Mark Hirsch was a professional photographer and editor who suffered a couple of crippling blows in life; first, being laid off from a job he loved editing photos for an Iowa newspaper, and then being literally hit by a truck. For CBS News, he wrote:
After the crash, I was unable to work. I had trouble sleeping . . .
memory issues. I lost my drive and ambition. I was irritable and short
with the family I love.Then I got an iPhone — not to take pictures with, of course. What
self-respecting photographer would do that? Well, a friend and
photographer I respected had, and suggested I give it a try.My first picture: A 160-year-old Bur Oak tree sitting in a cornfield
near my Wisconsin home. I had driven past that tree every day for 19
years, but I had never really looked at it.That would change!
I decided to make a photo of that tree every day for a year — before
sunrise, after sunset, anytime, really. I was there, waiting and
watching, taking note of the simple beauty I had missed for so long.A darting blackbird . . . a nest of eggs . . . the full moon setting.
The valley of that tree became for me a foreign land full of strange
and wonderful discoveries: a katydid, backlit by the sun; a moth
camouflaged against the tree's bark; a firefly painting a yellow
brushstroke as it flew past my lens.
I'm a sucker for "a tree saved me," having experienced that myself (less dramatically). Thank you, Mark Hirsch, for noticing…and thanks to "That Tree."
Kit Stolz 
Photographing any one thing over and over is a good, simple lesson in how life is a contradictory mixture of permanence and constant change. Focusing is just another variation on meditation.
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Really an interesting comment, Michael. Essay worthy, I’d say. Or perhaps you’re thinking of your own experience at San Francisco’s Civic Center and symphony/opera?
http://sfciviccenter.blogspot.com/
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