It’s easy to think you have to go somewhere beautiful to take photos. I think a lot of photographers get discouraged by that thought, and it forces them to simply not take photographs. I look at it a bit differently. I see beauty in the ordinary things. Today I decided to just walk around my neighbourhood and see what I could find. I brought my Canon 1DX II along with the 35mm 2.0. Admittedly, I really wanted to just use my usual 50mm 1.2 lens, but I forced myself to use a different focal length. The great thing about the 35mm is that you can focus pretty close with it, which I love doing.

In hindsight, I should have wore my Sorel’s, because I ended up walking through some deep snow up at the baseball diamonds. So my feet were a bit wet by the end of the walk but it was worth it. I live in the same neighbourhood that I grew up in when I was a kid. Not a lot has changed too much since then, but it’s really interesting seeing things differently now, and picking up on the smaller details, than when I was younger. I do wish I was into photography back then.

In any case, it felt good to get outside and take photos. Even if it was a bit cold out!