Persistence

I really admire persistence. In the last fifteen years as a pediatrician I’ve seen persistence win out over brilliance many times. Both of my kids seem to have the gift of persistence; sadly for me, if their persistence wins out it usually means I’m left a broken, ineffectual parent. Even my wife is doggedly persistent. I mean, you should have seen the way she shamelessly pursued me in our youth. It was a little embarrassing really.

It’s entirely possible that my memory on that last one is a bit hazy.

I don’t want to overstate the persistence required to get this shot. I didn’t have to construct an elaborate hunting blind or poke ferns into my clothing for camouflage but I did have to spend a fair amount of time sitting cross-legged on my front lawn waiting for something to happen. It all started yesterday when I arrived home from dropping my son off at school to find a little hummingbird perched atop the pear tree on our front lawn. I grabbed my camera and plunked myself down on the lawn to wait. I sat long enough that I had to explain my actions (or more accurately, my inaction) to several concerned neighbors but in the end was rewarded for my persistence. This little hummingbird grew comfortable enough with my presence to zip earthward and begin noshing on our bottlebrush plants. A photographic frenzy ensued. It turns out that I’m pretty terrible at photographing birds in flight and extremely terrible at photographing hummingbirds in flight. This shot came out pretty well but there weren’t too many other gems. There were, in fact, a huge number of stinkers but that’s what persistence is for; there will be other days.