Here's a little story I like to tell about martial arts and the way our brains work.

hen you're starting out in martial arts you're a white belt and this means you have no formal training. Then you get attacked! Someone jumped out to try and attack you you'd probably know what to do to defend yourself. You'd kick and punch and do the best to protect yourself.

hen you begin studying martial arts and you begin to over think everything. You start trying to remember everything you've learned in class and you rely less on instinct and more on schooling.

nd then eventually you hope to become a black belt. And a black belt doesn't think anymore he's almost back to becoming a white belt again. Does that make sense?

My point in telling you this story is based on something my friend Trey Ratcliff told me about beauty. He explained that the human brain is hardwired to recognize beauty. We know what colors work, we know what lines draw the eye, we know that beautiful water. We just know.

I found this old photo that I shot many moons ago before I knew anything about photography. I always loved this photo for some reason. I've learned quite a bit about photography over the past year and this photo falls into the sweet spot for beauty. The two old folks are right on the line of Phi and symmetry is also very nice.

I decided to take this old photo and turn it into black and white. Go ahead and dig through some of your old photos and I'll bet you'll find some beauty in your old shots.