Throughout the years, I’m reminded over and over again that what I’ve learned from life can certainly be applied to my photographic process.
Conversely, what I learn in photography can help me better understand how I should live life. I must say photography does a much faster job teaching because it reinforces lessons by clearly proving them to me immediately in the process. Life has its way of taking its old sweet time to really show me the meaning.
Photography & Life Lesson #1: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Yadda yadda. But it's true.
Last fall, we scheduled a Black Hills trip and my mission was to capture the fall foliage. The autumn colors there make the incredible landscapes even more amazing.
A massive early snow storm hit the area which can create havoc on the chances of vibrant foliage later, and when we got there, it was evident that the shots I wanted were not going to happen. Looking at the horizon, the trees had little flair, and many of them didn’t even have their leaves. The snow was also long gone. It wasn’t quite what I had hoped for.
[Enter the lemons, stage left. They take a bow despite my frown.]
Perhaps the vast landscape shot I’m accustomed to shooting was no longer a possibility, but I decided to take my camera out and march on. I couldn’t march too carelessly because I noticed amazing scenes beneath my feet almost immediately. Just inches off the ground stood tiny, intricate details that are normally belittled by the dominating scenes at eye level.
This was a time for me to capture the small things instead of the big things. I stared downward in disbelief with some color palettes I have never seen together naturally. They almost didn’t look real. Lucky I had my camera.
It became quite evident that this situation would give me the opportunity to grow in my craft of photography. I turned my attention to something I never really noticed before, and now I know better to look for it next time. The lemonade tasted fantastic, and it truly reinforced one of life’s greatest lessons—there is always an opportunity standing behind a challenge.
Here are a few opportunities I found.
