Beautifully Obscured
Beautifully Obscured
Sitting at our dining room table each morning, I sip myself awake with freshly made espresso. Windows frame my view and look out onto the surrounding trees of our heavily forested property. Each day nature presents itself in different ways, through changing weather conditions, seasons, or occasional dramatic afternoon light. This provides an inspirational start to my day and no two days are the same.
One morning, while sitting and looking outward, it began to rain heavily, and rivulets of water started streaming down the windows and partially obscuring my view. As a photographer, typically obsessed with razor-sharp photos, the scene before me was anything but sharp and began to take on a watercolor, painterly quality that captured my attention. Lost in thought, mesmerized by the everchanging interplay of rain streaking down the windows, parts of the scene were sharp, while other details and colors were muted. I waited for the moment when the most pleasing combination of sharpness and blur made the final photograph.
Stumbling upon this new way of seeing won’t dramatically change how I photograph, but it taught me how to be open to beautifully interpreting the landscape. I hope to be available to the possibilities the next time I photograph; I’ll stumble upon a new way of seeing.