Ruminator

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography Please don’t judge me.  I hear that saying all the time.  I feel it is an impossible request.  You judge I judge, we all judge.  We use our eyes, ears, nose, thoughts and beliefs and judge based on what we experience that is different than our own. This past Saturday I headed out to hike at my favorite hiking spot.  As I headed down the road a little before 8 am I was approaching a car with flashing lights in my path.  There were two cars in front of me.  The slowing drove around the car and then headed on.  I slowly drove around the car looking in to see that the front and side airbags had deployed and I could not see anyone inside the car.  I drove a little bit further and pulled into the first driveway I came to.  I got out of my car and ran back to a vehicle that had the entire front end smashed.  As I was doing so three other cars slowly drove by and continued. I approached the car from the passenger side and the side airbag slowly lifted from the...

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography This week I returned to the trails and I needed it.  Nature provided me the release I was seeking and I took full advantage. I arrived early Friday morning to my favorite spot, Mt. St. Francis.  The temperature was around 40 degrees and provided me an instant jolt of energy.  I parked, grabbed my backpack, camera and started down the path toward the lake.  From the parking lot, I could see the fog rising from the lake and it provided me an eerie yet cozy feeling.  The sun was just breaking the horizon and cutting through the fog.  All adding to the splendor of this wonderful place. As I approached the lake out of the fog rose a tree that was gentle being kissed by the morning sun rays with a backdrop of a light fog rising from the lake.  I paused for a moment, captured the shot and thought of the irony that this scene provided.  The fog represented my anxiety and stress slowly floating away, and the rays of the sun were warming my soul.  It was a wonde...

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography This week I question why you are right and everyone else is wrong.  Why my opinion is the only one that matters. In this day and age, we live in a society of affirmation, not information.  We justify everything we feel by affirming what we feel or believe without researching the information to see if we are right.  I recently had a conversation with someone who claims to ask for help and/or advice but regardless of what I say this person always does what they want anyway.  This is a pet peeve of mine.  If you don’t want an answer to a question you are going to ask me, or better yet argue with my answer, don’t ask. This person I am referencing is not alone.  Most people these days are like that.  I am guilty of myself.  If I watch the news, I find the channel that will justify my political beliefs, moral beliefs, beliefs in religion, sports, heck even my camera gear.  If I believe in anything I can find some way to affirm it.  What society lacks is the ...

Friday I was able to revisit somewhere I have been wanting to do for quite a while.  With my camera in hand and nerves in check, I did it. In 2016 as I was driving home one day I saw a man out cutting down his field with his John Deere farm equipment.  I pulled over on the side of the road and snapped the shot above.  As he approached me I engaged in a brief conversation and told him I took a picture of him.  He said that it was perfectly fine and told me he owned the farm down the road.  In appreciation for this shot, I printed off a copy and dropped it off at his house (he was not home).  I got a call later that day stating that “was the nicest thing anyone has done for him in a long time”. Moving forward to 2018 I contacted him and asked if it would be possible to come to photograph him or his workers when they are cutting their corn, he happily obliged.  I got the call early last Friday that they would be cutting “in a few hours and going until dark or the rain comes”, a...

Photo by: Tim Bindner Photography I embarked on my first hike of the season this morning with my good friend Kristin and her two dogs Gambit and Mathis.  The intentions and plans were good, the outcome, not so much. We met in the parking lot of Mt. St. Francis and I could tell immediately that the dogs were super excited.  I was not sure if it was me or they were excited to hike (I will assume it was me).  I grabbed my backpack and camera while Kristin unloaded the dogs from her car and I have quickly met with wagging tails and licking tongues.   I said my hello to Kristin and off we went. As we passed the gait and headed down the familiar paved path towards the lake we saw three deer to our left staring right at us.  They were frozen like statues except for an occasional movement of their tails.  We had a brief staredown then the eventually scampered off and we resumed our path towards the lake. I could already feel the change in my body that I can only get from nature.  It sounds str...