When I was very young, I had a lot of fun playing – often with my brother or cousins – in a small, trickling creek that ran behind my grandparents’ home in rural Illinois. I have gotten sentimental about this particular spot in the past with my mom and my bro, and they both were quick to correct my reference by saying, “you’re talking about the ditch!”

I prefer creek, thank you very much.

There, we caught minnows and crawdads, and began and ended many adventures into the woods surrounding their homestead. Many years later, as a college student visiting my homeland, I returned to Granny Bea’s late one night, and on a whim, I ventured out to the creek with a cassette recorder, to capture the sound of the water’s flow in that setting. I sat there and recorded for maybe a minute, and afterward, listening to those sounds while sitting in other places as my life moved on, I was really surprised at how I felt drawn into that special time and place, and how that added some interesting new facet to my life that day.

That’s the tale behind an idea I have been actively pursuing for a series of video shorts sharing 60 seconds of stillness, with picture and ambient sound from some of the more spectacular places I visit. Called “Rare Air,” my original impulse to preserve quiet moments honoring the beauty of extraordinary places we visit has now become a lifelong thread.

Since launching this series in June, 2014, whenever I find myself in a place that feels suitable, I reach for a camera. Rare Air continues to grow from those moments – small, unplanned, and rooted in gratitude.