Making the Best of Opportunities Through Photography

We sometimes find ourselves running through many of the same patterns throughout many days of the week. Under these circumstances, it’s very easy to see how days become weeks and weeks become months, and so on. Often while we’re stuck in the patterns, someone will tell us about something amazing, and yet we’ll still find some reason not to move forward with it. All sorts of excuses begin flooding into our heads: not enough money, not enough time, too far away, don’t feel like making the drive, etc.

Yet as a photographer, or even just someone who appreciates the feeling of being alive, your work is to actually make getting to that exciting thing a priority. Excuses can be so powerful that they’ll eventually wither away the motivation to see something incredible and once you see someone else’s photos or hear their experience from such an event, that’s when regret steps in to let you know you shouldn’t have listened to those excuses. It’s that regret that should teach you that next time, you really should find reasons, not excuses, to make time for new sights and events.

For a few days I had heard that up near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park there was a grizzly bear with an astounding four cubs! I had all sorts of excuses I could have made up, but I wasn’t going to let them stop me from getting shots of her and her cubs. While Mammoth isn’t too far from Jackson, Wyoming, it can take quite a while, especially now that the summer crowds have begun migrating in for the season. It didn’t matter though, I wanted to see these bears and I wasn’t going to let the typical excuses stop me from seeing them.

While I didn’t come away with any spectacular shots, I came away with a few somewhat decent shots and I was also able to simply watch these magnificent creatures at play. Seeing a grizzly or black bear with cubs is special. Seeing a grizzly bear with a remarkable four cubs is something that just has to be witnessed. I may not have come back with the shots I was hoping for, but I definitely have absolutely no regrets about going. In fact I’m even thinking about heading back up there in the near future.

Just make sure that the next time opportunity slaps you in the face, you’re paying attention.

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