Part of the challenge in growing your photographic skills is learning to see things with new eyes. I read a book long ago called The Miracle of Mindfulness, and some of its philosophies have stuck with me. The book is about being mindful while doing the small things in your life, like driving or doing the dishes. Instead of multitasking throughout the day, the idea is to be mindful of the task at hand and really pay attention. Some days I try to do that. Mostly, it doesn’t work, but I find that if I focus my attention on really looking at things while I’m doing these small tasks, that it has the same peaceful effect.

Last week, while doing the dishes, I noticed that my dishwashing liquid was glowing on the windowsill. I popped on my close-up filters and took this macro shot of my green apple-scented Palmolive. I’m hoping to do more paying attention this summer when I’ll be less distracted by the business of life than I have been while teaching this semester.