Photo Gallery
Professional photographers are well schooled in the tricks of their trade; they collect customized equipment and speak their own language. I’m more of a hobbyist—a storyteller with a bridge camera and an eye for adventure.
As with all the best teachers, photography encourages me to approach life with an open mind and heart, and to welcome the gifts that come of being fully present in a given moment. When I look through the viewfinder, I’m less concerned about framing the perfect scene than I am in capturing its essence. Time slows; the world falls away and comes again into focus. When I press the shutter release, I’m simultaneously rooting myself in memory—where the seeds of imagination grow—and connecting with a larger story.
Pollinating bee, at the Norma Gibbs Monarch Butterfly Overwintering site (Huntington Beach, CA)
Orchid tree in bloom at Deer Park Monastery (Escondido, CA)
Two hummingbird eggs, tinier than Tic Tacs (fuschia bush in my front yard)
Detail work in a bodhisattva’s robes (Soquel, CA)
Painted mural on a shop door (Roussillon, France)
A classified ad from a local newspaper, inviting worshippers to one of my father’s tent revivals.
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Pollinating bee, at the Norma Gibbs Monarch Butterfly Overwintering site (Huntington Beach, CA)
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Overwintering Monarch Butterflies, opening their wings to the sun (Goleta, CA)
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Hope, the thing with feathers (mama hummingbird, nesting in my backyard)
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Swan in the ocean, haloed by the sun (Santa Cruz, CA)
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Male hummingbird stands sentry over my backyard
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Walela, whose name means “hummingbird” in Cherokee (nesting in my front yard)
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Hope, the mama hummingbird that nested in my backyard
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Walela’s hatchling, one day from fledge (fuchsia bush in my front yard)
All images © Melodye Shore.