If you have ever taken a photograph, I suspect that you have heard "Oh, you should have seen that an hour ago, or you should have been here last week, or you ought to see what that looks like in the winter (summer, spring, fall), or you missed the best shot." Piling on the regrets to your moment of magic, insight, revelation, mystery, awe, and/or wonder. I do not know how many times I have heard, you should have been here last month or last week or yesterday, if you wanted a great photo. Gee, thanks!

I took this photo last spring on a workshop to Big South Fork with Byron Jorjorian (he's going again in May). This scene was after a rather wet, slippery hike down into this area. I was struck with wonder. Can you see the couple to the right of the waterfall who came from the opposite direction to sit in wonder behind the waterfall and kiss? I took a bunch of photos, and in between each shot wiped the mist off my camera and lens. I love this picture and made a print for my great room wall.

When we got back to Nashville, I discovered that several of our friends from the Brentwood Photography Group had been to this very site the day before and were posting their photos online. But the difference was that there was a lot of rain during the night between the trips of the two groups. The day before the waterfall was wispy, peaceful, but barely there. The waterfall roared the day of our hike.

Made me want to say, "You should have been there tomorrow!" Wouldn't it be great to be always looking ahead with hope and anticipation instead of backwards with regret and disappointment? Living on your toes rather than on your heels? Stick around; it could be even better!