I sit at the counter at Melville Café where I enjoy the soup and half sandwich I purchased for lunch. While I savour the soup and tuna fish sandwich I escape to another world; the one in the John Grisham book I am currently reading. Lunch, and I’m doing double duty, digesting both my food and my book. I stop to sip my coffee and momentarily look out the window. The view is stunning and I forget all about my food and the book. The contrast between the light and the shadow, the richness of the green foliage versus the drab nothingness of concrete and wood. What is it that I am looking at and why is it so beautiful?

My training kicks in and I’m asking myself “why am I intrigued by this.”  Where is my eye drawn and what is the main subject? Then I wonder, “is this the whole picture, or is it a piece of a much larger image?” Even the simplest of images is a composite of smaller images and details. The better they are put together, the better the big picture becomes. And with that thought I looked around.

I finish my lunch, put my book away and grab my camera to capture what I have been looking at. That done I decide to walk around the immediate area looking for the little things that make the bigger picture such a great view.

If you are familiar with the area of Main Street and Grand Avenue in Cambridge, you will know that residents and tourists are often seen photographing or painting the two large churches in the area or the “Centennial Fountain” presented to the city by Gore Mutual Insurance in 1967 in celebration of our nations 100th birthday. All three of these sites are deserving of the attention they receive, but their magnificence is enhanced by the many little things we often ignore.

Click on any of the photographs to see a larger version.