Gathering Storm

I am enveloped by science. During the day I work in one of the great fields of science and when I come home my equally nerdy kids love to talk of their latest scientific discoveries. In every decision-making endeavor I try to apply the principles of science as I search for answers. Science is, to me, simply the greatest method for understanding human beings have ever developed and every day I see my healthy children I’m filled with gratitude. I’m grateful to the early men and women of science who realized that ego must be subjugated if progress is to be made; they shared their discoveries with the world in the hopes that others would test, validate or perhaps even challenge their contribution. I’m grateful to scientists young and old the world over who stare into microscopes and chart graphs to the point of exhaustion; they are some of our great explorers and we owe them a debt.

Photography is my bridge between this world of science and a world far more mysterious to me–the world of artistic expression.  My brain isn’t really wired to think artistically save perhaps this one creative outlet.  I find myself thinking differently when I’m driving to and from work or shopping for groceries.  I look, like last week driving home, at the beauty of a massive cumulonimbus and I’m awestruck by its meteorological significance but a tiny underdeveloped part of my brain asks, “I wonder what emotions I would feel if I were viewing this scene in monochrome with a high-contrast orange filter applied.”