Let us now praise wandering.

#007

The shortest distance between two points may in fact be a straight line, but if Euclid had a camera and lived in my neck of the woods, I bet he’d wander the backroads a bit.

I’m rarely in a hurry (ask anyone who’s driven anywhere with me ever). I almost always have a camera with me and I am 10 out of 10 times going to take the scenic route. I will turn around at the drop of a hat to go back and make a picture.

When we hurry from point A to point B, we miss all manner of moments. I don’t want to miss anything. I like not being in a hurry. I recently told my wife I was going to start driving like an old man (I just turned 50). She grinned and replied, “Start?” Touché.

I will always turn around for a good religious sign. Also, I will likely photograph the same sign over and over again. And sometimes I’ll pray. Maybe this is prayer.

I will always wander in ever season because moments like these exist right around the bend and I wouldn’t have seen this if I stayed home.

I will always pull over for good light. I will also always tell you that mountaintop removal coal mining is one of the greatest atrocities in the area that I call home. Mountains don’t grow back, but I try to see the beauty in this devastation.

I will always wander the riverbank where I used to fish with my granddad and see the worn path I walked with him a hundred times. I miss him every day.

I will always be curious about the landscape of home and what it will show me if I slow down and study it. And sometimes the picture I make will end up on a book cover.

I will most likely pull over and make a picture of a horse in a pasture even if it just lives on a hard drive somewhere (the picture, not the horse). It’s a good practice to say hi to horses.

I will always wander our property and never cease to be amazed by its inhabitants. For years, foxes and their kits have lived in proximity to us and on a few occasions have posed for portraits.

When I step out my front door and see this, I will always go back into the house to get my camera. If I close my eyes right now, I can hear the birdsong that morning.

I will never not make this picture when I’m home in Mingo County. I wrote about it here.

Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote that "Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare." I bet he wasn’t in a hurry either.

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Roger