I know I’m not the only person who found this winter’s long reign somewhat oppressive. Something about the way it stretched across the calendar and the snow’s depth and thermometer’s total lack of height really unmotivated me. Too much indoor time. Too much cabin fever.

I found it difficult to muster some inspiration.

And something about that state of mind always inspires a desire for simplification. I want to spend less time managing the business realm of things and more time creating: more time writing, more time with camera-in-hand.

In an effort to accomplish this, I’ve decided to merge the two websites and Facebook pages in order to have less to accomplish and more time to create.

Photography and writing were my childhood loves. For as long as I can remember, I wrote stories, poems, songs, plays. I wrote for pleasure because it seemed so entirely natural, innate. As a child, I was given a camera, and I spent lazy, sunny afternoons lying on my back photographing my mother’s garden. I wandered down trails looking for a place to shutter.

These loves always seemed separate, and in recent years, they even seemed conflicting. I often wondered which I should invest in, which love was worthy of my precious time. I birthed two boys, and I spend my days caring for them. But this has never changed: I write; I shutter; I see.

And I am beginning to understand all these things are entwined. I write for clarity, for creativity. I hold a camera in hand, appreciating its refining presence. Both pursuits give me ways of seeing. When I sit down to write, I’m gleaning. I’m cultivating a thoughtfulness. To write is to choose to be present, aware: it’s a way to see beauty in the ordinary. A camera is a tool to capture, but when it lives in the artist’s hand, it’s doing more than capturing. It’s prompting, forcing a more focused awareness. Both are pursuits of Eyes to See.

Through my own eyes and through my own process of trying to truly see, I hope you join me. I hope we all have eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand.

Let me know what you think of the new site in the comments!