We Can't Control Everything

With all the technology and power we have, we still can not control everything. We have to make the best out of some situations.






A few years ago you would have never found me out in a thunderstorm trying to capture a picture of lightning. But as I continue to challenge myself to get better shots, I find and take opportunities that I would have never taken before. This is starting to trickle down to my children as well. The last storm we had, no one was scared and they almost enjoyed watching the lightning create different designs in the sky. (Of course the storms were not sever and it was safe for us to do so. There is a difference between taking a photographic opportunity and risking your safety.) After the storm we walked around our yard and noticed how interesting the raindrops looked on everything.

Taking the Path Less Traveled

Sometimes it scares me how much today's society is always in a rush. What is life going to be like for my children if we don't learn how to slow down and relax. I feel like people are always pressured for time, stressed about something, over committed, and just unhappy. No wonder why so many Americans have health conditions. I myself can be caught up in the rat race of life. What really helped me learn to slow down and take time to breathe was photography. When I began studying photography, I began to realize how much I was missing and what I was modeling for my children. I have really become aware of how many times I say to my children "Hurry up," or "We don't have time.". I am learning to ask myself "Why don't we have time?" "What would it hurt if we did take the time?". No wonder so many children are being diagnosed with ADHD/ ADD. Look at what they have for models, and how rushed we make them. Of course they don't have long attention spans and are always on the go. We are making them that way! (Besides the fact that the are staying indoors most of their day, but that will be a topic for another post.)

Learning to slow down isn't easy, but once you can it is amazing what a difference it can make in your life. The picture below I took on my way to work one morning. That day I decided to go the back roads to work instead of the highway. I am so glad I did, because look at what I would have missed.

Walk in the Woods

I have come to realize that there are always going to be things on my to do list. There will always be laundry to do, a house that needs some organizing, toys that need to be picked up, dishes to get washed, and so on. If I spend all my "free" time focusing on these things I would not have had the opportunity to get outside and enjoy the beautiful winter scenery in my backyard. These pictures were captured on a quick hike in the woods behind my house, which my children are still talking about.
Not sure what kind of mushrooms those are, but they were an amazing find.

New Meaning to an Old Phrase

Welcome to my first post! As I began to study photography, I began to become more aware of things that we don't often notice as we are rushing from one place to another. I became more self aware of what I had been to busy to see right in front of me, and I became more and more interested. I learned to look deeper than the surface of what I was seeing and to be observant. I started sharing my insights with my children in hopes that they would remember to take time to look around as they grew into young adults. So far it is working. Both of them love looking for colorful sunsets, and will sometimes wake me to see a beautiful sunrise if they wake before me. Of course there are days when I wish they hadn't discovered that sunrises can be as colorful as sunsets!

I am very fortunate to be a program leader in an early childhood school that also values the world around us and instills an appreciation of nature with the children. I often find myself sharing my photos with the children at our school who will look at them with insights that I never thought of. I want to give new meaning to the old phrase "Take time to smell the roses."