Have you ever accomplished a goal you weren’t quite aware of setting?
I started this blog to become a better observer of my own life. And, in the process, I’ve also:
- become a much quicker, braver photographer. I snap pictures with my phone and try things. Sometimes they work; sometimes they don’t. The blurry image police don’t come after me when things don’t go well. So, that’s a relief.
- become more aware of my own neighborhood. Hunting for photos made me stop to really look at my surroundings, letting color catch my eye or noticing how the angle of the sun changes the entire shape of things. Even if I never take another picture, I now cherish the gentle light of the “golden hour.”
- come to understand that the most mundane tasks, usually in my garden, often have the most to teach me about life. To wit: cutting back and a strong foundation.
My photography goal was to get better at capturing color with my iPhone and to take pictures of small things, rather than just sweeping landscapes. I was tired of only taking pictures of mountains and seascapes and architecture. I wanted to try to find small, focused images. That goal, combined with the fact that I started this in spring made it an obvious choice to focus on flowers.
But now, I’m ready to move on. Am I an expert? Hardly. But now I’m intrigued by movement – the slide of muscles under skin, the flow of an object through space – I have no idea how to photograph that. But I’d like to learn.
Before I leave off the flower pictures though, I went through my phone and grabbed some photos that I hadn’t published yet. They’re ideas for adding to my garden in the future and snapshots from my friend’s gardens. Other people’s flowers in other words. Maybe they’ll inspire you too.
