(originally posted 4.28.14)

This is why I love what I do….call it art, call it a passion….call it my job………either way I love it……

Photography keeps me searching…….keeps me hunting……In my head I hear a mantra….where is the light?  Find the joy….capture the moment……To some this may take away from the moment…they may think this prevents oneself from being fully present.  For me it’s just the opposite.  I am rarely more present in a moment than when I am with my camera.

It’s my 6^th sense.  I see this more sharply.  I feel things more vividly.  Through my lens things come alive…..and so do I.

In a windy day I see the beauty of the flowing curls of my daughter.  In the setting sun I see strength in the silhouette of my growing son.  Through the glisten of the morning sun I see my youngest daughter as she pauses to study the smallest details of life….an ant….a buttercup growing up through the grass…..

And on this day…..in this moment…..with my camera in hand, I was on a search for a way for us to pull as much beauty as we could out of the last few hours of an otherwise gray and rainy weekend………

And so we found ourselves running around through puddles in an empty parking lot……..Through my lens I saw the setting sun illuminate puddles left on the concrete….The glistening splash of the water…The joy on my girls’ faces as they ran carelessly back and forth………

And though it wasn’t captured on camera, know that behind that lens there was a smiling Mama.  A grin from ear-to-ear…a heartbeat that quickened with joy at the laughter that echoed through an empty parking lot……..

This is why my camera is always within my reach.

This is why I shoot.

I am present.

I am preserving this moment for our future…..and with this I fill my soul today….