Some moments, when snow is filtering down from the sky, and the cold is bitter beyond brick walls, you meet up with friends for photo shoots in Troy coffee shops.

Sometimes creativity drives your every day actions, and other times it slips between your fingers for weeks. Up until that morning, I had been struggling with my creativity for weeks. I had tried to shoot photos, had tried to write, but every time, I hit a wall.

Waiting in a Coffee Shop

I was nervous as I waited for Jasmine to leave her meeting, I wanted to shoot, to create, but I didn't know what I wanted, didn't know how to begin.

The instant I walked into Little Pecks, a coffee shop in downtown Troy, I was blown away by the amazing location. The textures, the design, everything was random, but everything seemed to just fit together.

I sat hunched over a mug of hot chocolate in the back garden, dreaming of the possibilities. My mind was churning over what I was going to do when she arrived. I was still nervous, but creativity and excitement began to mix in my gut.

As usual, she made everything so much easier.

When she arrived, we chatted for a while, catching up about life, and gushing over thoughts of travel. In that moment, I was ready to try just about anything.

Pecks Arcade

We left the amazing patio/garden, and she led me into Pecks Arcade. The place was a goldmine, an urban photographers dream. Even with the snow that blurred the world outside, the dark of the upstairs was a perfect playground.

The more we shot, the more excited I grew, trying different positions and forms, exploring new rooms in the building. Jasmine crushed it, breaking the flow of work with laughter and deep thoughts.

Dressed in all black, she embodied the café girl from the Goofy Movie.

It was all I needed to get back into the swing of things.

Endings

We ended up walking to Liza's after we had finished. It's a healthy food joint that serves mostly bowls and smoothies. We stared out of the window and into the snowy street, diving into deep thoughts about what makes a person truly who they are

As we went over photos and ate our food bowls, I was struck about how simple things can be.

We create these complicated impressions of what we want in our minds, and they tangle us up in their nets and snares. Honestly, if we just let them happen, if we forget about our other worries in just that moment, everything just flows so easily.

Our constant thoughts and worries ruin the pure, amazing, simplicity of moments. It drags it down, tarnishing it with sour thoughts.

Being fully in a moment washes all of that away.