It pays to have your camera with you...

[pgriz]

Do you ever have the feeling that there’s something just outside your field of vision? You can feel its presence, but you can’t actually see it? Well, you can, but it’s always at the periphery of your vision, and showhow, when you try and focus on “it”, “it” vanishes into the background. Like a wild animal that you know is there, but doesn’t show itself unless it thinks you are not watching it? Ok, you know that feeling.

I was having that feeling while walking down a path in my town. Kinda creepy, when you think you can actually feel someone’s or something’s gaze on you. Turn slowly around.... and there’s nothing there. Well, there’s lots of stuff “there”, trees, houses, people walking, cars passing on the road... but not the thing whose gaze you feel. And yet, it is there, because when you turn back to resume the walk, you feel those eyes again.

And then you become aware, faintly at first, but once you start listening for it, you start hearing a little bit of extra sound – sounds like the wind rustling the leaves, but with a rhythm. Almost like steps. Almost like something is moving through the trees, quietly, deliberately, and oh, so gently. Your ears strain to pick out the difference from the everyday sounds you hear... and it is there, a little shuffle, some rustling, and maybe even, a little bit of exhaled breath. Look around again, and the sound retreats into the whisper of the wind in the leaves, and the everyday noise of people talking, dogs barking, and kids laughing.

I resumed my walk, my pace beginning to pick up a little. I listened as I walked. Nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary. And then, the distance shuffle, and the rustling of leaves in the trees again, and this without a breeze to move them. I had my camera in my hand, which I forgot about when I started feeling this “thing”. I turned it on, discreetly. As the rustling became slightly louder, but yet just at the edge of hearing, I continued walking, listening for a sense that the “thing” was getting closer. The leaves in the tree that I just passed started to rustle more loudly. I whipped around and shot!

And fleeting from my vision, disappearing into the foilage, was a brilliant red Chinese dragon. Yet when I looked at it, it became foilage and its form vanished, leaving only the redness on the leaves. Oh, you’d say that I was imagining things. Yet I have proof – I managed to capture its form before it faded away completely.

It pays to have your camera with you, as you never know what may appear...

 

[LaFoto]

Very nice story to go with this photo!

 

[pgriz]

Thanks, Corrina. I guess that either the dragon image is too obscure, and no-one can see it, or its so obvious, everyone thinks it's perfectly normal to see dragons in trees. Oh, well, I'm adding it to my collection of hidden dragons - I keep noticing them in the strangest of places.

 

[Derrel]

I'll be honest...when I FIRST saw that, I thought of the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz...that's what "I see" in the rusty red. Cool shot. And some fine writing to go with it.

 

[Tony S]

What you been smoking Willis?