We all tend to wait for “special moments” to pull out our cameras and start clicking. Somehow, we need to be transcended above the everyday to get a great photo. Where do these special occasions come from, and what about the “ordinary?”

Consider the following: Annie Leibovitz told us, as she toured us through her exhibit this spring, that her favorite photo was the one of her mom. Wow—consider her catalog of amazing people—from Mick Jaeger, Robert DeNiro to the Queen. But from her vast library that was it. Why? She said because she knew she had really captured her mom, the others were with her a short time for a photo shoot, and showed her whatever side of themselves they were willing to.

So let me ask you, when was the last time you took a great shot (not a snap shot) of your mom? Or brother, son, next door neighbor,…?

How about Edward Weston, with that marvelous shot of his…toilet in Mexico! Diego Rivera called it the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Or his shots of the bell pepper. How about how he and Ansel Adams captured the almost identical egg slicer!

I’m reminded of Picasso from David Duncan Douglas’ epic work. He showed us how Picasso turned all sorts of everyday experiences into art—such as when he finished eating a fish dinner, Picasso took the skeleton and pressed it into clay and put it on a plate, to replicate and preserve this moment!

So, get your camera out and go get those “everyday” shots!