If you needed something to represent the number 19, as in Proposition 19, where would you go? Or the number 8, as in Proposition 8? or something which describes an everyday operation like STOP or GO?

Whenever I need a photo of something like this, something quite ordinary and yet exceptional for its ordinariness, I go to one man’s work: Leo Reynolds. I’m never disappointed by his collection of photos on Flickr.

Incredibly, Leo has made the enormous body of his work available under Creative Commons licensing. It’s a massive gift to humanity he’s compiled.

And a gift it is, because he has an incredible eye. He finds the breathtaking and jaw-dropping in things we might take for granted every day. Street signs, placards, parks, junk, buildings and roadways — you name it, he finds the one thing which by itself will stop you and make you take pause to rediscover and study it more closely.  . . .

Leo also has an incredible knack for rediscovering and pointing to art which may be ignored, like this angel in a graveyard, long neglected and forgotten except by moss. Look through his nearly six years of collections and you’ll see many such examples including details in Tiffany works and architectural bits walked by everyday. He also pays homage to other artists’ works, making them more intriguing in the inspection it takes to frame a perfect shot.

Natural beauty, too, catches his attention, like this allium below, a flowering member of the onion family. While he’s using technology to tweak them, he clearly loves and enjoys his subjects.

Thanks, Leo. Wish I could buy you a pint in gratitude.