The magical morning light, just as the sun begins to peek over the horizon casting its amber glow on the landscape, has transformed a pretty beach into a breathtaking scene.  In the low light, the rocks sparkle gold and the waves resemble a painter’s brushstrokes when captured by the long exposure of my camera’s lens. I am immersed heart and soul in the landscape before me, and suddenly, at this moment, the hours are like minutes and the crashing cymbals of the hectic world around me have become completely invisible.   Whether I’m in the High Sierras surrounded by wild flowers against a canvass of towering mountain peaks, alone at sunset as multicolored skies cast eerie shadows against a parade of desert rock formations, or just in my own backyard coaxing a hummingbird for a close up, there is no job that I can think of that would be as utterly dreamy as being a nature photographer. 

One of the great things about being a nature photographer would be all those little “aha’s” that occur not only when capturing an image, but in every moment thereafter.   As I imagine viewing hundreds of images, each representing a different moment, unique in time, light, and mood, it has a way of changing perspective.  In other words, it’s not just the shot itself, the body of work captured on film or digital data, but a new way of seeing. As a photographer learning to look for the perfect shot through (hopefully) fresh eyes my world would be transformed into a visual delight.  It wouldn’t even matter whether I had the opportunity to travel to some exotic locale or simply enjoy a quiet morning at the local arboretum, because suddenly everything becomes more interesting.  Of course, traveling to picturesque locales for incredible photo opportunities is definitely part of the dream!

I already enjoy many of these benefits as a hobby photographer.  Whether paid or not, I can and do use photography as an outlet for my creative expression.  Yet as a job it would become so much more. Not only would it give me the freedom to spend the bulk of my days seeking, composing, viewing, printing, and sharing photographs, it would also allow me the time and expense to tackle greater challenges and know that what I am producing has the power to touch others.  When I think about photographing nature as a job I feel a rush of brief confusion.  Job?  I hesitate to call it a job at all, because to be paid to do something you love—now that is stuff that dreams are made of.