Eagle Detailing. U.S. Highways 411/441, Sevier County, Tennessee.
I passed this little building while on my way to photograph a pair of old mills in Sevier County, south of Knoxville. (I'll post them soon.)
As I drove on down the road, I thought, do people really make a business of removing tails from eagles? There aren't many eagles around here. Where do they get them? Who buys eagle tails, anyway?
(Sorry. That's just the way my mind works.)
As those thoughts slowly wormed their way through my febrile brain, I knew I would have to turn around. I didn't want to go back, but I knew I had to do it.
I could have promised myself I would shoot it on the way home. But what if I decided to take a different route? What if the light changed? What if someone parked a huge truck in front of the sign? A hundred things could have happened to keep me from making the photo. As the great photographer Jay Maisel says, "Shoot It Now"!
Most of us are subject to an inertia which suggests all kinds of reasons why we shouldn't take the picture now. Later will be better. The light will be better. I don't have the right lens. I'm in a hurry. Later...but not now.
Shortly after moving to McLemore Cove, Louise and I were out exploring the area. Driving along a gravel road by a cornfield, we chanced to see "Coon" Hise, then in his 80s, and his wife coming out from between the rows with their arms loaded with ears of corn. We stopped and talked for a few minutes. The scene was greatly reminiscent of a famous Farm Security Administration photo from the 1930s of an old farmer and his wife holding armloads of vegetables.
It was a great picture. I had my camera. There was no reason not to make a photograph. But I didn't. I still don't understand why I didn't, but to this day it remains the greatest photograph I never made.
I can give you all kinds of good advice about photography, but only one thing is indispensable: when you see it, Shoot It!
About the photo: Fuji X-T3 camera, Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens.
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Photography and text copyright 2024 David B.Jenkins.
I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.
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