While I stand outside, waiting for the bus in subzero temperatures, I try and remember that for every extreme, there is an opposite. This contrast is what makes our world beautiful. Then my fingers cry out in pain from the cold and I shove them into my pockets and start the mental exercise all over again.
When I walk around town, I make myself look up so I can admire roof lines and old architecture. But sometimes I need to better appreciate my view looking down.
Standing in a lobby of an Art Deco building.
Walking down some marble stairs.
Vintage-style tiles in my bathroom while I stand at the sink.
Standing on my driveway early in the morning.
Walking around in downtown Cincinnati over lunch.
Walking barefoot through my home.
In Detroit, Michigan, visiting my Great Aunt Ceil.
Walking Ellie, a German Shepherd, and Lennox, a Boxer.
Post inspiration here.
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| We spotted this baby monkey near the Pashupatinath Temple. There’s a whole series of photos and his facial expressions are great. |
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| There was a Pink Powder Puff Tree growing on the grounds of our hotel in Chitwan. The flowers are gorgeous. |
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| In Chitwan at an animal preserve, I got to pet a baby rhinoceros! When you would pet him, he’d let out this deep sigh and his ears would flick back and forth, which is why they’re blurry in the photo. |
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| Just your standard roadside beauty in Nepal! |
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| This was the view out the front door at the World Peace Pagoda in Pokhara. |
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| These crazy people jump off the Himalayas to go hang gliding! |
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| Once it stopped raining and we finally got to see it, Phewa Lake in Pokhara was stunning. |
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| I like farm animals as much as exotic and this rooster was ridiculous, strutting around Swayambhunath, also known as the Monkey Temple. |
When we got on the plane, I was disappointed to see that my window’s view was partially blocked by the plane’s wing. But with careful careening of my neck, I could still get a wing-free picture. In between snapping shots, I tried to take in the view. To absorb everything I was seeing. But just like the window was blocked, my mental state was partially blocked by my singular focus on getting some pictures.
I’ve been going through my pictures from the trip and have learned a valuable lesson. While I was busy trying to take good photographs, I should have been more focused on the great view. Because you know what? My raw photos aren’t good. They are streaked and blurred by whatever was on my plane window. The plane’s wing makes many appearances.
Heavily edited in Photoshop, I have some that look okay. But I’m not sure any of my handful of photos match in beauty, even close, what I know I saw.
That leads me wondering if I got my money’s worth. Or at least everything I could have from the experience. I’m not sure. If I didn’t, though, it’s my fault. The flight wasn’t about what I could see through my viewfinder. It was what I could take in and embrace. That flight was about seeing individual homes in remote areas of the Himalayas. It was about getting as close to Mount Everest as I’ll ever be. It was about being in awe, and a little incredulous, of anyone willing to climb those mountaintops. It was about seeing Mother Nature in one of her finest acts.
That flight was about a singular experience. I regret that I wasn’t able to step out from behind my camera for a while longer and enjoy it more.
That’s a relatively inexpensive lesson for me to learn, in the grand scheme of things. The same thing applies to me hiding behind my phone screen being “social” or sitting behind a computer screen “interacting” with people. Not everything has to be captured and documented. Not everything needs proof. The experience might be so much better than any of that and all the proof I need is stored in my head.
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