black and white | Paul's Reflections

Paul Cotter

Oct 30, 20241 min read

France #5: Lagniappe

For this final post about our trip to France, I’d like to treat you to some random bonus photos – a lagniappe, if you will. Lagniappe...

Paul Cotter

Oct 9, 20242 min read

France #2: D-Day Beaches

My wife and I stood on the shore at Omaha Beach, the site of the most brutal fighting during the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day. As...

Paul Cotter

Aug 28, 20241 min read

Taking Off

Next week, we’re leaving for a long-awaited journey to the Normandy and Brittany regions of France. My anticipation, you could say, is...

Paul Cotter

Aug 13, 20242 min read

Play Time

As I walked through the playground in an Uptown Charlotte park, I was struck by the unbridled joy of the children at play: running,...

Paul Cotter

Aug 6, 20242 min read

Tangled

It’s easy to get wrapped up in things in a way we never intended. When that happens, it can be difficult (and sometimes impossible) to...

Paul Cotter

Jul 15, 20241 min read

The Dead Lizard

As temperatures in Charlotte hit the mid-90s last week, our upstairs air conditioning unit broke down in the middle of the night. A check...

Paul Cotter

Jun 5, 20242 min read

Inseparable

I hadn’t thought about my old childhood friend in a long time. It’s been almost 60 years since we last hung out together. Over the years,...

Paul Cotter

Apr 30, 20242 min read

The Seductive Call of Likes

You may have noticed that I don’t have the “Likes” feature activated on my blog – which means you can’t give my posts a thumbs-up to show...

Paul Cotter

Apr 17, 20242 min read

The Whisper

SHHHHHHHHHH! Let your mind go quiet. Listen. When we do, we can tap into a source of creativity that’s far beyond anything we can...

Paul Cotter

Mar 27, 20241 min read

The Laundry Lesson

Many years ago, I heard some words of wisdom that have always stayed with me. They came from Joe Crowley, co-owner of the Crowley Webb...

Paul Cotter

Mar 20, 20242 min read

Unity and Variety

I've always wondered: why do so many people want others to be exactly like them? They won’t be happy unless everyone else looks like...

Paul Cotter

Mar 6, 20241 min read

Returning to the Source

As I photographed this beach in Southern California, I was mesmerized by the water pouring into the inlet and then withdrawing back into...

Paul Cotter

Jan 31, 20241 min read

The Call of the Shell

Have you ever found yourself pulled like a magnet to certain things in life? Maybe it’s a career path that beckoned, or a destination you...

Paul Cotter

Jan 24, 20241 min read

A Closer Look

What do you see in this picture? A heart? A face? Can you tell what this object is? Is it large like a tree trunk? Is it small like a...

Paul Cotter

Dec 18, 20231 min read

A Holiday Message

With the holidays in full swing and 2023 drawing to a close, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for visiting Paul's Reflections. The...

Paul Cotter

Nov 8, 20232 min read

What We See

An interesting thing happened when I photographed Hickory Nut Falls at Chimney Rock State Park last week. This 404-foot falls, located...

Paul Cotter

Oct 14, 20231 min read

The Beacon

We all have a beacon that we follow — something that guides us on our life journey and helps us reach our chosen destination, just as...

Paul Cotter

Oct 2, 20231 min read

Disappointment into Delight (Part One)

We’ve all had times when things didn’t go our way. You know what I’m talking about: those times when our expectations were as high as the...

Paul Cotter

Sep 19, 20231 min read

The Stomping Sleepwalkers

This is an incident that baffled me. Bonnie and I had just walked down a steep flight of wooden steps to reach this waterfall in Nova...

Paul Cotter

Sep 15, 20231 min read

A Rainstorm Story

It was raining that morning in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. I don’t mean drizzling. I mean really raining – coming down in torrents, with...