More Things I Just Can't Ignore

Blue in Bala, 2012

Last week’s travel included early, early mornings and late, late nights, with just a few minutes in between to catch my breath. I didn’t carry a “good” camera because I knew there’d be little time for serious photography. But I was aware that just because I was distracted by some intense “day job” work I couldn’t let my photographer’s eye go unfed. In fact, the few stolen moments I had in which to take pictures with my camera phone were just the thing I needed to get break up the week.

Sometimes it’s big things that catch my eye. Gorgeous landscapes or nature. Last week it was little things that caught my eye, like Blue in Bala, above. This is nothing more than the shadow cast by a tree on the backside of a ground level sign in front of a hotel in Philadelphia. The sign occupies only a tiny part of a much larger landscape. But as I waited for my car to be brought around it was the play of the shadows on the sign that caught my eye. I dropped my bags long enough to run down to the edge of the driveway and grab this shot.

Later that afternoon I found myself on the 22^nd floor of an office building in suburban Chicago. Despite the elevation, there wasn’t much interesting to see from the expansive range of windows. Instead, I happened to glance back into the interior of the room and notice this little tableau of shapes and shadows. Nothing special, but for me an interesting moment.

 

Shadows in Schaumburg, 2012

The next afternoon in suburban Dallas I happened to look out the window of yet another office building and notice these scallop-shaped reflections on the building across the way. They changed as the sun changed its position. (Or was the earth that was changing its position?)

 

Dialog in Dallas, 2012

By the end of the week I’d taken a bunch like these. Most weren’t worth sharing and were quickly discarded upon review. But even the ones that weren’t any good reminded me yet again that there are little moments of awareness and elegance in even the most hectic everyday life if you care to look for them.