I looked at the course last week, before the coronavirus pandemic changed life as we know it. As I reflected upon how much we take for granted, and how much we rely on technologies - that we have lost a connection to the natural world. Of course, this is a wide spectrum of dependencies - but, I felt fortunate in that upon my retirement in 2015, I fell in love with birding, which got me out first thing in the morning with some purpose - out into nature and the beauty of the day. I have photographed over 50 percent of the birds I observed and have that documentation and I ebird almost daily -wherever I was (Hawaii, Texas, Costa Rica and my personal favorite - my backyard.) But in an effort to slow things down, this course has a definite appeal in just watching my subject, for as long as the bird will let me!
So, after watching the video on the different styles of journal-ing, I think I'd like to go back to the beginning of 2020, with a study of my own photographic journey of birds in Costa Rica in January, Texas in February and Western NY in March (though Western NY is pretty much all the time.) I will sketch and color my photos as a primer before I start to go out into the field once the weather gets a bit nicer. Included with the sketches will be what memory serves as the place and time I saw "life" birds. I think that creating a journal to recreate these memories will be rich and wonderful, then I will build them more spontaneously when I go out in the field. I can't wait to draw a skunk cabbage!

This is an ornate hawk-eagle seen in Costa Rica.