I stumbled upon a completely-disappeared post by Grant Meyer, in which talks about taking some time to stop and appreciate the landscape around him. He talks about the looky-loos that come to photograph and otherwise enjoy the landscape in spring and summer, when crops cover the rolling hills around him, and comments on the stark beauty of the landscape in winter. “I often take for granted the opportunity that surrounds me,” he complains, and shares a couple of pictures of the gently rolling hills, “striped like zebras” in the dead of winter.

Now, Meyer lives near the Palouse, on the border of Idaho and Washington, and so it’s easy for him to get out and appreciate the environment, much like it’s easy for my Aunt and Uncle in Arkansas to appreciate the Ozark range, with all its beauty. But it’s also easy for them to take it all for granted, speed past on the way to work, get wrapped up in daily life and forget.

I was reminded first of how I take Irving for granted—I think pretty much everyone takes Irving for granted: it’s a suburb of Dallas and nice enough, but its mostly tract homes and strip malls of various vintages and economic ranks. Therein lies an opportunity, I think, photographically speaking. But second, and most importantly, that reflection on the creation can help us find and remember the Creator, to give thanks to Him for our minds and bodies, for the landscape, for the senses that allow us to see, hear, smell, even taste the creation, whether it’s the Palouse, or the Ozarks, or an Irving strip mall. Continue reading “stop. look. appreciate.”