5 photos I did not take but wish I would have

1. When I was a small child I lived in London. I have alot of memories of my years there considering I was so young. My mother made sure that we went everywhere and saw everything as she realized that it was a chance of a lifetime. There is a family scrapbook that she made that did preserve some of the memories with postcards and pamplets and lots of souvenirs, but I wish I would have been able to photograph all the wonderful things I saw that are etched in my memory. From the double decker buses to the magnificent castles. I remember seeing the gullotines and the crown jewels and Madam Tousads wax museum and just some incredible things. At the time I was too young to appreciate it, but London would be a terrific city to shoot street photography also.
2. When my family and I arrived in Fairbanks a couple years ago, it was quite an experience. We had come across the entire country, 3 children including a 2 year old, a cat, a dog, and about twenty pieces of luggage. I had lived in Kodiak when I was a teenager, so it wasn't completely like another world, but it was quite the culture shock. Anyway, we were riding around the first week or two we were here and we passed by an elderly lady walking on the side of the street. Her face showed so much character. It was weathered and worn and she just looked like someone who would have some incredible stories to tell about life in Alaska. She was wearing a traditional parka with the fur around the hood and to this day I wish I would have asked her if I could take her picture. Considering my mindset of just moving here and fearful of the extreme winters, she just struck me as someone worth photographing.
3. Before moving here we came from the Gulf Coast about 2 hours drive from New Orleans. I have pictures of the Saints games we went to and the New Orleans Zoo and some of the French Quarter and Mardi Gras, but the city of New Orleans has a tremendous amount of history and I so regret not taking photos of the amazing architecture, the old cemetaries and the lush courtyards. I missed alot of opportunities for some incredible pictures. The sad part is Hurricane Katrina came through 3 months after we left!!
4. One shot I wish I had taken (well I sort of did take it) is a picture of the most enormous Lynx ever! We were in Denali before the season opened to the buses and we had been in as far as we were able to go and we headed back out and hadn't seen much wildlife, only a few caribou when we spotted something quite a distance off in a patch of snow. With the binoculars we figured out it was a lynx. We watched for a little while but lost track of it once it left the snowy patch and entered more dense brush. Well, we sat there (camera resting in my lap, all set with my telephoto lens) waiting to see if it would come back into view. Well, what do you know? he came up and out about 2 feet in front of our truck, crossed the road and went up the woods on the other side. I was so shocked the only thing I got a picture of was the woods where he entered and disappeared.
5. Last but not least I wish I had taken more photos of friends and family over the years. Of course I have pictures of them, but now I have such a greater appreciation of photography that I wish I could go back in time and take some photos that never were!

MCohoon