The speed of light Is about 670,616,629 mph. If you could travel at the speed of light, you could go around the Earth 7.5 times in one second. Nothing travels faster than light. To put that number in perspective, consider the fact that commercial jetliners cruise at about 500 mph, which means the fastest I’ve ever traveled is…not that fast.
The idea of being able to catch light—even for a millisecond—seems impossible.
And yet I once read that a camera is just a tool for capturing light.
Photographs are the altars of our memory.
Four large framed portraits hang in my master bedroom, one for each of my four kids. They are 12, 10, 7, and 3 respectively. Whenever I look at those portraits, I go all misty-eyed because their little personalities are so perfectly captured, shining lights frozen in one fleeting moment of time.
“Don’t shoot what it looks like. Shoot what it feels like.”
That quote is about photography, not hunting (just in case you were wondering.)
Good photographers know their stuff—they know light and angles and lenses and apertures. They know when to use the flash.
They know that a good photograph isn’t about what you’re looking at, but about what you’ll see and feel when the picture is developed.
A couple of weeks ago, we were uploading photos from an old digital camera to our computer and discovered a photo from fifteen years ago. Gavin stared at it for a long minute and then said, “I don’t like this picture. I remember that guy, and I don’t like who he used to be.”
The good news is when we remember, we reflect, and when we reflect, we are able to make sense of the moments that have shaped our lives. And when we make sense of our past, we welcome the future with open arms.
Thank goodness none of us are who we used to be. Unlike those photographs frozen in time, we are fluid. We get to re-make ourselves over and over again.
My friend, Ashley, is the inspiration for this week’s WINSday Wednesday. She often does pro bono photography for local nonprofits because she knows the stories they’re telling can literally change lives. Chronicling those stories through photos brings her great joy. Every photo reveals something special about the subject matter. When we look at her work, we feel something.
And when we feel something, we often do something.
My challenge to you this week is to find spontaneous photos from the different life stages you’ve passed through. Ask yourself:
1) What was I doing when this photo was taken? What was I thinking? What was I feeling?
2) What did that woman want from her life at that time?
3) How am I different now than I was then?
In 2019, everybody is a photographer. Some cell phones even have multiple cameras! It’s nearly impossible to take a bad photo. Take a photo of yourself today. What is it that you really want?
If you missed Ashley’s Mission Driven Monday interview last year, you can watch it here.
Ready to take it to the next level?