I refused to let it all be for nothing. Because even within all the ugliness of the world there was beauty. Some of it needed to be pulled from the dirt and dusted off, given wings.
–Gwendolyn Field, Escape from Paradise
As promised, below is the original photo used to create this image. It’s a maple sapling growing between stone pavers in my backyard. Taken on an overcast day with no special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
“God gives us the ugliness so we don’t take the beautiful things in life for granted.”
–Colleen Hoover, Ugly Love
Below is the original photo used to create this image. It’s a lichen and moss covered tree trunk and exposed roots from my backyard. Taken on an overcast day with no special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
What is beauty or ugliness but a false front that prompts man to make assumptions rather than delving deeper.
–Kristen Callihan, Firelight
Below is the original photo used to create this image. It’s water flowing along the sidewalk into a storm drain. This was taken last year on a bright fall afternoon, no special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my Kodak Share digital camera.
I’m always finding humans at their best and worst. I see their ugly and their beauty and I wonder how the same can be both.
–Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
Below is the original photo used to create this image. It’s the big blue sky pic I took on a recent trip to Illinois. No special lighting or retouching, simply a snap from my smart phone. Yes, the sky really was that blue…
If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so you absorb the quality of beauty.
–Paramahansa Yogananda
Below is the original photo used to create this image. It’s my car’s engine, no special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
Hate leaves ugly scars, love leaves beautiful ones.
–Mignon McLaughlin, The Complete Neurotic’s Notebook
Below is the original photo used to create this image. Awesome clouds just before sunset, taken last month after dinner. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
“They aren’t ugly.” I bit my lip, trying to find the right words. “More like beautiful things that have had the misfortune of being broken.”
–Danielle L. Jensen, Stolen Songbird
As promised, below is the original photo used to create this image. It’s a lichen and moss covered tree trunk and exposed roots from my backyard. Taken on an overcast day with no special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone. In Photoshop, I also added a flower-shaped layer mask and a gradient fill for the background.
Ugliness is an illusion, gentlemen. Like beauty. Like color. All depends on the light. The only reality is action.
–Karen Traviss, True Colors
Below is the original photo used to create this image. It’s a candle in a cracked-glass hurricane. This was taken in the spring of 2016 for a Photography 101 challenge called “Warmth.” No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my Kodak Share digital camera.
People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet.
–Saadi
Below is the original photo used to create this image. I found this container of pansies on a lunchtime walk around downtown Richmond, VA. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my Kodak Share digital camera. And it’s even a little blurry…
Life isn’t all grand, but it isn’t all miserable either. There’s both sweet and sour in every day. So why focus on the ugly when you can gaze at what’s beautiful? Concentrate on the good.
–Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway
Below is the original photo used to create this image. I caught this lovely sunset on a random Sunday evening as I was leaving a grocery store. No special lighting or retouching, just a snap from my smart phone.
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D.M. Sessous: writer, artist & dreamer 