{PERSPECTIVE}.
My love for photography is rooted in the meaning behind the photograph and the memory or lessons that stood out in my mind at that point in time. When my kids were little, it wasn’t just their cute little toothless smile or the grumpy face I thought I would never forget. Moreoften it was the story behind the face or the smile.
Maybe around them I saw the teeny shoes and toys scattered around that drove me crazy while they were small and seemed to never stay where they belong….those same shoes I knew one day I would miss terribly…
Maybe it was the favorite blanket she held while she sucked her thumb or the way she twirled her hair…
Maybe it was the way he bounced when daddy came home…
or Maybe it was the unexpected sickness that lasted so long and changed us all.
Even now photography evokes lessons and stories every time I look through the lens. Frequently (when I let it), it changes the way I see things. How I intentionally compose a picture completely changes the way I see what I am looking at. In life, I am reminded daily of how this change in perspective can positively or negatively influence my day to day life and my attitude. Today, for example, I decided I wanted to go outside and capture some shots of the snow and close ups of the snowflakes. I love the purity of the white and the uniqueness of each individual flake. However when I got outside, it was all melting and what I had envisioned capturing wasn’t possible. It was not attractive. So … I could come inside …. or I could choose to look at the situation differently. I tried various angles and different compositions. What initially was disappointing and unappealing, I was able to see in a beautiful way.
This is not unlike life. If we are unwilling to change our view, to look from a different perspective, oftentimes we will miss the beautiful and leave with disappointment and unmet expectations. We cannot always control our circumstances, but we can certainly control the way we view them. It is really difficult sometimes to accept a different view than the view we might be expecting but there is real freedom in realizing we cannot control every outcome – only our reaction and attitude to what we face.
Lord help me to be creative with life when I feel frustrated with what I see. Help me to see things from a different view and look for the beauty in the unwelcome.
I started to look through some pictures of my own to post…I got overwhelmed and spent an hour reminiscing….it was wonderful! But way too many to choose from, so here are four – there is a story behind each one <3.
