From Maria to Simon to Gus to my photography and my blog, the last decade of my life seems to be about opening up, connecting to other people and to animals, growing and healing and changing.

Now, I am called up to open up to the message of the Great Blue Heron who has come to live in our pond, and who speaks to me about the connectedness of the world, and the power of creativity. Like my dogs and other animals, the Heron has come to us for a reason, and brings us a message.

“Animal Speak: The Spiritual And Magical Powers Of Creatures Great And Small,  by Ted Andrews, is an important book in our home, it often inspires us and guides us.

The Blue Heron’s legs, he writes, “are symbols of balance, and they represent an ability to progress and evolve…The long thin legs of the Heron reflect that you don’t need great massive pillars to remain viable, but you must be able to stand on your own.”

The ability of the Heron to stand in the water enables them to follow their own paths, writes Andrews, enables them to follow their own path.

Most people will never be able to live the way heron people do, it is not a structured way, and does not seem to have a stability and security to it. “It is, though,’ writes Andrews, just a matter of perspective. There is security in heron medicine, for it gives the ability to do a variety of tasks. If one way doesn’t work, another will. This heron people seem to inherently know.”

So here’s the thing. I am a heron person, so is Maria. So are the 30 people who have already bought prints of my Blue Heron photograph, which has upended things a bit  here. I have never taken a photograph that sold so many prints in so short a time. I don’t think I’ve ever sold a photograph that sold 30 prints at all in less than 48 hours.

The picture is a coming together for me. Maria is overseeing it’s printing and sales. George Forss, my good friend and photographic inspiration is doing the printing. The heron is living on our pond. Oddly enough, it also came just before our trip to New Mexico in October, a landmark for us, our first vacation together.

The heron has endorsed our trip and perhaps came to support it.

The symbolism of the heron is our story, Maria and mine. We do not live in a structured way, we have no real security in the common understanding of the term. If one way doesn’t work, another will, that is my mantra. This is the life Maria and I chose, the one we share.

The heron then, is a collaborative and creative experience. Every day, for nearly a decade, I have worked on my photography, studies the light, learned about lenses, sought emotion, color and light in my images. Every new lens is a rebirth for me, a new way to see the world. In truth, I have never worked harder at anything that I have my photography, or loved anything more.

I will never stop looking for new and different ways to be creative.

There is much luck in a picture like this, the heron just standing there, me with a new lens I was eager to use to capture the magic in the world. But I knew it was a special photograph the minute I took it, the minute I saw it.

I see the world anew, in part because I look every single day. The photograph then, is a coming together. Of Maria and our love for one another. Of my photography. Of the spirit and genius of George Forss. Of the symbol and messages of Mother Nature, and of the spiritual and magical powers of all of the creatures of the world. Of the determination and courage needed to be creative, and put one’s work out into the world.

So there are 20 prints left – this is a signed and limited edition, we are capping it at 50. The print costs $110 plus shipping and is not framed (it will be shipped in a secure tube) and is being lovingly printed by George on archival paper, I’m going to get the first 16 today.

If anyone wants to purchase the print, you can e-mail Maria at [email protected]. Since we are not printing more than 50, Maria may choose to keep some for our Open House on Columbus Day weekend. So there may only be 10 or so still available.

I am open to the message of the Blue Heron. It is right under my nose.