Austin - Capitol Grounds, Tree Pattern

Took many, many pictures of this tree, but only a few keepers resulted.  One of the biggest assets of a photographer is patience, of which there was very little as I darted here and there trying to consume the beauty of this vast property.

Speaking of patience, something we saw in Estes comes to mind.  Don't know if it's still there, but in 2011 there was a fantastic shop in town that sold photos captured in the area.  The pictures were just outstanding, all taken by the same guy who devoted his life to the art.  And as a bonus, in a lower corner of each print he wrote the story of how the picture was taken.  One was of some trees sticking up out of the snow in the morning mist.  The story told of how the guy camped out for three nights in that frozen wilderness, high up in the mountains, until just the right light hit at just the right time to get what he wanted.  Amazing, and what an amazing photograph!

To take it to another level...watch some of Sir David Attenborough's "behind the scenes" videos on how his photographers do their thing.  There you will see teams that wait for months - in one case two years - enduring considerable discomfort, and at times disease, to capture 30 seconds of a behavior not yet filmed by man.