I wish I was the kind of person who always sees the silver lining, who looks at the glass as half full. The one who is so happy that others can’t help but be happy around them. The truth is, lately I have let life get me down. I have focused on the negative, and failed to see the beauty around me. I have felt sorry for myself instead of being grateful for everything that I have.
This weekend I was sitting there telling my brother and sister in law (yay for visitors!) how I feel like living here has stifled my creativity because I can’t take my camera with me when I leave the house. I can’t shoot in beautiful sun drenched fields, or in amazing forests with light streaming through the trees. I can only shoot within the walls of our house. Then I probably spent 5 minutes talking about how bored I am taking photos within our 4 walls.* My brother looked at me and said, “well then why don’t you stop sucking?”
He was right. (I hope he doesn’t read this because it pains me to admit that!) I was sucking. I am sucking. Big time.
That afternoon, while my babe was playing with her aunt and uncle, I decided to stop sucking. My project: 1 hour, 1 lens, 100 images, in our yard.
Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.
-Confucius
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*For those of you not familiar with Central American living, we live behind walls. Surrounding our house and yard are 12 foot walls, topped with barbed wire. Our front yard, drive way, walkway to the front door, house, side yard and back yard all sit within these 4 walls. We can’t leave these 4 walls except if we are in the car.
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kati - obviously this is a relatively weak comparison considering i am not a virtual prisoner in my home (that’s ok, you can suck, that sounds rough!) but i end up feeling the same way for months and months out of the year when it’s raining here in the pacnw. i’m not the kind of person that sees beauty and fun when it’s raining and i sure as hell don’t feel like taking my camera out in it. and then after months of indoor shots of my kids i just don’t even see any inspiration at all anymore when i look around. everything just looks ugly and every angle looks done. and then the sun comes out and somehow i can “see” again. i hope you’re feeling a little better! the first thing i thought of when you posted this is that you should paint one of your inner walls a gorgeous robin’s egg blue or something to cheer you up and give you a pretty backdrop. robin’s egg blue fixes a lot for me
kaleyann - Kati – not a weak comparison at all. It makes me feel better that I am not the only one who gets so bored with the same old same old until I lose all motivation to even pick up my camera. Hopefully you guys are getting some nice sunny weather now! ps – I can’t paint any of the walls, but I do have adirondak chairs that are robin’s egg blue…and they do make me happy every time I see them!!
Kellie - Way to stop sucking! These are beautiful.
Carolina - Beautiful pics! Love every single one.
kaleyann - Thanks Kellie and Carolina! We miss you both!
Kim Bradley - Kaley,
I love these! What a wonderful idea to see the beauty within the confines. Your creativity astounds me! Thanks again for the photo shoot! You are welcome to put any pictures you want anywhere, I would love to show off my beautiful boys!!!
angie - oh you
this is beautiful and i’m so happy to see YOU shining through this blog. it’s interesting how we are worlds apart, living lives so polar opposite yet both feeling stuck within “four walls”.
i have spent the last 10 months staring at my own sucky situation i’ve struggled to find the beauty in it.
you. inspire me.
xo
Marah - these are beautiful images. can i ask what kind of lens you were using? i’m trying to improve my skills and am curious.
thanks!
kaleyann - Thanks Marah! These were all taken using a 100mm macro lens.