Confession: I'm a perfectionist. Not in every single thing, but in many, many ways. Chipped nail polish, scuffed boots, not for me thanks. Glasses in my cupboards lined up perfectly from smallest to largest, yes please. And while I love my little orderly, organized world, I admit that keeping it that way can at times be exhausting.

Having committed to this blog is already something I deem to be daunting - worrying that each post be perfect, that I find the right words, say the right things, appeal to all readers - gosh, I hope I have readers!

So, I want to share with you that one of the things I love about taking pictures, especially in the rural-est of rural areas in Nova Scotia, is that in the moment when I am taking pictures I am not striving for perfection.  I am the most relaxed when I am taking pictures because I see perfection everywhere, and I didn't have to work to make it that way - it already exists.

The things I see as perfection are things like this chipped, worn paint.

This is a photo of the ledge of a take-out counter window in Peggy's Cove. The paint is still bright red but the wind, sun, ice and rain have caused it to bubble and chip.  I think it is beautiful and perfect.

A photographer acquaintance of mine, Michael Bayer, once said to me "It is not the camera in your hand but the one in your mind that takes the photos".  How great is that?!  And how true.

When I see something I think would make a nice photograph I snap a picture as I see it.  I love to search for little gems like patterns in sand or mushrooms in the forest, things that some people tend to overlook.  There is a gem to be seen and photographed in the chipped paint on an old seaside building. I think the chips tell a story - about the lives that have been lived in or near the building.  When the light hits just right and I frame a photo the way I see it in my mind - click... I have taken my perfect picture.  And I didn't have to control the environment; it has already been perfectly controlled by the wind, the light, the rain, the heat - by Mother Nature and life itself.