Bird Lover Gift: I paid a high price for these tree swallow photos. When I arrived at my friend's house, I went in to say hi to her. Her son greeted me at the door and a friendly dog. Suddenly, her great mastiff came, and he bit me on the belly. Leaving me a massive bruise. Luckily my friend’s son was there, and he grabbed the dog and put him away. I was in her home for 15 minutes washing the wound and applying a cream that she offered me.

When I was relaxed again, I went to her pond in Daniel, Wyoming, and she had a bunch of tree swallows flying around. They were almost touching the pond’s surface. It was a sight worth seeing. It brought me peace when I needed it the most. My belly was hurting me.

I knew that if I wanted to capture them, I had to get at their eye level, and there was no other way to do that than by laying on my belly. So I stretched with yoga movements.

It was very challenging. To start, tree swallows are tiny birds. They are very aerodynamic and speedy. I took 800 photos that day, and only a handful was with tree swallows, and from that handful, only tree photos were focused on the tiny bird and not on everything else. Searching for a tiny moving bird through the viewfinder gives you a headache. So I was taking a break every 10 minutes. Not to mention that I was lying on my belly, and it was hurting me. There was a point where I just sat down, and I was just looking at them and savoring the moment. When I was sitting down, my bum got wet, and I got cold.

When that happened, I knew it was time to pack my stuff, and I went to my friend’s house and warmed up.

When I arrived home, the bruise was massive. And it left me a couple of scrapes. I’m getting better. I still love dogs.

All the photos are taken by: Julieta Belmont.