I love so many things about photography. I love how it has changed the way I see the world and light. I love the adventures it has taken me on. I especially love the people I have met because of our same love for photography.

There are some problems, however. The cost of film. The cost of gear. Dreaming of lenses. No, really. I had a dream about owning a lens only to wake up and realize it was only a dream. Photography has also stopped me from doing chores.

Let me explain. Last week I went out to the yard to do some much-needed weeding to our herb garden. I had been planning to do some other chores around the space too, such as clearing an area in order to build a gravel shed foundation; The current shed is blocking the sunlight to the plants and is starting to look a little bad, so i’ll be having a new shed brought in soon. I knew it would be a long job, to remove all of the current vegetation. I got out my work gloves, my garden tools, and some soothing tunes all ready to pull weeds and harvest some herbs. My garden and the morning light had other plans.

The sun seemed to be kissing my garden, weeds and all, celebrating the new day. I put down my work gloves and my garden tools and grabbed my camera. I shot away, happily avoiding all weeding. My weeds seemed to dance in the morning light.

After my distraction, I did go back to my garden. To my surprise, the sage was growing wonderfully under all the weeds! I have been trying to grow sage for months without any luck. I guess it just needed some weeds to cheer it on and some glorious morning light.

My morning reminded me of our manifesto- We believe in pulling the car over to capture the view.

While I didn’t need to stop a car, the light and the view made me stop what I was doing and capture the moment. Do you have this problem with photography? Has it changed your eye so that beauty can be found even in the weeds?

~Staci Lee