In the spring of 2021, as the world was emerging from COVID-19, a fox had a little family along the Heritage Trail in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She drew a fan club of photographers with long lenses and fancy cameras, and a few of us with cell phones and extendable lens cameras. My trusty Canon SX50HS and I started making the encounters a regular thing. I found myself looking at my morning walk as I never had before. I was hooked. The fox in the image on the right was taken that spring with that camera.

Fredericksburg in the spring is a sight to behold. Bald Eagles, Ospreys, Cormorants and Great Blue Heron fish the Rappahannock River during the Shad Run. By the next year, I’d upgraded the camera and the lens and learned to shoot in manual mode, thanks to those same photographers I met the previous spring and more than a few YouTube videos.

I continue to grow and learn in skill and artistry. I’ve been fortunate to place in some local art and photography shows. And while social media has plenty of faults, I’ve found the encouragement I’ve received to be a catalyst.