BROKE DOWN ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY

BROKE DOWN ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY - Sometimes, in spite of meticulous planning, things just go wrong. So it was during my trip to Ecuador in 2009. As myself and my fellow participants in Chuck Feil's Tao of Photography Workshop in Ecuador were enroute to meet up with a tour boat that would carry us to Isla de la Plata (the Isle of Silver) to shoot exotic wildlife, our vehicle broke down. The whole idea of being part of a tour group of this type is that you can concentrate on the photo shoot knowing that everything will go according to plan with no unwelcome surprises. Still, as the Scottish bard wrote, "... The best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray.", or something like that. Or, to put it a bit more bluntly, "Sometimes SHIT HAPPENS." So it was on the day of our trip to the island. What turned out to be a flat tire was fixable. But it meant that we would miss our connection with the tour boat, meaning that our trip to the Isle of Silver was KAPUT. Then a miracle occurred. The other group that was scheduled to leave on the same boat was also running late. Under the circumstances, the tour company was more than happy to accommodate everybody. So, despite the breakdown, everything went as planned. The moral of this little story is that one should roll with the punches. Or, to put it another way, don't sweat the little things. The chance to photograph an exotic locale is a once in a lifetime experience for most people. So the last thing you want to do is to let minor glitches derail the experience. In other words, "CHILL OUT DUDE." LARRY ELKINS - ELKINSPHOTOS FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY