I struggle with this a good bit.  How do I find my muse dealing with the daily routine of full time work, full time parenting and full time “husbanding”?  It’s a real challenge. 

What about you?  Do you have a hard time seeing past the daily grind to really “see” the beauty and awe just within a few miles or your home?  What about your backyard?  Just recently, I had the privilege to “see” something new in our own backyard – some Southern Flying Squirrels that likely have been residents for a while, but I never opened my eyes to see them.

What about the beauty of daily life?  Our children’s laughter?  Our family interaction?

One of my favorite photographers, David duChemin, has been struggling with his muse lately – most recently on a trip to Nepal.  After several postings on his struggle, he posted about a new eBook called Close to Home, Finding Great Photographs in Your Own Backyard by Stuart Sipahigil.  It’s “a 37-page book about the challenges of finding the extraordinary in what we’ve come to see as mundane.”  The eBook is only $5, and with the discount code posted by David on his own blog, you can get it for $4 for a limited time.  I have it, and it looks to be a great read.  As so well spoken by David:

“So many people assume that the most exotic places are low-hanging fruit, and to a degree they are. But what if you live in that exotic place? At some point Kathmandu gets mundane and the idea of flying somewhere new is really appealing. Problem is, there’s likely a photographer right now in that “somewhere new” and he’s thinking the same thing – about getting out, pursuing the new, the obvious.

The images are out there. It’s not the scenery that needs changing; it’s our vision of things. It needs a tweak, a tune-up. And this book is a great step in that direction.”

If you struggle with the daily grind getting into the way of seeing the “mundane” a bit differently, I highly suggest you check it out.