I began taking photographs a little over six years ago. I ordered a Canon camera and just began shooting. All of my photos were – are – love letters to Maria in a way. When I started, photos were the only way we could communicate with one another, I would put a photo up on my blog and she would call me at 6:30 p.m. and talk to me about it. I have never taken a photo lesson and could barely operate my camera.

I decided to follow the Beavis & Butthead philosophy and do what I liked, since I didn’t know what I was supposed to like. I decided that I had to love the photo, nobody else had to love it. The first things I photographed were dead leaves, having over the first Bedlam Farm path. There was a faith and determination about the dead leaves that I loved, the way they shed their colors but hung on, sometimes until the Spring. Sometimes I found their silhouettes quite striking.

I moved on, drawn quite passionately to color and light, old barns and shadows, dogs and donkeys. My photos sparked an enormous growth of my blog, from thousands to millions of views. I love photography more than I might have imagined, it has helped me see the world in a completely new and different way. How blind I was to the beauty around me.

I forgot about the dead leaves, they seemed old and withered to me.

Today, walking with Lenore and Red on Macmillan Road, I past some  leaves, and was struck once again by the beauty of leaves, dead or alive. These looked like sculptures, hanging on in their own way, with their own idea of beauty and grace. I was happy to photograph them again. The wheel turns and turns.