“You’ve Got An Eye For This”

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, or if you follow me on Facebook, you know that I’m an avid nature photographer. I make it a personal habit to get outside daily and take photos of nature. Sometimes, people compliment the beauty of the work, and then I’ll say, “Well, I can’t take much credit for that. It’s just beautiful subject matter.” This is of course, exactly true.

But then they’ll add, “It’s not just that. You’ve got an eye for this.”

Recently, my Mom said this to me, but she added something. “You get this from your Dad.”

And I started thinking about that, and of course, that’s true. And I’m not sure why I had never thought of this myself. My Dad was an amateur photographer like me, and particularly, when I was very young, he took photos of nature.

I can be honest here: My Dad died years ago, and my relationship with him was often very conflicted. In the midst of that, it gives me a lot of pleasure now to recognize this particular connection with him. I had not thought of it, but there’s actually a pretty straight line here. And this practice which gives me meaning, connection, and beauty every single day has an obvious, redemptive strand of our own connection within it. Thanks, Dad.

— Renee Roederer