We spent three weeks on our friends’ farm over Christmas. We piled firewood into pot bellies. We hauled water from the house to the barn when the pipes had frozen in -40 temperatures. We collected fresh, frost-bitten eggs from chicken coops. We test drove our dream, the life and home we want to be living in a few years from now. We dove in to a three week adventure and came out the other side, humbled by the animals who were put in our charge. We were given affirmation that yes, this was the space we belonged in, the realm in which we would thrive.
And we discovered the truly intricate
beauty of their home. All around us, we were discovering textures. I
was surrounded by rough edges, smooth surfaces, worn and weathered
walls. With a zoom lens in my hands and my inner eye open to the
possibilities, I found them leaping out at me. Pick me, the cracked stone and cement of the barn would call out. Choose me next, cheered the wooden beams in the hay loft. And don’t forget us, said the home made studio doors.
I wrote on my blog recently about the importance of textures in photography, and our lives: Texture gives our world, that which we see and watch lustfully, depth.
Chasms exist because we see the jagged rocks ripping into each other.
The walls built up around us are 10 feet away or 10 inches. Our doors
tell us stories of how many smiles we’ve carried across that threshold.
Textures are fascinating and ceaseless, and yet we often walk right past
them.
Instead of walking past, let us all regroup. January's Photography Challenge is to scour our lives in order to find and capture the textures surrounding us. What rough edges are you ignoring on your walk home from school? Which drops of rain against the windshield of your car are you casting aside for a clearer view? Pause. Look around. Pick up your point-and-shoot, your iPhone, your DSLR, and share.
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