Looking Out/Looking In

   In January I will have been writing this blog for three years.  In all that time I continue to be amazed at where I find inspiration.  Books, poetry, songs, quotations but the inspiration for this post really takes the prize.

   I was at the transfer station depositing my recyclables in the big container there.  As I was doing that something caught my eye.  Peeking out from under a large cardboard box was a book and the title was...Looking Out/ Looking In!  It really made me smile.  I thought, that is exactly what contemplative photographers do with their camera work.  They look out into the world in order to look into themselves.

   Over time and with thoughtful reflection, our images will reveal our inner truths.  Sometimes those truths will be surprising but we learn from them and move on.  With each photograph we write another page in the biography of our souls and page by page the chapters unfold.

   Yes, inspiration can come anywhere and at anytime.  Even at the transfer station on a Tuesday morning.  Photographs are like that too.  There is always something interesting and revealing and with every click of the shutter we are recording a bit of ourselves as well.

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your 

photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.

Ernst Haas