Taking pictures is one of my favorite things. I suppose that makes sense given that I am a photographer. I also love a good drive in the country. Do people do that anymore? When I was a kid it was something we did on occasion to get out, blow the stink off, get some fresh air. We’d load up in my grandma’s Cadillac, roll the windows down and roam the streets of Marshalltown. Deep down I think it was my grandma’s excuse to look for garage sales. Not that she really needed and excuse, except that we kids were not always up for rummaging through other people’s throw aways. She was a garage sale junky, my brother was not far behind. My sister tolerated it as long as they had barbies and I…well, had my moments, but I drew the line when she tried to convince me that the 5 cent underwear she brought home was perfectly safe to wear.

Every so often, she would venture outside the city limits and we’d drive for stretches with nothing but blue sky and farm fields to entertain us. I still remember being just tall enough to rest my chin on the door, letting the blur of green and the warm breeze lull me into a trance. Those were the drives I enjoyed the most.

As much as I still enjoy a good adventure on the backroads of rural Iowa, there are pockets of time when I feel no inclination to go anywhere. I just want to stay home in my cozy sweats, away from everyone else, and revel in the company of the birds, and our pets. It’s these moments that I really appreciate the beauty in the everyday. I still want to photograph things and though I have walked our two acres countless times, the view is rarely the same when I grab my camera and let the wind in the trees lull me into that same trance I experienced as a child.

I’m fortunate to have the space to wander. When we first moved here I struggled with the fact that we lived a good 15-20 minutes from the nearest grocery store, and I hated that my car would never remain clean for more than an hour, since we live on a gravel road. Over time as I settled in and spent more and more time in the space around our home, I have found so much to love about it. It was here that Fence Row Photography was born and here that I first embraced this idea that beauty can be found in simple, everyday life, if we’re just open to it.