"Appreciation is yeast, lifting ordinary to extraordinary." - Mary-Ann Petro
Every Sunday over at my other blog
The Streaming Now I have been posting snapshots of things I noticed during my week. Most weeks these include photos I have taken of my garden, or of the pretty village I live in. These often draw comments saying how beautiful the village is, or how lovely my garden is.
Now this prompted lots of thought. - You see, if any of these people visited my garden (or my village) expecting only to see the beauty that I show, then they may well be disappointed.
Because, with my camera, as with my life, I get to choose what to focus on.
I could choose to take a photo of the broken paving, the overgrown vegetable patch or the manhole covers in my garden. And around my village instead of taking a photo of the pretty thatched cottage with roses around the door, I could take a photo of the dingy house with a black sheet pinned up at the window in place of curtains.
There have been times when I have been overwhelmed by the glorious colours of autumn trees, lit up and glowing like works of art. While others noticed a drinks can thrown by the side of the road and launched into a rant about the state of the area.
I could choose to focus on the
wrongs and let them stop me seeing all of the
rights - effectively blinding me to all the beauty that is around me.
We are surrounded by beauty and can make a conscious choice of where we focus our lens. It is really worth considering. . . what are you
taking pictures of?
"Keep what is worth keeping - and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away." - Dinah Mulock Craik
