Expected or Unexpected Beauty

The definition of beauty is unique to every individual and is influenced by the culture and society they are immersed in. Beauty is more than just the way a subject or scene appears. It's the way it makes you feel and it is found everywhere we look. I've never met a person who didn't appreciate the beauty in a sunset. The way the light reflects off the water and through the trees creates shadows and illusions that force the observer to look at the scene with a new perspective.

What would normally be a muck brown pond surrounded by half dead grass and a dying tree is suddenly illuminated and blurred into a magnificent display of lighting. The beauty in a sunset is more than just the pleasing colors fading into the horizon. The true beauty is how observing a scene like this makes you feel. The impact of the combination of shapes, light, texture and color is able to create feelings of peace, relief, joy and content.  

Beauty is also found in some of the most unusual places. When I think of a graveyard or cemetery I immediately think dark, solemn colors filled with mourning and sadness. Culturally headstones are not beautiful. They symbolize death, the ending of a life and the families who mourn the loss of this life. But these headstones are also a remembrance of the lives lived, the accomplishments made and the impact these individuals had.

Arranged on a hillside with the sun shining brightly behind a clear blue sky, these headstones are transformed into forms of art. They have become more beautiful with age as mold and moss discolors the stone structures. Although in general they are not universally perceived as beautiful, their representation of life as opposed to death brings out the beauty in them.