With this new year, there comes new hopes and dreams. I think many of us bathe in the newness of January- stripping off old habits and creating new ones. Some years, of course, are better than others.

For over ten years, I have chosen one word to hold throughout the year. Sometimes the word has been a guide and others I only knew the value of the word when my year came to an end. This year, my word hit me like a freight train. Delight. I do not naturally delight in things. It takes a conscience effort for me to experience and revel in happiness. When the word delight found me, I knew it would be a guide and mantra for me during the year.

It is only a few weeks into 2017, but already, I have seen a shift in how uncomplicated life seems when looking at it with delightful eyes. I liken it to buying a new lens. When I first started my photography journey, I had one lens- an 85mm. I loved that lens, and I still love that lens. It captured the small details of life perfectly. One day, my husband came home with a new 50mm. It was like I was seeing in a whole new way. I could get closer to my subject; I could stand back and see so much more through the 50mm than the 85mm. With a new lens, there was a shift, and I saw the world differently.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,

but in having new eyes.    ~Marcel Proust

Looking at life with the lens of delight hasn’t changed my world, it has shifted my view. I see joy and happiness easier. I experience the normalcy of life with a new excitement and ease.

Delight. I think it might be my new favorite lens.

~Staci Lee

*all photos were taken with my Minolta X700 on Fuji Pro 400 film.