Geese, West of Canyon, 1999

This is unlike most of my photographs. I am not a nature photographer, but the circumstances of this photograph were unique. I was driving due west from Canyon on an extremely windy late afternoon. As I approached a small "playa," a natural shallow pond common to the Llano Estacado, thousands -- and I'm not exaggerating -- of geese suddenly took flight. They attempted to return to the pond, but the wind was so strong that they literally held stationary in the air for minutes. It was really thrilling, and I shot several frames rather recklessly, surmising that nothing would be of use. But oddly enough, I capured this scene of roughly 300 to 400 geese in the western sky, with a classic West Texas horizon.