Finding my Center

What drives me to see photographic images everywhere I look? How, when life can be messy and the world ugly, can I just put my blinders and find beauty in even the unlikely places? Why is it impossible for me not to seek little tidbits of delight in the most mundane moments? When am I not captivated by the way light gives shape to a landscape, illuminates my children or highlights something ordinary that sits on my coffee table?

The answers aren’t clear to me and I don’t really know why I’m asking. But there is something curious here. I do know I am not alone. There is a community of us in which these same questions resonate. The reasons behind them do exist yet they are different for each of us.

For me, I believe that is in these details of daily life that I am delivered. Where there is beauty, there is peace. If I can look around my home, jam packed with vibrant family life (aka, dirty dishes, toys, books, mail, shoes, a ring around the bathtub—need I go on?) and look past the chaos, amidst what often overwhelms me and discover a tiny whisper of wonder, of calm, I am transported to the place within myself where reverie lives.

What about you? How do you answer the whys?

Comments

[melody]

Tracey, when I read your words they are so often reflective of my own thoughts and hopes. I'm such a novice in the magical world of photography...yet I never look at anything without seeing a photo.

The thoughts and photos posted thus far at SS are provoking, inspiring.

[Bunny]

I think for me, when I look around and see photographic images everywhere, I am looking for the little, hidden beauty tucked into the everyday mundane. It helps me to breathe a little more and see the pretty, lovely, divine blessings around me.

[Stephanie]

I feel the same way and have felt this way since I was very young. It is an ongoing joke in my family to tease me about my constant exclamations about ordinary things being beautiful or "wow...this light is pretty". I constantly find beauty wherever I look. As I get older and see more of how ugly the world can be, I also see how much more beautiful it is when you truly open your eyes and look.

[Sheri]

I think you did a mighty fine job answering my whys. Thank you!

[camerashymomma]

i wear blinders mostly, in hopes to focus. often the smallest detail is overlooked as you mentioned by the sink full of dishes or shoes strewn about the house. when i look through my camera i automatically zoom into beauty, and go seeking it in the most ordinary of places. thanks for this post, it rings true with me.