I enjoy seeing photographs in the world around, even without hearing the click of my camera’s shutter, even without a camera at all. At times I get can become annoyed with myself, remembering there is a reality separate from my need, sometimes obsessive, to crop life to fit in my viewfinder.
What pleasure I have looking in the viewfinder and seeing the relationships among shapes, colors, textures, shade of light/dark.
Sometimes I’m fortunate to see far more than I thought might be there. Pleasure turns to pure amazement. Click, click, click… .
When I used film cameras, these would be “10-roll” days. Now, with digital cameras, I can, and do, make many more photographs than I know I’ll ever use. I know many will end up in the trash, but when the muse is there, I’ll court her and worry later on about what is a good photograph. I learn so much in the process.
One day this fall I stopped by a small, nearby stream with photo buddy, Rob. I’ve visited this magical place hundreds of times—tucked in right next to a busy road but miles from the busy-ness of life. On this day we found the perfect combinations of water, foliage and reflected light and saw things we’d never imagined possible. Click, click, click. An hour later we were both dizzy with the joy of seeing and anticipation for the photographs we’d made.
Saying this is a photograph of "reflections of fall foliage in slow-moving water" ignores the fact that what I saw in my viewfinder and what you are seeing here on the screen is, quite simply, astounding.
That night we each downloaded our work and quickly found much of it was even more remarkable than the already amazing scenes we had been seeing in the viewfinder. Not all the “clicks” worked, but some were among the best images either of us had ever photographed. I just smile at how life can be so serendipitous and stunningly beautiful. Can life always be this magical?
Still Learning To See 
There are photographs everywhere waiting to be shot. Some will never been seen by the human eye let alone the cameras lens. Because of the nature of the ever changing universe they will never be the exactly the same. With light changes, weather changes, wind and even down to the molecular changes undetected by the human eye. It is up to me to find the shot, recognize the shot, understand the shot, take the shot and finally share them. My only hope is that you too will see the awe, the beauty, the simplicity, the complexity, the mystery and experience what I have seen.
Thanks. Next time we’re together, let’s explore the topic of what makes truly great art!