Otter Man

I cannot get from my thoughts the inane comments a friend made the other day concerning her photographic approach. Too hot, water too low, do not carry camera, do not use little camera in phone...spending her time submitting to magazines, making a little here and there.
I thought of all this as I was again out in the heat of the morning, trekking about, so much overwhelming me, too many scenes I could stop and photograph. I was most pleased to see so many Gulf Fritillary butterflies in the open field. A few Monarchs and one Black Swallowtail. Sulphurs mixed and various moths. One or two of the photographs sang as the backlighting looked right and the background softly out of focus and the flash just right.
And then there was the otter. He saw me before I saw him and snorted into the water, his bubbles showing his path underwater. He would surface, look and snort. I followed him back and forth along the canal before his must of tired and surfaced partially by his den. I got several frames, though the light was dim and the flash not too strong. Later I returned at a slower pace, anticipating seeing him and I found him before he could see me, dozing on top of his den. Again, I got several frames before he snorted and went back to making bubbles. I waited for him to return for about thirty minutes, but he never did.
The thirty minutes was a good wait though, as I sat in stillness, the woods came back to life around me. The owls and woodpeckers called again. The turtles surfaced. The dragonflies lit near me. I thought, we are the big foot in this nature, crashing about, making noise, intruding.  The rest was good.
Even though it neared noon, the time they say photographs should not be taken, still many scenes shouted for me to capture, capture! If you allow yourself to be hemmed in by the inane, like, too hot, water too low, everyone is doing that, sun too high, you will miss so much.
I mean, I was out there, right in the middle of it all, and looked at all I missed!