Weeds

One of the things I love about photography is its ability to turn something ugly into something beautiful.  Better said, perhaps, is that photography can isolate beauty in a subject.  I don't remember who said it or if I'm even paraphrasing correctly, but some photographer said that there is always a spectacular photo within 20 steps - you just have to find it.  I love that an image of something that might be considered ugly can become "art".  This is most obvious in photographs of "urban decay" (we photographers love this stuff) but also something as simple as weeds. And, as always, it's all about the light.  In the right light, anything is beautiful, even simple weeds growing out of the sidewalk.  I would be remiss in posting these images without referencing A Scenic World.  I might have eventually gotten around to understanding the concept of shooting the one flower that is lit up against a shadowy background, but I certainly started paying attention to scenes like this after reading her website.  A simple enough concept, but one that I feel a lot of people miss (I used to).  She seems to have stepped off the blogging bandwagon for a while now, but go back and look through her Lightroom tutorials (totally portable to Photoshop).  This lady is really good. And now, weeds: Oh and there was to be no CityZen for us - what with their lack of a la carte options and tasting menu starting at $80.  Instead, we hit up Jaleo (super-tasty Spanish tapas) and had one of those awesome romantic-out-of-nowhere, life-is-wonderful nights.  I love the bejesus out of my husband.  I really couldn't ask for a better person to spend my life with.  What the heck, here's one of him with his hair down - literally.  He always gels it up but I like when he looks natural.  Only thing better is when he takes out the contacts and puts on his glasses.  This is from the first night we spent at the hotel.