Most of you know that I am not the most observant person. It takes a lot for me to notice things, that is unless I have a camera in my hand.  Give me a camera and I notice everything! I see things differently. I notice both fine detail and collective beauty. Maybe that’s why I love photography so much? When life becomes so blindingly distracting, I take great pleasure in seeing what other people walk by. I love seeing surprising vignettes of beauty, particularly when they are surrounded by ugliness.   

Of course, there is nothing special about me. I think we all have these two modes in our lives. There’s a lot we ignore, overlook, push aside, and hide.  And, there are some things we become enamored of or fixated on. Some things we just can’t see and some things we can’t not see. We filter life for the sake of the hope of self-preservation or for the comfort of self-delusion or the pursuit of self-interest. We all do it as a normal course of living, that is, until something shocks us and forces us to reboot.