On a gloomy afternoon in mid-December I walked to the river with my camera. I was shocked to see how much the water level had fallen in only two days.
The sky was so dark with clouds that at first I failed to see a grey heron standing on the opposite side of the river. When it moved, I saw it and mounted my camera and a long lens on a tripod.
The heron walked around a little and the flew about 200 meters upstream.
I didn’t expect to get any wildlife photos on such a dark day. Fortunately, that grey heron blessed me with its presence and reminded me that ideal light conditions are far less important than simply being outdoors with a camera.
Location: Yasugawa upstream from Japan Route 8 on Google Maps
