A Thought for Today - Simplicity....

   I've been thinking a lot about simplicity lately.  My stay at the Pleasant Hill Shaker Village in Kentucky clearly influenced me.  The folio of images I made there contain many almost minimalist studies that I found compelling.

   I will continued this approach in Canterbury, New Hampshire at the Shaker village there when I visit next week.  It is easy to find simplicity in a place that puts a premium on quiet, "empty" space.  This way of framing our work does not rely on a kind of institutional simplicity however.  The photograph on the right was made at a French chateau that was anything but simple.  Still, in a window niche on the second floor, I found this moment of stark simplicity because my eye sought it out...cried for it even in all the garish opulence I was surrounded by.

   What I wrote on this image also refers to where you go to photograph...don't worry about finding striking, breath taking landscapes or glorious sunsets.  Wherever you find yourself, whatever is there, is enough.  Open up your heart to find the simplicity of, and the beauty, in the commonplace...the sacred in the ordinary.