Bob Grier’s From the West: June, The Magical Month

Fawns by September

June is a magical month for photographers, new life is everywhere — blooming flowers, the mysterious appearance of speckled robin young on lawns all over town on the same day, swift fox pups running near their natal dens on the grasslands. My photography certainly failed to live up to June’s promise this year and last — a client’s request for “a train photograph” for a new medical facility was the only significant image making. I replied that while I didn’t have a train photo in the files, I’d consider it a challenge and would work on it “after green-up” this spring. On an exceptionally fine June evening, Marlene and I drove east to a potential location — the Sandhills were a vibrant green, calm winds formed a mirror on the marsh and lake surfaces and a slow moving coal train gave me plenty of opportunity to use the zoom lens to advantage. The sun was about to drop behind the ridge of hills overlooking the location and the low, slanting light poured a beautiful rim light on the row of trees visible along the tracks–made even more distinct by the shadowed hills in the background.

Along the highway on the way home we saw a white-tailed doe standing over a new-born fawn — my most recent fawn image was photographed the previous September, yet another magical moment though.

Trains and fawns are about as dissimilar as photo subjects can be and yet there is a time and a place — so often June is that time and the place can be where ever we carry our cameras and a joyful sense of anticipation and observation.