Quiet Reflection

Description

The snow wasn't supposed to be much of anything. Schools stayed open, and most people went about their normal routines. But something didn't feel right to me. I decided to keep my youngest stepson home that morning. I couldn't explain why—I just had a feeling this storm was going to be different. Within a few hours, everything changed. The snow came down fast and hard. Roads became impassable. School buses couldn't make it home. Children were stranded, some walking miles through deep snow in jackets that were never meant for weather like this. Highways closed. Bridges shut down. For a few days, much of north Georgia simply stood still. I've lived here long enough to know that snow in Georgia is a rare thing. But when we do get a real winter storm, it demands your full attention. I wasn't able to travel to my favorite trails or mountain overlooks, but I wasn't about to let that keep me from photographing one of the most beautiful winter days I'd ever seen. So I stepped just outside my door and began looking more closely at the world around me. There, on a small juniper branch beside my home, the ice was beginning to thaw. Tiny drops of water clung to the needles, catching the soft winter light before quietly falling back to the earth. Sometimes the photographs that stay with us aren't found at the end of a long hike or on a distant mountain. Sometimes they're waiting just outside the front door, reminding us that beauty has a way of finding us when we choose to slow down and notice it.