Why do people like photography? There are many reasons and each may be different for every individual. But one underlying reason that people enjoy seeing photographs is because they usually depict something that is nice to look at. Beauty is an appealing thing. It’s tue! And guess what…it’s everywhere! Don’t believe me? Let me show you something.

I recently took a photograph that I really love. It’s one that is unique to the part of the country that I live in. You see, in South Texas, we don’t really see four seasons. It snowed once on Christmas Eve several years ago. It freaked people out. It was almost apocalyptic – seriously, snow on palm trees? I’m pretty sure that comes right before the Four Horsemen begin their ride. But that was a once in a lifetime thing. Even though South Texas does not see four real seasons (we have really have only two, “Blazing Hot” and “Not-quite-as-hot, You-might-could-even-get-away-with-a-sweater”),  some of our trees do actually change color. If you keep your eyes opened, you might spot them, ablaze with the colors of fall, in all their splendor. How beautiful it must be to actually experience this in other parts of the country where all the trees change!

Here is the photo that I took just a over a month ago, in January:

To me, I would believe it if someone told me that they took this picture in Tennessee or somewhere in the Northeast. Not in Corpus Christi, Texas. But it’s true. In fact, this photo was taken right next to a fairly busy road, right outside of my office. Most people would no’t consider this area of town to be a hotbed of photo opportunities.  If you were to go look at this tree right now, you probably wouldn’t think much of it at all. You might not ever think that it was worthy of being photographed. To someone that doesn’t really look for the beauty that surrounds them, this tree might not even be noticed. Why would it? It’s just a simple tree, shading a corner of a parking lot next to a busy road.

What I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t take visiting an exotic location or traveling far and wide to find beautiful things. Beauty truly is all around you. It’s in your own backyard. You just have to see it. I encourage you to get out and truly experience the beauty of the world we live in. Even the smallest of things, such as a usually unnoticed tree in the middle of the city can surprise you. Just look at what this same tree looks like today.

But when you get up close enough to really see it. You just might see the beauty that you’ve been missing.