This is one of the early photos I took, the summer of 2014. I had begun picking up my camera almost daily, walking the same route. This sunflower was growing in a metal tub in my front yard, one of the few that had continued to grow after my second grade class planted several seeds in the spring.
As I walked out the front door to begin my walk, the sunflower caught my eye. Later, when I viewed the photo on the screen, I was struck by the patterned swirl of the newly-forming seeds within the flower. I had never seen that design before. I smiled at the individual petal, growing its own way, giving the sunflower almost a "wink."
I have always loved nature. Yet suddenly, the intricacies of all of nature took on a deeper level.
I continue to come back to this photo -- and what I learned from it at a deeper level -- again and again. It still makes me smile.
