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Familiar Things New
It was right in front of me the whole time, but I didn't see it. Or, to put it more accurately, I'd been seeing it every day for so long...

Paul Cotter
May 212 min read


Roots
They descended from the tree like muscular legs anchored in the soil. In the sinewy shapes of these roots, I saw angels and mermaids and...

Paul Cotter
May 151 min read


Infinity Understood
My father-in-law John Lettieri was not a rich man. After serving with the Marines in World War II, he worked three jobs to make ends meet...

Paul Cotter
May 12 min read


Alpha Birds
In the neighborhood where I grew up, I was tormented by a classic bully. This kid was the picture of toughness: He had long stringy blond...

Paul Cotter
Apr 232 min read


The Still Point
If you've ever tried to photograph a hummingbird in a large open area, you know how maddeningly quick and elusive they can be. These tiny...

Paul Cotter
Apr 152 min read


Bees of the Invisible
I came across a quote from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke that struck me like a gong in a temple. It resonated deeply with me because it...

Paul Cotter
Apr 91 min read


Goodbye, Clay
Last week, sadly, I learned that a former colleague died recently at age 68. His name was Clay Andrews and he was one of the founding...

Paul Cotter
Feb 122 min read


The Beauty Within
There are two kinds of beauty in this world. There’s surface beauty, which is skin deep and gradually erodes with time until it’s gone....

Paul Cotter
Dec 5, 20241 min read


The Light Behind the Trees
My hematologist told a story about one of her patients suffering from an incurable blood cancer. To her surprise, he was incredibly...

Paul Cotter
Nov 20, 20242 min read


Water Under the Bridge
I stood on a footbridge in Freedom Park, watching the reflections of trees and sky in the creek below. Later on, I did some reflecting of...

Paul Cotter
Nov 13, 20241 min read


The Same Force
We don’t have to travel to another country to find sights that fill us with wonder. It can happen right in our own backyard. After we...

Paul Cotter
Nov 6, 20242 min read


Tangled
It’s easy to get wrapped up in things in a way we never intended. When that happens, it can be difficult (and sometimes impossible) to...

Paul Cotter
Aug 6, 20242 min read


Everything
It was an ordinary morning that became an extraordinary one for a very simple reason: I gave it my fullest attention. And that...

Paul Cotter
Aug 1, 20242 min read


The Dead Lizard
As temperatures in Charlotte hit the mid-90s last week, our upstairs air conditioning unit broke down in the middle of the night. A check...

Paul Cotter
Jul 15, 20241 min read


Inseparable
I hadn’t thought about my old childhood friend in a long time. It’s been almost 60 years since we last hung out together. Over the years,...

Paul Cotter
Jun 5, 20242 min read


The Song of Flowers
Flowers have a lilting lyrical quality to them. They have no voice, and yet they sing. They sing of life and wonder and beauty, the...

Paul Cotter
May 28, 20242 min read


The Whisper
SHHHHHHHHHH! Let your mind go quiet. Listen. When we do, we can tap into a source of creativity that’s far beyond anything we can...

Paul Cotter
Apr 17, 20242 min read


Unity and Variety
I've always wondered: why do so many people want others to be exactly like them? They won’t be happy unless everyone else looks like...

Paul Cotter
Mar 20, 20242 min read


Returning to the Source
As I photographed this beach in Southern California, I was mesmerized by the water pouring into the inlet and then withdrawing back into...

Paul Cotter
Mar 6, 20241 min read


The Flower in the Cold
Two weeks ago, on a cold January day in Charlotte, our granddaughter Lily spotted a colorful surprise. As we walked down our front steps,...

Paul Cotter
Jan 17, 20241 min read
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