This summer, the open road stretched out before me as I sat in the passenger seat and took in sights and deep conversations. I saw the rocky Oregon coast and the Rocky Mountains of Glacier National Park. I traveled along an empty highway in Idaho and the back roads of Florida. I saw where sky met land on the open plains of Montana, and where sky met ocean along the open water of the Gulf of Mexico. I saw those places, walked in those places, and experienced their richness and beauty together in shared memories.
I am thankful. Deeply, deeply thankful.
But today, I needed to walk a familiar path.
It's the route I walked every day, five summers ago -- a time when my camera became an extension of me and a mirror into my soul. I needed that familiarity...and I needed that reawakening.
Reawakening. When I first (re)picked up my camera five years ago (after a many-decade hiatus from it "being a part of me"), it was as if I couldn't take in everything I was now seeing. Suddenly, flowers that were right there -- flowers I'd walked past just the day before -- became glimpses into the beauty and intricate design of the Creator. My emotions felt a balm and found words of expression in the nature before me. My soul and my self started to find their voices and connection in the Creator and the created. Words I couldn't find found their way to the surface through seed pods and contrasts. I walked and photographed, saw and felt, connected and grew... each day seeing something different.
Well, I needed that today. So, I set out on the familiar path and grabbed my camera, just in case. Like that first love rekindled, slowly, quietly and deeply I had the balm of reentering that space. Flowers in a neighbor's garden had an interplay with color and texture and caught my imagination. Queen Anne's Lace, its delicate blossoms now closed and held close within, gave a sense of known to my soul and a visual to my emotions.
I walked and photographed. Saw and felt. Heard and felt heard...and was so thankful to be in that newness of that familiar path.
(Taken from notes from my journal, July 2019)
Each Saturday morning I send a short email called "A Closer Look." It is simply one photograph of nature with a short passage -- either a poem, journal entry, Psalm, quote, or lyric. It is a quiet way to help you start your weekend. If you would like to receive "A Closer Look," please email me at Susanne@wren-photos.com.
If you would like to see more of my photos from the summer, please click the individual albums:"Cannon Beach, Oregon," "Montana Travels," "Indian Pass, FL, 2019," "Summer Flowers," and "Dale Hollow, TN."