eyes wide open.

Quote love: "If May had a soundtrack, it would be rain falling and pages turning and keys clicking as I type my way through the night. May sounds like a storm pressing down on the roof and a prayer on my lips and a summer love song still vibrating inside my heart." Natalie Lloyd. 
I like: the way the sunset turns the trees into green-grey smudges.

I'm not sure where this post is going, but that's ok. My mind's a little all over the place, and, as a result, this most likely will be. And all the photos? Well, there's an explanation for them too.

It looks like it's going to rain tonight. There's a particularly ominous cloud creeping closer to us, just barely covering up the sun. The storms are my favorite part of spring. There's just the right balance of warmth during the day, a light storm just before the sun sets, and clear skies by the time the stars come out.

This weather begs for a book and a cup of tea, a camera capturing it all. Instead of sitting sprawled out on the wicker porch swing, creaking a rhythm of back and forth and back and forth and back, I'm sitting in the living room. The light is gorgeous tonight, smooth and creamy, and, if you hit it at the right angle, just dreamy enough to put a soft haze around whatever you're photographing. 


Libby, blogger and photographer extraordinaire, wrote a post yesterday that hit straight home. Speaking of forgoing editing in the photo process and just focusing on the photo, she says,

"Of course, editing has a place. But I really want to get the skills of light and composition and depth before I learn the skills of saturation bars and resizing and tinting. To me, it's important that I nurture those raw, instinctive skills of just a camera." 

And so, today I took time to simply "do photography," as Libby puts it.

I took my camera and my 50mm outside, and I looked. I watched. And I saw.

Things look different through a camera lens. 

You notice things you wouldn't have noticed without the viewfinder. Small, insignificant things stand out.

One of my favorite movies is Sabrina. In this story, Sabrina travels to Paris to work for a fashion agency. A friend teaches her how to use a camera, and she documents Paris with her camera. Fast forward, and she's back in America photographing a house for her father's employer. Sabrina explains to him why she loves photography, saying that every time she looks through a camera, it's like finding herself in the middle of a story.

I love that. For me, taking photos (yes, it's cliche) (don't judge) is about capturing the memories. It's about seeing the small beauty with eyes wide open. In Natalie's stellar book Paperdoll, there's a particular paragraph that speaks volumes to me. She writes,

"Anybody can find beauty when it's obvious. Finding subtle beauty and looking for a holy moment in an ordinary day is more of a challenge. And it is usually far more amazing."

And that, friends, is so very true.

Today was heart shaped bokeh, eye doctor appointments (new glasses? oh yes!), re-reading inspiring blog posts (dear Natalie, you never fail to amaze me),  and, of course, picturepicturespictures.

What's happy in your lives right now?