254 | Culberson County

I took so many photos on my recent West Texas trip that I thought I’d never be able to choose a few as 254 representatives, and decided to delay it by skipping them for now.

But for whatever reason, I love this image so dang much.

My hope when I take photos is always to capture the moment as it looks to me — to frame what it was that grabbed my attention/heart/imagination so that others can see it that way, too. I’d say more often than not, there’s a pretty significant gap (h/t Ira Glass) between what I see and the picture I make; and in certain instances, I’ve learned to just set my camera down and know that I’m never going to do it justice. To realize when I’m not going to be able to capture that much beauty, and let go of any frustration so that I can hold it big with both hands as it slips out of my fingers.

Every now and then, though, I get a photo that does that magic thing where a scene looks just like it did through my eyes, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it.

I’m sure there are more technically precise or better-edited photos out there, but this is exactly what Culberson County looked like to me.