Changing the energy

Throughout Yellowstone, I saw people rush up to some natural attraction, snap a quick photograph, and dash to the next thing, hardly stopping to breathe while snapping, and often not even really looking at the place (perhaps imagining they will enjoy it later, by looking at the photograph). But Sue sometimes gets out her pen, drawing paper, and handy small palette and travel brushes. She'll stand still for five, ten, fifteen minutes, her dominant left hand interpreting what her eyes see. And then she adds color to it with her little palette. I watched how her presence in a space could change the energy. People snap their photograph before glimpsing her, but when they notice her quiet presence, they seem to feel permission to slow down. They gape over her shoulder, they look again at the thing, they take time, they stop running.

P.S. the blown-out white space is steam rising from a boiling pit of water, backlit by the sun. Impossible conditions, but you can see the story in the backs and the heads. A collection of pictures is here.