The beauty of contrasts
Pico Mountain in Killington, Vermont, last weekend. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
Driving home from my daughter’s cross-country skiing race last Sunday, the sun kept illuminating the landscape everywhere we looked. It was one of the more stunning drives we’ve taken. Quite honestly, there was a beautiful photo opportunity every 15 minutes. But we couldn’t have stopped that often — it wouldn’t have been a popular idea after a long day.
But we did manage to stop a couple of times, and one of the results was a photo of Pico Mountain, gleaming under the sharp, winter sunlight, mingling with the colors of nature. To me, such contrasts are like gold. Old man winter is a master of contrasts, and the snow is his medium. Very few things are more beautiful than the frozen, snow-filled land nestled beneath a blue sky. The trees enhance that contrast, with their pine-greens and stick-brown hues adding variation. The dark purple colors you sometimes get in the distance are a particular treat.
The best part of this work is, there’s no telling what contrast you’ll see next. No matter how many times you capture nature through photos, it always seems ready to show you something new. It could be a slight variation on a scene you’ve witnessed before, or it may be a new, awe-inspiring landscape of light and shadow.
This shows that, around every corner, life could be holding something special that will inspire you to keep working at your craft and striving to be your best. It behooves us to keep our minds open to those moments, and to keep the lens of our creativity ready, so we don’t miss out on the good that awaits us. Approaching life with a calm but focused awareness helps us recognize such opportunities and embrace them. That’s how we welcome progress into our lives, even if the opportunity is unexpected. While staying practical, we should also allow room for spontaneity in our thinking, and let new ideas rise to the surface of our minds. With that approach, we free ourselves to welcome new possibilities, and we inspire others to do the same.
— Gareth Henderson
