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| Windy colors |
My life is pretty full right now. Between school and work and college applications and ROTC applications and church and family, I don't really have much time. When I do have time, I'm probably reading or taking pictures or crocheting. Maybe I'm just sitting, daydreaming; I don't get to do that very often. Okay, all of that to say I'm busy. A couple days ago, I ought to have been working on an annotated bibliography for history... But I had a week left and after a really nice run through the gusting wind and gorgeously colored leaves slapping me in the face, I couldn't go inside! The colors and movement and light of fall was calling to me and making my shutter-button-finger itch.
I grabbed my camera, didn't bother to change out of my now-sweaty running clothes, threw my fuzzy boots on, and headed outdoors. Backlighting and yellow leaves and wind blowing had given me some super nice artistic shots on their own, but as I was capturing beauty I was inspired by a story going on around me. The treehouse, which was a huge renovation project for siblings and friends over the summer, had leaves up the slide and across the deck, the door was hanging off its hinges, and it had a look of abandonment about it. Our swing set was swinging forlornly in the wind. The driveway was covered in debris, untouched by bouncing basketballs and running feet. Thus, I title this set of photos "Abandoned Summer." It also has ties to growing up, I think...
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| Forlorn swingset |
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| Look of abandonment |
I love fall, so I wanted to share some of the beauty I captured. This set also provides a nice intro to what I actually wanted to write about today. Stories... A week ago (maybe two?) I was driving to the bus stop and the rain drops slid down my windshield, my wipers going swish-swish-swish. I sat at a red light, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel in time with whatever song was playing on Air 1, when it hit me: I love stories. Whoa! Huge revelation! Not so much... but it truly wasn't a thought that had occurred to me before, at least in this sense. Yes, I've always loved books with good story lines; I've been an avid reader as long as I can remember. My love of stories extends further than that, though. My favorite music is that which tells a story, either through words (Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera, or more contemporary music that doesn't simply repeat words over and over) or through the complexities of the music (classical or jazz). History is one of my favorite subjects because it's just one huge story, and millions upon millions of stories contained in that one story. I try and reveal stories through my photography. I have a love for life because, well, life is a story to which we don't know the ending. I love my job because I get to work with people who have had a long time to develop their stories. Maybe one of the reasons I love photographing children is because they are an empty book with so much potential for future stories. I think a lot of my life revolves around stories!
God is the writer of perhaps the biggest and most important (to us) story of all - the whole of the one we're in right now. He's totally in charge. But He's given us free will to help write our own stories. How am I going to shape mine? By taking that free will and surrendering it to God. By abandoning my own ambitions to the knowledge that God's goals are so much better than mine. By choosing each and every moment to give it all to Him, and to make that all my best - be it in taking a chemistry exam, warming up before singing for the children on Sunday morning, being authentic with a friend, in making breakfast for my family, in preparing for whatever future He has in store for me, in photographing His creation, or in serving the residents at the retirement home. And in taking time to enjoy the beauty of the what He's set around me.
