My favorite stories are the ones I don’t cover because I get to watch them as a viewer.
And so it goes with this week’s Positively Cincinnati series. My friend and co-worker, Paul Harper, pitched a story for the weekly segment. When I took a look at what he put together, it just made sense to share it with all of you. The beautiful photography is one reason. The overarching message is the other.
Paul calls this week’s installment the “Big Picture.” How appropriate on so many levels.
This is a piece about the fantastic nature pictures a couple takes on an almost-daily basis. It’s also about the big picture message of their shared endeavor.
Jeff and Leslie Sluder are like a lot of couples. Life kept them very busy for years. But then it came time for Jeff to retire from Proctor & Gamble. So he and his wife, a radiographer/mammographer, had a little more time together to do something they love: hiking.
Walks at local parks and nature preserves offered up all kinds of beautiful sights. And then came an evolution.
About four years ago, the duo decided to capture the beauty and the nuance of nature in pictures. They shared their photography with friends on social media.
“People are amazed at the beauty we have right here,” Jeff said.
The photos are pretty spectacular. And when you check out Jeff and Leslie's work, you can see there’s love in it. Love for nature. Love for something they share – something that binds them.
That is the big picture in this story about all the smaller pictures.
About their jaunts, Leslie says, “ They have strengthened our relationship. There’s so much benefit from doing something fun together.”
And Jeff has some advice cultivated on all those nature walks. “Find something you have in common,” he says, “Do it. Enjoy it. Be together.”
To know they’ve found that happiness is a point of hope for people looking for it.
And to think, it all started with some walks in nature – walks that still compel the Sluders to share what they love. Walks that make it possible for them to be an example of what it’s like to be in love after so many years together.
