This is cross posted from Shutter Sisters today:

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You cannot convince me not to love this photo.  And yet, this was one of those shots that I almost deleted the  moment I captured it without even looking at the result because I had not meant to take a 1 second exposure.  When I finally saw the image for the first time on my monitor at home, however, I was instantaneously smitten.  Yes, it's blurry and partially blown-out and not anything like what I thought I wanted to capture, but upon first sight, I knew it was perfect.

Was it merely good luck or a happy accident that produced this photo?  Perhaps a little of both.  Nevertheless, I prefer to see it as the Universe's way of whispering 'I Love You' to little old me.   It's probably not evident to anyone else, but what I recognize in this photo is the fluttering of my heart as I witnessed beauty unfolding before my eyes, the beauty I am woven into as part of my little community of love and faith.  In between the blur and fuzz, I see grace and hope embodied in the bended knees of people I cherish dearly, people who bow their heads in love not to ideology or religiosity or unexamined faith but to the humble task of leaning on one another and carrying each other's burdens.

The Universe knew I would never think to take a long exposure, and so she intervened on my behalf and left me this little love note, and for that I am ever so grateful.  It is personally more powerful and more meaningful than any image I could have captured with my own human eyes.