This isn’t my photo, but I call it “ghost fish.” Somewhere on the edge of my imagination, ghost fish swim through a very creepy story.

February. Hand down the worst month of the year, am I right? Far enough from Christmas that we’ve forgotten it, far enough from spring that we can’t see it yet. Cold and gray and what do you mean I have to buy three sets of perfect Valentines and hang paper hearts everywhere?

We’re on the hunt for inspiration. Something to make us glow from the inside and remind us that the world is fascinating and that there’s so much out there to counterbalance the greeting cards.  We’ve found some inspiration in books. We’ve found some from our kids.  We’ve found some in our online community. We’ve found some in history. Today we’re going to feast our eyes and look at life through someone else’s camera lense.

Is there anything more mysterious that mist? It’s been used to the point of cliche, but there is still so much hidden in there to be discovered…

It’s no secret that I get a lot of inspiration from creative images.  I have no visual artistic skills of any kind, but I endlessly troll the internet for photos that trigger something inside me.  I keep a Pinterest page just for pictures that made me think, “I’m going to write a story about this.” I visit it often. If you read here regularly, you might find the roots of some of your favorite stories there.  I also keep this Tumblr purely for my own pleasure. When I get into that certain place where nothing fits together right and I can’t put my finger on the problem, I just scroll through the images and feel the internal sigh of relief.

I don’t have permission to post all of my favorites here, but follow me around the net a while, and take a look at the magic that’s being created.  You won’t be sorry.

Lissy Elle. She’s one of the first photographers I ever followed. Images like this one (and this one) hooked me forever.  Her Flickr feed ranges from the dark and bizarre to the whimsical and magical, but they all capture a very specific emotion. Love her.

Ashley Lebedev.  I first found this photo and was enchanted.  That took me to her very interesting Flickr feed. Many of these are more staged than I like, but there are a few complete gems.

Along those same lines is this photo. It’s one of my favorites ever, and the artist, Lione Bakker, creates portaits that have such a luminous quality.

Someday I’m going to explore a post-apocalyptic world, and when I do, I’ll find out the story behind this.

I also love anything and everything that uses perspective creatively. Perspective is one of the most interesting things in life.  The more we examine it, the better.

That said, this one makes me feel a little sick.

I know it’s all a trick, but I still find most of these resonant with stories I want to tell.

And my all-time favorite (because I want to tame the moon).

There’s a whole world above the clouds. If we could walk there, I wonder what we would find?

And finally, the wonderful way that photos can tell real life stories. So many people have done this well over the years, but Angelo Merendino is my new favorite.  This series brought me to tears this week. I don’t like to be brought to tears, but this was worth it.

Did you click the links? Did you soak it all in?

February doesn’t seem so bad after all, does it?