I had a devil of a time with this orchid.  I shot it  multiple times in different lights and different times of day, indoors and out.  No matter what I did, I could not capture what I felt about it.  It wasn’t that this orchid was rare or special…well it was special…on sale at a box store; it was that no matter what angle or light I used, this orchid still looked like it was on sale…cheap!  OK, compared to a lot of orchids it was cheap, and compared to a lot of orchids it looked great and lasted several months (another way to measure cheap…give more and last longer than the average).  Still, it deserved to be presented at its best, its core of exceptionality.

Then one day I gave up taking more photos of my shy beauty.  I just looked at it and looked at it and finally I could see it for what it was…I could see its essence.  I took one of the reasonalbly designed photos and stripped away everything that was not necessary to its definiton of orchid.  The above is the result.

I truly believe that everyone of us has a core essence that is for the most part difficult for others to recognize or capture, but if we are stripped down to nothing more than our essence, we will easily be recognized and more imprtantly, loved for who we really are.

I hope this weekend you are seen at your very essence AND that you see at least one other for who they really are.  Therein lies love.