This is the week of St. Patrick's Day, and I've got some Scotch-Irish heritage, so I'm celebrating the holiday spirit by counting my blessings, recognizing my good luck, and holding an attitude of gratitude. I created space for a family adventure this week, and that's when my kids and I spotted a rare bird and a field of bluebonnets, by pure luck!

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“A Camera Man's Dream”

The Vision

With colors flying, the kids run wild like the wildflowers, and the blue herons arrive with all their greatness. Here in Austin, Texas, the Spring season is already here, with blue-violet flowers growing in the lush green grasses, and big birds fishing in the pristine streams. It's a camera man's dream!

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The Story

I wish I could honestly say that I immerse the kids in nature on a daily basis–it's so good seeing them lit up in the sunshine, or muddied in the rain puddles. Fortunately, on this day, I made it a priority. We live in an area of Austin that is called "The Hippest Zip," because it's got lots of classic hang-out spots, and many of our favorite places are hidden in forested areas called the Greenbelt.

A quick Wikipedia overview reveals that the heron is a lone hunter, only gathering in colonies during breeding season. Otherwise, the heron flies solo.

Lucky for us, a stretch of the Greenbelt stands right outside our door. In fact we were standing and watching from our balcony when we recorded the footage and photographs of the great blue heron you see here. And then the kids and I discovered the bluebonnets on a short trip through the woods. Rosalie and Gabriel convinced me we should go home and grab the camera, to show mama our secret spot.

Now, if you're a techie, a film geek, or a music freak, you probably know that the world-famous SXSW (South by Southwest) festival is in full effect, here in Austin, Texas. It's also Spring Break right now, and so our town is flooded with clutter, alongside the butterflies. This year, I'm mostly devoting my attention toward the kids, and we're finding time to enjoy great outdoors. The nature element is just as heavenly as the festival is rockin', in this moment.

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The Process

My creative process for this video and photo series was a matter of entering the Flow, and documenting. Entering the Flow state was easy, because the signs were clear: wildlife, wildflowers, and wild kids, oh my! It's one of those occasions where you just follow the beauty, kind of like my work as a wedding videographer. I setup my camera (Canon 5D Mark III) on a monopod, capturing a variety of candid shots on the fly. My editing environment is Adobe Premiere, which you can see in the screenshot.

The music you hear in the video is a track called “Hiking the Trails,” by Brothers Vinyl, an Austin band famous for recording 365 songs in 2015. To me, it was one of those Austin music experiences that validates the city's claim to fame as the Live Music Capital of the World. In fact, I produced a documentary short film highlighting this band, and shared the story as my very first Steemit post: https://steemit.com/music/@cabelindsay/the-brothers-vinyl-heroes-of-austin-live-music-documentary-short-film. Here's that vid:

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The Quest

This is my entry to Steemit Vision Quest - Week 7: Lucky. Thanks to the SVQ team, who is a steady force of encouragement for all of us willing to bring our collective Visions together for the higher good of all: @eaglespirit, @rensoul17, and @girlbeforemirror. Thanks to all the Vision Questers, and thanks to all of the supporters. Thanks to the creators of Steemit, and thanks to those who continue to make this platform great. I appreciate you. I honor all my relations. Aho. God bless you.

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This post contains 100% original content by @cabelindsay.