The light was harsh. It wasn't the perfect time for taking pictures. I could have said no. There were "thousands" of legitimate reasons not to do it.
As I walked back to the car after the session, I was concerned about what the results would be.
And then, when I opened the pictures on the computer, I found that sometimes we have to ignore the excuses and just do what we want to do -

There will always be excuses, and there will always be opportunities - it's up to us to weigh them ... it's up to us to take action despite the odds.
And then be surprised!

Sometimes all we need are the words. Every day we tell ourselves stories. It never stops. The story runs in our heads whenever we interpret something. Whenever we judge or appreciate, we tell ourselves a story that's worthy of judgement or appreciation...
Stories give birth to words, words to thoughts and thoughts to actions... That's not always the sequence though, sometimes thoughts give birth to stories, stories to words... and so it changes, it doesn't matter.
As long as we remember to take charge of our stories by taking charge of our words...Like trees on the water, sometimes we need to reflect on our stories, often to find ourselves in our reflections...

A few years ago, I was assigned to do an article on the power of history. As I walked through a small cemetery with my family, my son kept on asking questions about war and the reason why people kill each other.

This weekend, while watching the movie, Life is Beautiful again, my son asked the same question.
And again, I had no answer.
Wherever I travel with my camera, I want to celebrate life. And so often I find that it's something humankind - (is there still some "kind"-ness or "human"-ity in humans) has not been good at. It's just so sad that so often human beings become the sacrifice in other people's ideologies and powerplays.
And when I think of my son's sincere questions, I want to hug him and tell him the world is not such a bad place.
And then I wonder if I will be lying.
It' s not easy.

Frames are fascinating. They can often make or break a picture. And as human beings we often talk about have a "frame of reference" or a "framework" etc.

So often people "frame" themselves as victims, forgetting that we have a "frame of mind" with which we approach life.

As a photographer, I am consistently looking for frames. One tries to remain aware of the different frames that can be used, like in this picture:

And I have learnt that if I go out with the right frame of mind, the right pictures often appear. So how's your "frames" with which you view life? They are more important than one may think!

There was a hole in the fence.

The farmer would not like it.

It assisted me with the composition of the photograph.

Someone's frustration is someone else's opportunity.

Just look at your frustrations through the eyes of the opportunist.

Just a normal park.

During the day the kids come to play.

But early in the morning...

It can be eery...

Or

Romantic...

It depends on the mind of the person looking!

This picture is not about the photography...

It's about the thought that came to my mind while taking the picture...

A prayer, I read somewhere...

"O Lord, the ocean is so wide, and my boat is so small..."

We've all got small boats.  

The ocean is wide.

Know where your power comes from.

A landscape photographer's greatest friend?

The sun...

It's the sun that provides the paint - we only have to find the palette. 

And sometimes the sun seems to be nasty...hiding behind the clouds when we need it...

Not appearing.

And then, when it does show, it's magnificent.

But to create that magnificence, it needs the clouds.

So I had to learn to love the clouds as well - they help me create better pictures in the end.

When "Camera Raw" was introduced, I immediately started using it.

There was the promise of the "power of Raw"  - you would be able to do so much more with

your pictures.

Still, they seemed dull.  The camera had done everything before, now I had to work.

And I had to learn new things!

Yikes!

Now those new things are habits - it was worth all the effort!

The more effort you put in, the greater it becomes...

And the greater it becomes, the less the effort seems to be...