The Experience of “Close Noticing”.

When you stumble across something that makes you pause. On a walk by the beach, or in the park, or in your own back woods. Some random moment never to be seen again that stops you in your tracks. It’s moving slowly, pausing, and learning to accept there is much we can’t name in all that surrounds us.

Close noticing is finding the perfect shell or heart rock when you need it most. Or looking up to notice that puffy clouds have formed in the shape of a letter - the one that starts the name of the person you are missing most. When sunlight filtering through trees highlights a single leaf and sets it on fire.

These are the moments that soothe my heart.

These are the moments I pause to notice. To photograph. To revel in their wonder.

These are the moments I write about.

The official page of B. J. Jewett, writer and photographer, and author of the memoir “You Don’t Fall Out of the Universe”, and two children’s books, “Letter Trees” and “The Ancient Oak”.