Highlight Real

I want to do something a little different today. I want to show you my vacation pictures. Partially because the world can use a little beauty right now, and partially because I finally had time to edit them.

Before I do, two caveats: one, I don’t typically take vacations. I can count on two fingers the number of trips I’ve taken in the past decade that did not involve the word “errand”. And two, I’m not a photographer. I slosh by with a smart phone and a hand-me-down camera I barely know how to turn on, and then happily over edit whatever’s in focus. I don’t pretend these are great – they’re just my attempt to capture magic in a bottle.

That said, here are highlights from my 2019 trip to Iceland:

View of the walkway to a private waterfall near Selfoss.
(I actually took this picture because I wanted to remember where I was when I took the next picture, but I kinda like it.)

Said waterfall, in what was essentially the backyard of a sheep farm. If you squint, you can see the farmhouse in the background.
(Related: I now totally want a waterfall in my backyard.)

Icebergs at Fjallsarlon.
(One of my favorite pictures from one of my favorite places.)

The cabin we stayed at in southern Iceland, a few hours before we saw the Northern Lights. (I’m not skilled enough to have capture those in a photo, but I’ll never forget them.)

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Pretty pictures aside… 2020’s highlight reel is going to look a little different. There will be no vacations to Iceland, no waterfalls, no Northern Lights. We’re all coming to terms with that in our own ways. This year won’t be defined by us so much as we will by it.

But, that’s okay. We can still find beauty, if we focus. More importantly, we can highlight the beauty around us. Be intentional about it. Seek it out, snap a photo, over edit it if you like, and share it with the world.

To that end, here are a few pictures I took this year in my own non-waterfall backyard:

Mongolian Giant from the sunflower bed around my studio.
(It’s so tall I had to hold my phone over my head to take this.)

The swallowtail that came to visit said sunflower.
(Who knew a gravel drive was such a good backdrop?)

Elderberries from this year’s harvest.
(The first year we got to them before the sparrows did.)

So, that 2020 thing. Maybe we don’t get to travel this year. Maybe we don’t take vacation pictures. Maybe instead of a highlight reel, we highlight real.

Either way, the results can still be magical.