Less is More

This past year I've shed some weight in lots of ways and also brought some things into my life that used to be there but I let go of when I got married. As Julia Roberts says in Pretty Woman "Big mistake, big big mistake".

One of those things? Photography.

Starting late in high school I took a mild/amateur interest in photography. I consider myself a backyard amateur through and through. But at least where scenery is concerned, sometimes even animals, I've been able to take some great shots. I'll never make a living off it, but I really enjoy it and that's what matters most. It's also really comforting to hear the kindness of friends, family and strangers when they really enjoy something I've captured.



My secret? It's quite simple really.

Less is more.

My best photos happen when I take the time to just hang out, relax, lay around. I don't so much seek out nice things as I let them sort of evolve around me. This is likely why I have a hard time taking pictures of people but an easy time with everything else. People are too much on the move. I think of it like the sun and the earth. The sun gets to shine it's light on all the points of the earth, every day, it just hangs out and lets everything revolve around it. But a person on the earth? Only sees part of the sun and then only part of the day, the earth is too busy doing laps around the sun!

I used to seek out pictures, contrive them, look for the easy, the obvious. But the last few trips to Europe and the past 6 months in New England, it's very different. Sometimes I lay and watch the dawn arrive for an hour, or soak in the scenery at the top of a mountain for quite a while, or just lay in the sun on a weekend afternoon.

It's hard to see beauty when you're rushing past it, when you're seeking the destination and missing the journey.

Perhaps there's something to this Less is More philosophy after all.

(the pictures? a recent hike in New England.)