“The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself.

 

–Peter Thiel

How to avoid taking the ordinary for granted.

The result becomes the path to appreciating the present moment.

I’d heard that little voice in my head and asked Bill, “hey, can we stop here?” Then I plopped down at this guardrail.

We were exploring backroads in Mono County in the Sierras to find stands of aspen, hoping they might turn yellow at this elevation.

Autumn in the west bursts into yield-sign yellow if the conditions are right. At this moment, the trees weren’t turning much. However, I found a yellow I was attracted to and pointed my camera at it.

I like to practice without my visual autopilot enabled. I look around taking notice of the ordinary; thinking for myself about what might be fascinating to explore.

What is different? Can I find something to show you, something you’ll find unique too? I don’t want to forget that in the ordinary, there is extraordinary. Life is filled primarily with everyday moments. And we go through the motions without much thought to them.

Most of life adds up to ordinary moments.

In our culture, “ordinary” takes on the meaning of “boring”: ordinary moments, simple routines, and dull times. And just because it is familiar, we take much of that for granted and run on autopilot. Then we wonder what’s my purpose for being here. The simple truth is we should be appreciating the present moment. 

But autopilot numbs us.

And being on autopilot through our days is not living life to the fullest. Our senses are dulled. We don’t enjoy the little moments.

The opposite, creating or craving drama, isn’t a good answer either. Drama means we tap out on adrenaline. That’s just stressful.

The wonder and awe in this very moment.

That’s when you are appreciating the present moment.

What if we took these ordinary moments and saw them differently? With wonder. With awe. What might we see? Feel?

Sure, planning and being in the right place at the right time with a fantastic scene is what photographers live for. But is all lost if a storm passes through at the wrong moment, causing the leaves to fall before we get the stunning photos we hoped for?

Or what if the drought causes the leaves to skip turning yellow and curl up into a lackluster brown?

Brown happens.

The gift of right now.

Are we waiting until the light is right, the weather lines up, and the conditions are stellar to enjoy this moment? Do we require perfection before appreciating that being alive is a gift?

This very minute is precious. And just like that, it is gone.

The guardrail held the key. Just allowing the color yellow to draw me in slowed my thoughts. I began to appreciate where I was.

Appreciating this moment.

My backdrop was a gurgling stream flowing through a grove of aspens. Have you noticed that aspen trees are constantly in motion? They are not able to come to complete stillness. Like young children, they try hard, but sitting still isn’t in their nature.

I pretended that the trees were giving a standing ovation to the day as the breeze lifted their leaves. Their subtle clap celebrates that here we were, enjoying a fall afternoon.

Initially, I thought I saw an abstract mountain scene where the reflective material had worn away from the guardrail. I listened to that intuitive voice whispering encouragement to explore this little scene.

Here’s the scene I spied from the car that made me want to explore the guardrail. From afar, it looked like a mountain scene. It was what I call a “warm-up” shot. Not everything becomes an amazing photo. Far from it. There are lots of trials and errors. This photo just sits in the files and reminds me of why I wanted to stop. And it spurred me onto a photo I just love, “Contrarian.”

Illuminating the value of the ordinary.

But as I worked with my camera, I sat in wonder as patterns and intricate details of the reflective materials made art in front of me.

I’d found a yellow I wanted to share with you.

For the record, I was off the road, away from danger. And Bill watched the little traffic there was and alerted me just in case. So I wanted to clear that up because a mom or two in the audience might be concerned. Love you! P.S. Don’t try this on a busy highway. Be safe.

We think something is simple, but have we given it any thought?

You might think this non-moving subject would be a simple snap, and I’d be on my way. But, of course not. The surface is curved. That introduces different depths that shooting close-up complicates.

Then there is the lighting issue. Clouds drifted across the sky, teasing me by shadowing my subject one moment and then letting the sun break through to highlight it the next. And remember, that yellow honeycomb picks up light, so my scene kept shifting from dark to just right and then blindingly bright.

As I worked with this, I wondered why one little honeycomb had lost its yellow. Did all of the cells have those little silver bead-like shapes underneath? Do the people involved in producing guardrails ever look closely at the swirls? Who designed the compartments like a honeycomb?

You realize how amazing life is when you start peeling back the details. We take all kinds of jobs, discoveries, and efforts by our fellow humans for granted. And I’d venture to say they probably take our work for granted too.

“The Hive.” The extensive symmetry of the honeycomb design was not what I expected to be shooting. But a lot of fun.

Appreciation for what we usually don’t notice.

A minimal yellow photo has its moment to shine.

“Contrarian.” What says I’m part of the group but I think for myself more than this simple hexagon?

How to feel energized from the little moments.

Make room for art!

And the color yellow.

This yellow brings fun and optimism into your home or office. Wouldn’t you like to live with the inspiration yellow brings? This color also boosts enthusiasm.