“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” – Aristotle

Over the past year I have noted a surprising amount of positive interest in the pictures I publish in this blog. This is curious to me because I am not – technically – a great photographer. But what I do manage to achieve, if not a professional product, is something that people would not otherwise get to see.

What I’m saying is this: I may not know much about getting into my camera’s menu, or setting up the perfect conditions for correct photography, but I do know how to pay attention, to keep my eyes open, and to look at the world around me in a way that communicates something of truth, and inspiration and maybe on occasion art.

The photographs I publish are images people either did not think to look at, or could not see because the perspective does not easily mirror their view of the world.

And so I am here to help. Or at least to encourage all of us to open our eyes.

Friday evening it started to snow. I am excited to see what Tarboro looks like when I get out in the morning, and I know I will have pictures to share – but Friday evening, when it was snowing but not quite beginning to accumulate on the ground, it was also beautiful in its own way.

Street lights highlighting the falling snow. Pockets of sleet accumulating in the grass on the common. Max catching ice crystals on his nose (he has seen very little of snow in his ten and a half years). Main Street looking shiny and inviting and festive in the lights.

I know I use the word “magical” probably too often. But I suspect it is my outlook rather than a limited vocabulary that causes me to see the world and even natural phenomenon as extraordinary and supernatural and inconceivable outside of an imagination that is tied to a foundational sense of belief and wonder.

Belief and wonder. That’s it. This is what I want to put in front of you today. Can we see the world around us with more belief? Can we allow ourselves to be touched in new and creative ways? Can we let a little wonder creep in?

Can we become, as Jesus suggested, like a little child again?

DEREK