While hiking in Colorado with Ruth and Shari, we crossed a bridge on our way to a high falls.   The picture taking had been less than spectacular to that point, but the views were nonetheless breathtaking.

As we crossed the bridge something darted fast in front of us… a chipmunk. He stopped on a rock and looked at us expectantly.  I suspect he was wanting us to pay his bridge toll in cookies or bread crumbs!

So we did just what you are never supposed to do, we “interacted with the wildlife.”

We played with this guy for a good twenty minutes before he decided he’d had enough fun for the day, sufficient toll extracted from the tourist and scampered off. But… we had fun making pictures of this friendly and fearless little critter.

We set out to shoot great vistas or herds of elk or a huge moose, but only made an image of a posing chipmunk.  That was still rewarding.  Every time I go out to shoot something I end up making an image of something I hadn’t expected, something that wasn’t part of the original plan.  So it is in photography, so it is in life.  We often end up with something we weren’t expecting, something we didn’t plan on, and that can be wonderful.

I hope I get to point my camera at this little troll again, or perhaps his cousin!