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There’s a community grief that permeates us all. Deep concerns for our loved ones, the more vulnerable in the community, our healthcare workers, and for ourselves. We worry about how long it will go on for, and where it will leave us in the end.

Even in the busyness of our normal lives, allowing beauty to enter can seem frivolous or a waste of time.

But this doesn't have to be the case.

Being forced to slow down, to be still and absolutely present, gives us a much-needed permission slip to go searching for beauty in the small things.

The pattern formed between raindrops before the ground is soaked. A cup of tea on a cold day, warm between your hands. The golden afternoon light casting elongated shadows along the ground. A chocolate tile melting in your mouth. The gentle strum of guitar strings, a hum lingering. The sporadic scent of eucalypt on a walk down the street. The soft fur of a dog between your fingers, a tail wag in your presence.

Often seen as fleeting and unproductive, beauty doesn't pretend to offer you anything more than what is it right then and there. Beauty is incredibly obvious and present, not despite its impermanence, but because of it.

UOW Photo-Journalist Paul Jones explores these ideas in a photo journal below.

This is a reminder to delight in the things we often take for granted. They are the small but precious things. They can offer some respite.

"Watch a sunrise. Have a cup of tea. Create some "me" time. Do some gardening. Read a book. Learn more about birds. Play some music" says Paul.

We encourage you to save the images you love most and make them your phone or computer screensaver / background.