Behind the Picture part 915!

EVERY landscape story I have ever taken has some fantastical story behind it. I promise, I am not starving for excitement in my life...so it's not like I go looking for it!

Yesterday evening, on the spur of a moment, I called my hubby and said, "Hey! I'll pick you up from work, let's go shoot those cycling shots we need before the sun sets!"  I race over there, grab dinner to go, and we head down Lake Mary Road...

We need cycling shots for this non-profit ministry that we're currently launching, called Saddle Lights. Check out the facebook page "Saddle Lights", or the blog at Saddlelights.blogspot.com for more details...

Anyway, we got down there, and enjoyed beautiful views with water, pine trees, and a great cycling road for these shots. After the sun got lower on the horizon, the world seemed golden. Jesse said, "Hey, quickly! Run down there and get some shots with the light over that water. I'll load up the truck and wait here."

Mind you..this wasn't a "quickly" kind of thing. We were standing above upper Lake Mary (which isn't a Lake at all, a pool of soggy peat, maybe, but not water) on the road, which has a large railing, a steep and deeply vegetated rocky slope, and thickets between me and this pool of reed filled water I am trying to reach. As I hop the gaurd rail, I promptly slip and cover my white shorts with mud, sliding a ways down this steep slope in my flip flops ( I was really prepared for this, can you tell?) Running out towards this boggy moss, I hear this popping and small splashing sound throughout the water. It's only 2-4 inches deep, at most, and filled with reeds and flowers. The silt beneath me sinks me in another 2 inches. Before I fully wade in, I ask Jesse, "honey, what's that sound? I don't like it...it sounds like bugs.." He replies, once he reaches me, " oh it's nothing, just air bubbles rising out of the peat."  Satisfied with that response, I wade into the shallows to start shooting the beautiful canvas in front of me. ....

Not 30 seconds had passed and I hear Jesse slowly say, "Honey, stand really still and don't look at your feet."  DON'T LOOK AT MY FEET? What do you mean, DON'T LOOK AT MY FEET?!! Natural reaction to a comment like that is to panic and look at your feet.

To my utter shock, panic, and grossed-outness (not a word, I know), My feet were almost completely black, covered IN LEECHES! I have never had them on me before...so I promptly FLIPPED OUT and started dancing around in the waters screaming "GET THEM OFF!" at the top of my lungs.... in flip flops...that got stuck in the mud as I ran as fast as I could out of the water yanking them off the whole way.  

Of course, this entire time, Jesse is standing there laughing hysterically, hardly able to breathe from watching me spray mud up my white shorts, dance around like a chicken, and scream in utter panic...all for a picture!

To those who think that photography is clean and easy, think again. Some of the best shots are those that require surprise, adventure, and LEECHES.