When I was in high school, my art teacher (Mr. Bibler) must have known that I had a thing for cameras and photography. He taught me how to “freelens” before it was even a thing. Except that he called it “reverse macro.” He showed me how to carefully hold a lens upside-down against my SLR camera in order to produce ultramacro photos. I was in love and continued to shoot mostly flowers with this method for years to come. I loved even examining the flowers after they began to die, to see what happened during this process up close and personal.

Yesterday after trimming and watering my indoor plants, I was blown away by the colors on some of the leaves of my Stromanthe, as they began to brown at the edges. I decided I should take them to the studio and photograph them. As I started, I was not so excited or inspired.

But then I started playing with the sunlight and how it was coming in through the open door.

And then somewhere deep in my memory and subconscious, it struck me that I should try free-lensing again. THAT’S when the flow began, when time warped and everything felt right.