A tale of patience and repeated Visits

Today I tell a tale of patience.

I was on a church camp with a group of Young Women as an adult priesthood supervisor. Of course I didn't have much to do other than occasional classes that I taught in compass and fire building and helping to cook and cleanup but that wasn't my purpose for being there anyway, I was there to be of assistance when needed for anything.  I like to get up early though when camping and thus I had a lot of time to do what I love to do in such circumstances while the youth and other leaders would still be sleeping and that is to photograph nature. Well we happened to be in a family cabin in a canyon that we got to by going up Diamond Fork Canyon near Provo, Utah.  ( yes, very tough camping and I agree but, hey, I didn't plan where, I only went along to help supervise and be there in case of an emergency.) 

As I explored the area shortly after getting settled the first day I happened to find a wood pile and noticed some quick movement in the pile. I was able to focus on the movement just fast enough to see a wood chuck dart behind the stack and vanish out of site. Well I knew at that point that I had a neat challenge on my hands for the rest of the week as time would permit. So I frequented the wood pile several times a day learning just how fast this little creature was when I approached.  One time on probably my third or fourth visit I was ready with the camera up to my eye as I rounded the corner near the pile and was able to get a shot off just before he vanished. The resulting image is just below.

The real payoff came though a couple of days later as I slowly learned how to approach the area so that it would not be as readily alerted to my coming. There was a boat parked in the open sided garage next to the pile of wood that presented the greatest challenge. The wood chuck could see my approaching feet under the boat and thus have a chance to leave before I could see him very well. He did have sufficient curiosity though that he would stay long enough to see my face before he darted out of site and thus the challenge remained with me to photograph him because I knew he lived there for sure by that time and it wasn't just a stroke of luck that I happened to see him that first day. I did end up seeing him away from the pile of wood once as I was descending the stairs from the road above the garage next to where the wood was stacked and got off a couple of quick shots as he darted into a culvert and disappeared. 

Then after about four days of trying during different parts of the day and using extreme caution and very slow speed of approach my stealth and patience finally paid off, (I am such a great hunter) . I had been quiet enough to get around the corner of the boat while he was sunning himself on the logs and sleeping in the warmth of the sunny afternoon sunlight and had not awakened him before I had my camera ready and firing. Luckily enough there is response time in digital SLR cameras that allows for rapid firing of the shutter because once I spotted him I only had enough time to get off these two shots  and a couple of others before he was awake and gone. 
These images make it look like he was aware and could care less about my approach but believe me it was only a split second after this second image before he ducked out of site again. 

My repeated efforts and patience had paid off though and I had some images that I have really enjoyed ever since. I hope you do also.