Coast Live Oaks Trees, 2019

To see creatively we must learn to relax our expectations. Only then will we encounter the ordinary on its own terms. When it happens, things become gifts, observation grows into perception, and the ordinary opens onto mystery.

I have hiked and photographed at Montaña de Oro State Park in Los Osos, California for many years without ever seeing this small grove of trees on the side of the road near the park entrance. I have always been too busy looking elsewhere, eager to pass beyond the entrance to go deeper into the park to walk along the magnificent cliffs overlooking the violent surf crashing on the rugged rocks below. That's what this stretch of coastline is known for, and it's what I expect to see.

But on a quiet, cool morning this past January, I happened to see this small grove of trees that was hidden in plain sight. I wasn't looking for it. It surprised me.

I spent an hour among the trees, exploring their beauty.

Gift. Perception. Mystery.

Yet, ordinary.