Finding Beauty in the Unassuming

When I stepped out my door the other day, I discovered a mushroom had popped out of the ground seemingly overnight. Since my yard can't even seem to grow grass, I was a little amazed that it had the potential for mushrooms. My first whimsical thought was that the fairies had been dancing there. My second thought was to pull out the camera. You never know when you're going to need a good picture of a mushroom. After a little cropping and a photoshop filter or two, it became something expressive, something iconic for me. 

So many times when we think our creativity is blocked, a barren landscape with nothing growing, we're really just overlooking great little ideas that come popping out of nowhere. There's nothing wrong with our imagination. There's something wrong with our focus. We're looking for the big idea, the million dollar baby, and overlooking the fertile growth, half hidden by leaves, that requires nothing more than our attention to become a thing of beauty and a catalyst for creativity. 

For a little while, I think I'll keep the macro lens on, think small, and see what treasures I can find in unexpected places.