(The front yard leaf bug ©2006 Bryan Kelsen)
"Daddy, Daddy, come see!" is what my nine year-old son was yelling as he bounded in the front door of our home on a recent Sunday morning. "What is it?" I asked. "You'll see." was his reply. He took me by the hand, pulled me up from my chair in front of my laptop computer and lead me out the door. I asked again, "What is it?" He tugged harder on my arm and lead me down the sidewalk repeating, "You'll see, you'll see." as we went. When you are nine years old and you see something you think is cool you don't want to spoil the surprise by giving up too much information before you unveil the "cool thing". As it turned out, it WAS pretty cool.
My son had come across a (for lack of a better term) "leaf bug" in our front yard. I had never seen one myself and found that I was as amazed as my kids by an insect that resembled a walking leaf. So off I went to get my camera. It wasn't long before the coolness had worn off and my kids were back to skateboarding up and down the sidewalk. I, on the other hand, was on the ground, camera in hand, photographing a bug in my front yard.
Church-goers from across the street came over to see what I was taking picutures of. One woman though I was on my front sidewalk photographing my feet. I explained what I was doing, but I think she may have thought photographing my feet was more interesting than what I was actually doing.
My son's excitement over seeing something new, is exactly the "Hey, look what I got!" exuberance that got me into taking pictures in the first place and continues to keep me on the hook more that 20 years later. Every day I go to work is another day of exploring and adventure. No, I am not talking about bushwacking through rainforests, or climbing Mt. Everest, but the kind of thing where you see your surroundings in a new light, or get introduced to something (or someone) that was right under your nose all the time but had missed.
To be honest, I am addicted to this sense of discovery. It motivates me. I am constantly looking for newness around me. It may be something that has always been there like a bug in my yard, but I am still amazed by this world we live in and all that there is to explore. Even if it is just outside my front door.
Till next time...
