The dark clouds slowly rolled in bringing thunder with them. I sat as still as I could, I am able to wait hours but I can't sit still, I constantly shift and fidget. The Turtle was timid. He would ease his head out and look around for a minute or two before retreating back inside his shell. In this shot he is looking directly at me, so I froze, which of course meant that every mosquito and gnat in Arkansas converged on my face. He retreated. Lightning flashed and a few large drops of rain fell. I wanted to get a shot of him with his legs out, feet on the ground and head in it's full extended position, just before he walked off. The Turtle had other ideas, Turtle ideas. The lightning was now too close and as stubborn as I am I had to admit defeat and pack it in. I moved the Turtle to higher ground, about twenty feet away. I packed up my camera, strobe and soft box and within a few minutes the deluge began. I checked on the Turtle an hour or so after the rain started and he had burrowed his way under fallen pine needles and other assorted forest detritus, no doubt having a Turtle dream, smug with the satisfaction of being the day's most stubborn.

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© Rex Lisman