Growing up, I loved saving up my change and buying $3 - $5 Fujifilm and Kodak disposable cameras, dropping them off to be developed at the Wal-Mart photo center in Marquette, and waiting to see what came back. It felt so exciting. Obviously, as a 11-year-old kid, I was taking photos purely for the joy of it.

Pine trees against a blue sky with scattered rainbows

Now, as an adult and running my own business, photography carries a much different weight. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly fortunate to do what I do for a living, however it’s now tied to income and being able to afford essentials like putting food on the table and helping pay the mortgage. And, for me, there is also this quiet pressure to always be producing in order to feel “successful”. So, lately, I’ve been working on rewiring this part of my brain and experimenting with ways to keep photography fun and not just tied to work.

Freshly fallen snow with footprints and rainbow sun flares.

Mainly, I wanted to start making images for the joy of it, like how it used to be. This time of year feels especially meaningful for that. Late winter and early spring in Michigan always felt magical to me as a kid. The first warm breeze after months of cold, finally seeing blue skies, and the sun being out longer reminded me that summer was coming.

So lately, I’ve been playing.

Rainbow prism-like reflections on long prairie grass

I bought a couple of UV filters with the same threading and started sandwiching shiny / colorful materials between them, then attaching them to my lens to see how they bend and interact with sunlight. I likened this idea to smashing my favorite, colorful 90’s/00’s stationary, into a UV filter and turning it into photos. The results have been unexpectedly fun. It gives me a reason to step outside on a sunny day just to see what I might come home with.

A black cat sits on a rug with a rainbow in the corner. — My cat, Beemo, photographed with filters with broken cds sandwiched between them.

It’s not about perfect composition. It’s not about impressing anyone, surprisingly, being the people pleaser I am. These pictures are simply something I’ve enjoyed and have allowed me to rekindle the joy I used to feel when being outdoors with a camera.

Bees fly in and around a beehive with small rainbows. — My beehive made it through to spring! This was photographed with tiny, multicolored sequins.

The top of a juniper bush against a blue sky with small rainbows being reflected.

I hope some of these images brought you a little joy. And if nothing else, I hope they inspire you to do something today that makes you happy — something that reconnects you with a younger, more carefree version of yourself, and fills you with a hope of good things that might be awaiting you around the corner.

Hills with prairie grass and melting snow and two orbs of bright light. — My favorite Ann Arbor park, photographed with a filter made with broken cds.