In Search of Beautiful Things (and Inspiration): October 2024

31 moments of everyday beauty - photographed by 5AM StoryTalk's readers and curated by me - to help inspire you on your personal and creative journeys

“In Search of Beautiful Things (and Creative Inspiration)” is a monthly photograph series by the readers of 5AM StoryTalk and curated by me. It began as a personal essay this past summer, in which I detailed a low point in my personal and creative life, post-international move to London, and how a daily ritual to look for and photograph one beautiful thing helped me recover some stability and creative energy in my life. You can read this essay here. The response to it was tremendous, to say the least, leading me to call for readers to share their own moments of beauty on Notes. Eventually, it made sense to take all those moments and assemble them into…something more.

This brings me to October’s edition of “In Search of Beautiful Things (and Creative Inspiration)”.

Hopefully, this series inspires you if you’re feeling creatively — or even personally — lost and maybe even encourages you to look for more beauty in your own life. But as important as this is, I also hope we can build a community of seekers together here around this philosophy. Because this project will only work as long as you all want it to.

Now, please, enjoy these 31 moments of everyday beauty to get you through the next month — and thank you to those who shared them with us (I wish I could’ve included every contribution). These photographs come from four continents and eleven countries.

DAY 1

By

Tess Parker

Sydney, New South Wales - Australia

[I saw] this bottlebrush glowing like a flame at dusk today, on a walk in our suburb.

DAY 2

By Cole Haddon
The Blue Mountains, New South Wales - Australia

I came home and found a dozen blossoming crabapple trees in our neighborhood practically glowing. There was some light coming from houses, which mixed with the sky’s. The result was…magical.

DAY 3

By

Lyndsey Resnick

Southern Ohio - United States

Morning, from my driveway.

DAY 4

By

Sandra Stephens

Belas, Portugal

Alphonse [the Rooster] crowing on the wall.

DAY 5

By

Glyn Lehmann

Laratinga Wetlands, South Australia - Australia

Gum trees are so commonplace in Australia that it’s easy to take them for granted. This one caught my eye as its illuminated leaves revealed intricate veins and a brilliant contrast to its iconic blue-grey leaves.

DAY 6

By

Georgina Bruce

Solihull, Birmingham - United Kingdom.

A mysterious door in the woods.

DAY 7

By

Tom Cox

Dartmoor, England - United Kingdom

Perhaps not the best, in technical terms, especially as it was raining and the lens was a bit blurry, but I like this one I took of a couple of ponies on Dartmoor at the weekend.

DAY 8

By

Nolan Green

Baltimore, Maryland - United States

Billie Jo.

DAY 9

By

SDG Lemaître

Outer Hebrides, Scotland - United Kingdom

As the garden begins to shift from summer towards autumn, a butterfly enjoys a wildflower.

DAY 10

By

Monique Mulligan

Alfred River, Western Australia - Australia

Canola fields are breathtaking this time of the year in Western Australia. It’s hard to get up close (unless you’re trespassing) but this field backed onto a tiny church graveyard at the side of the road, providing both the opportunity to stretch our legs and snap a pic.

DAY 11

By

Richard Careaga

Woodinvile, Washington - United States.

The botanical name for rosemary is Salvia rosmarinus. It used to be known as Rosmarinus officinalis, but the genus Rosmarinus has been merged into the genus Salvia. My all-time favorite herb.

DAY 12

By

Hayley Dunlop

Surrey, England - United Kingdom

This is round the corner from my home. In a few weeks, I'm participating in a conker knockout competition! Conkers are some of my favorite objects on Earth.

DAY 13

By

Jonathan Ellingson

Near Falls City, Oregon - United States

It’s mushroom season in Oregon.

DAY 14

By

Tara Sahgal

Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai - India

If these floors could hear (funghi).

DAY 15

By

Geoffrey Gevalt

Strafford, Vermont - United States

This is the Strafford Town House. Built in 1799, it was initially intended to be a public gathering place and was also used by a variety of congregations until 1832 when it became entirely a non-sectarian meeting place. It is in remarkably good shape and has one of the nicest “outhouses” in the world — a self-composting affair with wheelchair ramp right next to the building. This was one of those photo times when you look up and see incredible light and happen to have a camera.

DAY 16

By

Lou Tilsley

Europa Park - Germany

Taken on our family holiday this August.

DAY 17

By

Jamey Hood

Venice, California - United States.

Nature does its thing.

DAY 18

By

Dane Benko

Manhattan, New York - United States

Somewhere near Grand Central. I actually took several pictures from the other side of this half-block-long retail unit before my wife and I started moving in, only to suddenly notice these creepy mannequins hidden around the corner. Had to take a whole other series of pictures!

DAY 19

By

Nikita Andester

Toulouse, Occitanie - France

The view from my balcony in Toulouse. Usually pigeons roost on the weather vanes/satellite poles, but since cooler, windy weather has moved in, they’ve taken to roosting in the tiny little hole on the neighboring building. Look at this little married couple hiding from the wind!

DAY 20

By

Prasanna Weerawardena

Antibes, Cote D’ Azur — France

DAY 21

By Annie Wood (

how to love the world

)
Rhodes - Greece

DAY 22

By S. Reesen (

S 🗨️ Writes 💭 Substack 💬 Here

)
North Devon, England - United Kingdom

I’ve spent a couple of days in Somerset. This is The Valley of the Rocks, which is part of the UK’s Coastal Trail, which I didn’t even know existed until yesterday. It was the creative reset I did not know I needed, and I’m now raring and willing to get back to writing and developing my poetry.

DAY 23

By

Julian Hill

Khumjung Valley - Nepal

This is between Dole and Luza on the way to Gokyo. The Sherpa ahead just passed me on the path at twice the speed I was walking. Everything in the Khumbu and Khumjung valleys is carried like this or from a forehead strap. All logistics are pedestrian, whether goods are carried by people or by yaks. Soon the road from Kathmandu may finally reach Lukla and life here will forever change, in good and bad ways. I hope none of this place’s extraordinary beauty will be lost.

DAY 24

By Shawn M. Craig (

Shawn MC

)
Pacifica, California - United States

Above the clouds.

DAY 25

By

Dawn Sellers

Rockaway Beach, Oregon - United States

Twin Rocks.

DAY 26

By

Chris Papps

Moana Beach, South Australia - Australia

DAY 27

By

Shelly Stallard

Prescott, Arizona - United States.

An “earth star” and a bit of mullein on a job site at Groom Creek.

DAY 28

By Georgia Bateman (

Georgia B.

)
McHenry County, Illinois - United States

This was taken along the Fox River.

DAY 29

By

Lisa Bolin

Åland Islands - Finland

We cycled out to the family cottage and were greeted with the most incredible stillness at sundown. Autumn is on the way.

DAY 30

By

Arnaly Arriaga Blanco

Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia - Canada

Three levels of sunset [just outside Halifax].

DAY 31

By S.D. Cowley (

Melted Form

)
Lavallette, New Jersey - United States

This photo of the early morning sky pregnant with the impending sunrise is one of my favorite recent captures.

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If you would like to submit a recent photograph of everyday beauty from your life, to be considered for next month’s installment of this series, look for an upcoming Notes call to action from me or email 5AMStoryTalk@gmail.com. Please include:

• A hi-res photograph

• Your first and last name

• The location, even if it’s just a town or county or the name of a mountain range

• Any note you would like to include to provide context (these are optional)

The rights to these photos will remain yours, of course, but submitting them should be understood as permission to publish them.

Oh, and spread the word if you can by sharing this article. I will never paywall this series, so helping to signal boost this just makes the experience richer for all of us who choose to become involved.

I look forward to continuing this exploration of moments of everyday beauty with you here at 5AM StoryTalk!

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