THE THINGS WE WALK PAST 

Perhaps ordinary things are only ordinary because we stopped looking. 

There are things you have passed hundreds of times.

Perhaps thousands.

The tree beside the driveway.

A crack in the sidewalk.

The handle of your favorite coffee cup.

A neighbor's front steps.

The little patch of weeds beside the grocery store.

The view from a window you stopped noticing years ago.

Today, choose one.

Not the prettiest thing.

Not the most interesting thing.

Just something that has quietly existed beside you while you were busy going somewhere else.

Stop.

Look at it as though you have never seen it before.

Notice its color.

Its edges.

Its scars.

Where the light touches it.

Where time has changed it.

Look long enough to discover something you didn't know was there.

You don't have to photograph it.

You don't have to write about it.

You don't have to turn the moment into anything at all.

Just notice.

And then continue on your way.

Perhaps tomorrow, something else will ask you to stop.

There is an entire world hiding inside the things we call ordinary.

A Little More, If You'd Like

Take your phone or camera with you the next time you travel a familiar path.

Your neighborhood.

The walk to the mailbox.

Your workplace.

A downtown street you've traveled a hundred times.

Look for five things you ordinarily pass without noticing.

But here's the challenge:

Don't photograph the whole thing.

Get closer.

Change your angle.

Crouch down.

Look underneath.

Photograph where two things meet.

Notice a texture, a shadow, a reflection, a fastening, an edge, a worn place, or one tiny piece of something much larger.

Create the photograph so that someone looking at it might not immediately recognize what they're seeing.

A bench might become a meeting of iron, wood, bolt and pavement.

A staircase might become nothing but generations of worn edges.

A fence might become shadow and geometry.

An ordinary drinking glass might become a landscape of reflected light.

Then, if you'd like, share your five photographs with someone.

Let them guess what they are.

Better yet, invite them to make five of their own.

You may discover that you've walked through the same world...

but neither of you has been seeing quite the same things.

Sometimes a new perspective doesn't require going somewhere new.

It only requires looking from somewhere new.