One of my all time favorate songs is a song by Phil Collins called "Both Sides Of The Story".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PclPI54NvNM
Watch the clip and you will understand where I am coming or going with this.
Friday afternoon we had our usual dose off loadshedding. I decided to escape the pending darkness and head to a little place not far from home. It's a place where one could at one stage quite peace and solitude amidst the bussle of urban life. It's a place where, on a good day, one is able to photograph the most beautiful birds and the occasional wild life. One can sit in a hide and wait for hours for a Malachite Kingfisher to appear out of nowhere. The silence will surround you and solitude will become your companion.
Friday was different. There was the noise of construction everywhere. The sound of hammers and drills and mechanical tools drowned out any hope of quite solitude. AND above everything, there were no birds. I had clearly chosen a wrong time and wrong place to "escape the darkness". There was going to be no getting away from the noise.
I left the hide and decided to walk the paths in search of something to photograph. Two little Cape White Eyes made a fleeting appearence. They were simply too fast to capture. It was getting cold and miserable. The only "subject" left to photograph were the thorn bushes.
Looking through the lens I struggled to see beauty in the thorns. They appeared harsh and threatening. For a moment I pictured the crown of thorns. I imagined the damage they could do. Then I saw a nest under construction. I saw the little green leaves on the branches surrounding the thorns. I changed the settings on the camera and managed to "paint" a mottled, blurred background. All of a sudden there was beauty there.
Just now and then we need to change our perspective and look at people, things, circumstances and our own lives just a little differently.
There is always another PERSPECTIVE. We may just need to make little adjustments.
