Changing Perspective

The last picture was supposed to be the last picture.  Yet, my young husband shook his head as he waited for me to find just the right angle, adjust for the sun light, and aim just at the right height to capture the sun flare, piercing into my soul from the tree line.

Well maybe not quite piercing my soul, but it begged to be captured, and held protectively in the digital confines of this memory catcher- my trusty camera.

We got in the car and he looked at the tree line and turned to me. "What is so special about what I'm looking at?"

I showed him the capture.

His eyes widened, blown away by the exquisite way the light burst through the leaves like a star, cascading flakes of gold on the branches and gently landing on the fence below- ending with a warm glow that only the late afternoon sun could emanate.

(#nofilter)

It dawned on me that this -the eye for the moment (the moments that call out to be taken) is not something to be taken for granted. These moments are the ones that captivate and manipulate emotions. These are the moments that render us sometimes helpless, unable to let go of yesterday. These moments simultaneously revive hope. When I look at my portfolio, and see the myriad of pictures taken, one would never determine there were ever hard and hurting times in my life.

Yet one would be wrong.

There were many moments when we did not know where the next meal was coming from. There were seasons where the ends just simply didn't meet. Days existed where dreams threatened to fade and die.

But in photos from those seasons I see rays of yellow bending light cupping daydreaming faces.

I see footprints in knee-high snow, like treasure maps to 3 nearby snow angels all in a row.

I see siblings in cornfields playing hide and seek.

I see backyard explorers, ready to take over S.S. Treehouse.

And I see young ones running through sunflower fields,  temporarily oblivious to the outside world.

These moments reminds us that in hard seasons, there are still smiles to be smiled, laughs to be laughed, and stories to be made. And so while it may look like we are just taking pictures from one angle, we're capturing moments, and encapsulating the beauty of life's ups and downs. We're finding the happy in the crappy and the joy in the "oh boy!" And  we are writing the awe in the awful and discovering, it too is awesome. You just have to look from through another lens, and maybe change your aperture for a new perspective.

*All Images property of Chantel L Dillard, subject to copyright and may not be reproduced or copied without express permission and accreditation.