Stop and See

This was a good reminder for me to stop and see.

Stop for a minute, maybe a few, and see the beauty.

How Beautiful, the Skies

Seeing Beauty

Had I kept my chin tucked and cheeks down searching for shelter,

my hands curled up inside the heart of my gloves,

I wouldn't have seen this.

Nor would I have captured this to see it again

and remember...

...that sometimes we need to go out of our places of comfort to see beauty.

Light

I hope your day is filled with beautiful light.

Not Just One

Not just one.

Rather, many together.

Brushing against each other,

we can leave bruises or beauty.

Beauty from Brokenness

This morning I chose to wander with my camera instead of going for a power-walk. As it turns out, it was just as good for my heart...maybe even better.

On my hikes and walks, I much prefer to bring a lighter lens. I used my 60 mm macro lens for this shot. I chose an aperture of f/4.5 with a shutter speed of 1/100. Once on my computer I brought this into Photoshop and applied a texture layer, one in a Driftwood series I particularly like. After application, I erased some texture from the petals using an opacity of 50%.

On Closer Inspection

Look closely at the ordinary; it is exceptional.

When you are out and about be sure to have your camera, even if you are out and about in very familiar surroundings. There is always something new to see.

What you see from a distance is not the same on closer inspection. Use those feet of yours and your knees too if you have to, to get in close and see what there is to see. The ordinary weed or bloom about to burst open is really an exceptional sight!

For this shot, I used my 60 mm prime lens with settings of 1/125 and f2.8. There is an obvious texture layer over-top but I was careful to make sure it was not over-the-top - less is more and more is less, yes?

Peeling Layers

A little grouping of chives has found its way up from beneath a sidewalk block adjacent to our home. I was considering the chive, an onion plant, as I looked at the shots I took of them yesterday afternoon.

Here, we can see the layers at the base of the bloom peel back to reveal the flower.

Layers, like memories, time and experiences, sometimes painful ones, are peeled back and released to make way for new ways of living and experiencing the world. With any onion, there are often tears that flow as the layers are peeled. So it is with us.

This beautiful blooming chive, growing and thriving in an unlikely and unusual place, reminded me of this great hope we have...for healing and beauty, both.

I used my macro lens to focus on the bloom itself, showing the detail and colour and especially the layer the bloom emerges from. I also used a colour cast in processing and followed that up with applying a texture layer to complete the image. I have to say I really like the layers I've purchased from Life-n-Reflection.

How Beautiful, the Ordinary

How beautiful, the ordinary. This pleasant little grouping of daisies is nearing the end of its shelf life. The petals are beginning to wilt but, like we humans, their age brings character, and their character is beautiful. Perched on a kitchen windowsill we are all invited to remember vases or jars of picked petals sitting above the kitchen sink in our own homes.

Capturing the beauty in the ordinary is what I love to do most with photography.

Originally tempted to get up close and personal with my macro lens, shooting only a petal or two, I resisted the urge and stepped back a few feet to include the other ordinary pieces in the composition. Using the window ledge and also the blurred-out fence lines in the background allowed for more of the ordinary, more of a connection.

Beauty in Brokenness

The daisy, facing down with a broken stem, need not be only sad. Sometimes, the broken can be beautiful.

In my photography, I look for these kinds of things. As I've shared before, I look for beauty in the ordinary but I also look for beauty in brokenness. It is here I see some of the most evocative beauty, sights that reach deep inside of me and remind me that in our brokenness and woundedness there is great potential for the beauty of humility and then healing.

Here, the daisy, both ordinary and wounded, is beautiful. She shines in her brokenness.

For the Beauty of the Earth

My  God

For the beauty of the Earth
For the glory of the skies...

Thank you.

Italicized by Folliott S. Pierpoint

Daisies

Even with petals missing and snowy caps, these daisies seem happy. The bubbly bokeh plays in the background, echoing the daisies' delight.

These images remind me of words I once penned...beauty is not in the absence of loss but in the presence of light. It is so.

Words Without Pictures

We'd like to do exceptional things, not ordinary things.
We'd like to be noticed, not overlooked.
As a Christian, I'd like to do great things for God, not menial tasks.

What about being exceptional in the ordinary? With the mundane, run of the mill drudgery that can be our days, what if we decided, what if I decided, the ordinary was where it counted most to be exceptional?

As I was reading some Oswald Chambers this morning, this really stood out to me and spoke into my life. What a rush life is when exceptional things happen, when my work gets accepted to art shows and people across the world show interest in my photography. But when this isn't happening, and it is most of the time, how do I perceive my life? What kind of effort and enthusiasm do I invest in the regular tasks of today?

I've often spoken about seeing the beauty in the ordinary. There is great beauty in the ordinary, beauty I see and then capture with a camera and share with others. But what about in the ordinary, boring, monotonous stuff that is in a regular day, day in and day out, over and over again? Is there beauty in this? Am I seeing the beauty in the gift of a regular day, the very breath I have, the gift of the ordinary? And what if I can just accept that not all moments are going to appear beautiful? What if I chose still to give my all to those moments, to be exceptional in the unexceptional? I wonder.

Gorgeous Gazanias

Never lose an opportunity to see anything that is beautiful. It is God's handwriting - a wayside sacrament. Welcome it in every fair face, every fair sky, every fair flower.
                    ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spotlight - Aging

Wrinkled and worn, she wondered if she should retreat. Her time of reaching into hearts might be over. On the contrary, as people passed by, they stopped...and stayed. They couldn't turn away from her depth and tenderness.

Spotlight - Sunsets and Water

Everyone likes to watch a good sunset. People stop what they are doing, even if they are inside and pass by a window and notice the sky's colours; they will stop and stare. From this image, it would seem that it is not only people who will stop to watch the sun fall below the horizon. I wonder, do birds notice beauty?