The last few weeks have been tough for most folks I know--me included. We all seem scared, sad, and tired. And, although I know we desperately need the rain, my spirit has felt grey and soggy. The incessant Spring winds are just salt in the wounds...
On the other hand, I'm frequently accused of being a Pollyana. I can't help it. My drive home today was spectacular. Yes, I'm on a four-lane highway, disgustingly increasing my carbon footprint. But I'm also driving along the San Francisco Bay, where on any day I can see several species of birds--hawks, egrets, crows, gulls to name just a few. Here I am, in a brief interlude between storms, in one of the most beautiful places in the country. The clouds are stacked miles high in a tribute to
Charles Courtney Curran. The sun is shining on my left and a rainbow stretches out across the bay on my right. Oh, and the music on the radio? Perfect. It doesn't matter what it was, just fill in whatever you like for your ideal soundtrack.
"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."
One part of what I love so much about the actual act of photography for me is the isolating and capturing of a small element of a larger picture and having it stand on its own merit. I frequently have to remind myself to look up and see the larger landscape as a whole because I am so captivated by the amazing things that are happening on a "small" level all around us. I think the macro lens was invented for us "God is in the details" type of people.
Sometimes it's obviously breathtaking, like looking closely at a blooming Protea or strands of pearls in a glass jar. Sometimes it's seeing how the cracks and bumps in an old chalkboard make an amazing texture. I think beauty really, truly is all around us if we just adjust our lens.
The endorphins from the bike ride didn't hurt either.
