The Ones I Like List of 2006 – A Countdown [#1]
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(If you click on the photo, you can see a larger-sized, more detailed version of the image.)
Landing – Perfection…so intrinsic in nature, so elusive in craft. Every so often, however, an invitation is extended to us by nature to participate in her glory. Laughter in the rain comes to mind. So does gazing up at celestial fireflies on a clear winter’s night. These “symbiotic” moments with nature are the reasons I am a photographer in the first place. I like the whole being-so-close-to-perfection thing…and actually realizing it! Before I was swept up in photography two years ago, I never really paid mind to my surroundings. Stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon. Didn’t really experience it. Played on the beaches of Dorado. Couldn’t take it all in. Strolled about in Central Park. Nothing. Photography offers me what no other vocation could — an opportunity to see and to walk hand-in-hand with perfection.
The photo, landing, in my eyes, represents the closest I’ve come to perfection so far as a photographer. It was a combination of nature presenting an opportunity to capture her beauty and my being available and eager to take hold of that opportunity. What could be more delicate, more graceful than a butterfly captured in flight, preparing for landing? This year was all about “landing” for me personally, about gracefully attaching myself to beautiful things, people, moments. It was also the year I experienced how delicate the balance of life is with the passing of my of my most beloved grandmother. Delicate, graceful, giving is nature’s signature. Perfection is her gift. There was no other option for me, but to embrace landing as my favorite photo of the year.
