Apr
24
2013“Mommy, I like your polka dots.”
Aeralind is reclining on my chest. She had just asked for and received a “big fat hug.”
(You know, where you lay on your back and your child lays on your tummy and both of you put your feet in the air and then you squeeze the mess out of them? Oh… you don’t know… I’m sorry. Go try it.)
She’s poking my face while she says this. Specifically, she’s poking my ever present zits.
You heard her right: she just told me she likes my pimples.
Aerie moves to the second cheek. “I like this polka dot, too,” she exclaims as she stabs a particularly painful zit. I really don’t know what to say. Usually I’m an educator… but in that quiet silly moment, I don’t want to tell her that zits are ugly, socially unacceptable, gross, and painful. So I stay hushed.
A week ago (or so), I had edited all of my polka dots out of an image of Aerie and I (and some stray peanut butter from Aerie’s hair).
Editing them out wasn’t wrong. I’m pretty sure Aerie will remember me with clear skin, because I don’t remember my mom having skin issues or hair issues or anything else.
Yet, my sweet Aeralind Grace, with her child-heart is telling me the very message that I preach here daily in this space (mostly to myself!).
My most beautiful moments (yours too) are the messy everyday vulnerable stories. Zits and all.
And more importantly, these messy moments are the intersections of grace.
I am loved by Aeralind and, more importantly, by the very God of the universe, zits and all.
Apr
23
2013
My sociology teacher in high school asked us to draw a flower on a note card on our first day of class. We passed them up anonymously and she held each one in front of the class and talked a little about each person.
I drew an orchid. I’m not great at drawing, but you could tell that I was trying to capture a specific flower.
She labeled me “meticulous.” I had figure out how to spell it and then find a dictionary.
meticulous (adj): marked by extreme or excessive care in the consideration or treatment of details.
She had nailed me.
At that time I was a raging perfectionist who spent hours on school projects or journaling over conversations with friends. Over a decade later I’m a reformed perfectionist who is able to differentiate between superfluous details and those that really matter. I also remembers details about people in a way that consistently surprises them and am writing a 52 week beginner photography class because I can’t contain all the details I’m passionate about into just 6 weeks :-p
Did I mention she nailed me?
Unlike the rule of thirds or leading lines or changing my perspective, capturing detail images comes very naturally to me. I’m thinking that may not be true for all of you.
So let me tell you a little about the whys and my process for capturing detail.
Detail Images are the Vector for Memories
Let’s stop a moment and think back to your wedding day. Or the day you met your girlfriend. Or the day you birthed your baby. Or even that first day on your current job. Or that sad day when you buried a parent or child or friend. Or that lazy summer afternoon that you spent with your sister at 9.
What do you remember most?
When I was 9 and my sister was 8, we had a fort in our shed where the neighbor boy wasn’t allowed. I don’t remember much about that fort besides a pile of barbies. Except for one day when my sister came tearing out of the shed screaming that she had seen a “rat thing.” She described it as a rat with a red mohawk. My sister was never scared of anything so that was the end of our fort. We never played in the shed again.
Do you see what I remember? A pile of barbies. One day. My sister’s description of “rat thing.” All of those things are details. There is not one movie type reel captured in my brain.
When my sister and I talk to my parents about our childhood memories there is nearly no overlap in memories. If we talk about our day at the state fair we all note something different. My dad will ask if we remember how he won us the big-stuffed-whatever-it-was. Mom will ask about if we remember how we had powdered funnel cake sugar all over our hair. My sister will remember how she beat dad on the go-cart track. And I will remember racing down the monster slide with dad and sister on slick flour sacks over and over.
The four of us experienced the same event in time but we all remember it differently. We all have focused in on a different detail.
Memory craves details. It thrives off details. We can’t possibly remember everything about each day because our brains aren’t wired that way. Instead, we put entire days or experiences or traumas into files based off just the smallest detail memories. And each remembered day has a thumbnail image that triggers the rest of the details of that day.
Our memories are wrapped up in the details, even if our future planning is wrapped up in the big picture.
Detail Images both Define and Complete the Story
I could spend a lot of words on explaining why the above statement is true, but as I just spent an equal amount of words convincing you that memory hinges on details, I won’t. I’ll tell my meticulous perfectionist self that a lot of words aren’t what you need to prove that detail images both define and complete the story. Nope, you need a series of images.
Take a glace at the following series of images that I took at my daughters’ birthday party, then answer the questions following the images in the comments section.
Your first assignment: answer the following questions in the comments section.
- What was the theme of this birthday party? How did you know?
- What activities occurred? Which activities were you cued into by a detail shot? Which activity by a more big picture image?
- Without looking back up at the images, which image was your favorite? Was it a detail or global image? What does that say about you?
Detail Images Assignment
We’re sticking with the deceptively simple assignments throughout this Storytelling with Images Series.
Take your camera out and capture a few (2-4) detail images that tell the whole story in the same way that your memory does. Vague… maybe? But roll with it, because I can’t wait to see how you interpret this assignment over in our Free Beginner’s Photography Class Flickr Group!
Apr
18
2013There’s been this huge pregnant pause in my dreams recently.
The biggest pregnant pause in my life ever… waiting for the first cries.
Yes, I’m highly enjoying interacting with members of my Free Beginner Photography Class. Yes, my children are finally healthy and it’s spring and we’re all romping in the backyard. Yes, when the Spirit prods, I am writing from my vulnerable everyday mess. I am even feeling called to attend Allume and my last session had provided all the rest of the money needed to purchase the ticket.
But email inquiries were resulting in people who disappeared right before they booked a session. I hadn’t even had a session in over 6 weeks. My initial God sized dream to book 12 sessions this yea, well, it was seeming next to impossible. Feeling pretty low, I messaged a photographer friend for marketing advice.
But she didn’t give me marketing advice, she showed me the very heart of God.
While I was feeling discouraged, she was feeling a call to give me a very large and unexpected sum of money toward the purchase of a professional grade camera that at my current business income, I wouldn’t be able to afford for at least 5 years.
I think I was speechless for days. Here was my heavenly Father (through my generous friend) wrapping his arms around me and just whispering, “Be faithful with what I give, sweet daughter of mine. I will walk you through dreams. And this walk will be wilder than you ever imagined.”
But then I still had a huge decision. What do I do about Allume? With her gift and the money I currently had I could easily buy a used camera body one step under my ultimate dream camera. If I bought the ticket with not one session on the books, how long would it be before I could purchase that same camera body? By the end of the summer? 2 years from now? Longer?
There God was, holding out an extravagant gift after giving a calling to attend a conference and what was my response?
I was doubting His sovereignty.
If I bought the ticket to a place He was calling me then I doubted that He’d make it possible for my much-needed camera upgrade to occur. Did I mention He had contributed over 1/2 of my step down from dream camera body and a little over 1/4 of my I don’t dare to even ask for it camera body? And my response was to doubt.
Yet, my part of dreaming this crazy dream to be a photographer (and sometimes a writer who speaks right where He asks) isn’t to create results. I don’t have to shoot 12 sessions this year (my well written SMART goal- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) even if that is a huge part of the dream. My real dreaming assignment is relational obedience to His callings.
In her book, You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream: Opening the Door to All God Has for You
Saying yes to God at every step is the only true success when it comes to your dream… If you are obedient, then you are successful regardless of the results.
So I bought the ticket. I obeyed and sat back and trusted His gracious sovereignty. And I’m still fighting the Chihuahua of Fear, but that’s okay because the Lord Jesus Christ walks beside me.
So, fellow dreamer, here’s the truth of my story now: relationship motivated obedience is always what God asks.
Even if He takes you off the course of what you thought your dream might be, obedience is key, because the Giver only gives the best gifts even when we don’t understand.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected two babies… best gift ever.
Apr
16
2013
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~Albert Einstein
There are so many times when I have a camera in my hand that I shoot about 10 frames of the same scene/pose/moment from the same location. Sometimes that’s valid (young kids make goofy faces… people blink… I, too, miss focus), but most of the time it’s insanity. I end up with 5 great photos of the same thing. From a professional standpoint… that’s not very marketable. What client is going to buy 5 photos of everyone looking the same? I’m standing there doing the same thing over and over again… yet expecting different photos!
Moreover, taking the same image over and over doesn’t help me keep storytelling with images. So what can I (or you) do to be better about truly storytelling with images?
Storytelling with Images by using a Different Angle
About two years ago I participated in a Project 52 challenge. One where an instructor gave us one image or series of images to take on a theme each week. I don’t remember much about this particular challenge as a whole, but I do remember this one assignment to try different angles. “Shoot the same scene from 4 different angles.”
Bronwyn Eating Lunch (15 Months)
Aeralind Eating Lunch
I’d been a hobbyist photographer for a decade at that point and not one of my art teachers had ever given me an assignment like that. This one assignment more than likely is what set a fire inside me for lifestyle photography, to capture the mundane and messy in all these details to tell the real story of a life. In fact, because of this assignment I went to being a prime/fixed focal length lens girl solely (rather than a zoom lens girl) because I have to physically move to create the composition that I want.
Your Assignment
So I’m not going to waste a lot of words on this post. I could tell you how changing your shooting angle will get you on the same level as a child. Or that you’ll pull some beautiful catch lights into a subjects eyes if you have them look up at you with an overcast sky above. Or that your favorite shot will likely be the second or third angle. But I’ll refrain, because I want you to discover your own perspective change. So let’s get down to business, shall we?
Take a series of 3-5 images all of one scene and before each shutter click, physically move your body (don’t just zoom your lens) to a different position than the one you were in a moment ago. Bonus points if you do more than one scene!
That’s it. When you’re done post the series over in our Flickr Group for some friendly critique. Then come back here and let me know how this deceptively simple assignment changed your perspective on Storytelling with Images.
Apr
10
2013This week’s God-sized Dream writing prompt from Holley Gerth made me laugh out loud! Here it is below:
“Fear hangs out right next to whatever it is you’re most called to do. That means the closer you get to your calling, the louder fear sounds. Keep going–fear is a chihuahua that sounds like a Doberman.” —You’re Made for a God-sized Dream, Chapter Five
Your prompt from last week: It’s time to have a little talk with the fear in your life. Write a letter that starts out, “Dear Chihuahua of Fear, I have some things I’d like to say to you…” {Is this kinda silly? Um, yes, but that’s the point. Fear always tries to make us take it more seriously than we should.} Link up your letter below. Extra credit if you can make us laugh out loud.
Dear Chihuahua of Fear,
I have some things I’d like to say to you.
You’ve been barking at me for far too long.
Honestly, I wasn’t gifted with compassion for loud rat shaped miniature dogs (sorry, if you were) and I’ve honestly wanted to kick you since I first heard your yap.
But I have refrained because I didn’t want anyone to see me boot you from here to China. It’d sort of be disgraceful, you know?
But the truth is your annoying little bark is responsible for whispering things that devalue my worth as a daughter of Christ.
Maybe you do deserve a good swift kick.
You see, Chihuahua of Fear, you’re written about in the bible (although the writer refers you to you as a lion… such an overrated title).
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
There is a lion in the streets!” Proverbs 26:13
So let me tell you something. You can sit in the middle of my path an yap away at me all you want. I refuse to listen (well, except sometimes… when I’m weak and haven’t yet appealed to the Lion of Judah, the real Lion). I don’t think I’ll kick you either because that would be wasting time and energy better suited to faithfully working toward the God-sized dream in my heart.
You know what else, Chihuahua? I’m not going to let my friends pay any attention to your posturings in the middle of their streets either. I will sit here and encourage through the bad days and point to Christ. I will tell myself and anyone who needs to hear that the only way to ignore the chihuahua of fear is to press into the Maker of Love.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18
If I’m going to be punished if success (as I or you measure it) never occurs, then, yep, I really ought to fear you, Chihuahua. But that’s not exactly how things work.
The problem is that you’re barking up the wrong tree; you know you don’t want to mess with the daughter of the one nailed to that cross tree. Yeah, I didn’t think so. You might want to quit barking at that cross… the One who bore it has power over death.
But what’s more, Chihuahua of fear, the Conqueror of the death tree you’re barking me against defines success differently than you do. He defines success as obedience motivated by love and disobedience followed by sweet repentance. And there’s no room for you in perfect love.
So move over, Chihuahua of Fear, I’m going to to keep loving and seeking the One who loved me first by His grace. I’m going to keep following that perfect love right into the heart of my God-sized dream. And when you get too savage, my Savior will carry me right over you.
Hasta la Vista, Little Yip Yap.
Signed,
a daughter of the King whose Name is Love
