to stop at one of the MetroParks to get some pictures taken; by the time I left Mom, I had the start of a headache, so that didn't happen.  I revised the picture expectations to be able to shoot the hummingbirds in the backyard, and while I caught several of them at different times over a two hour window, they just weren't good shots for the most part.

Female goldfinch.  She let me get relatively close and take a few shots before she flew off.

I liked the reflection on top of the green tomato . . . you can see the sky as well as the leaves above the tomato.

I'm still trying to figure out the expectation thing.  I think we need to have expectations, but not be governed by them.  It's good for me to expect to take fabulous shots of the hummingbirds so that I will work toward that end; it's also good for me to not be terribly upset when the hummingbird doesn't cooperate or there's some form of user error involved.  It's good to expect that most people will do the right thing in a given situation; it's probably wiser to accept that many will disappoint.

Shall I expect to have more realistic expectations?  I don't think so.  If I lower the expectations, especially for myself, why would I want to improve?  There are a lot of shots I've shared with you all that I'm not thrilled with, but I'm proud of my improvement in getting a better shot.

Photography, just like much in life, is a skill that takes much practice, patience, and sometimes chance.  The ability to be the best from day one is a rare talent in any field; most who rise to any level of critical acclaim will tell you of the need for discipline and practice.  That works for every aspect of life, from being the best garbage collector or CEO, or becoming the next Mother Teresa.