MANUAL – – –
Friends Sue, Robin and Michaelle and I are taking a photo class together. We all work together, and one aspect of our job is that we are sometimes….oftentimes….. called to take photos.. We are all experienced photo-takers in varying abilities… however, we find that we all too often find ourselves using the AUTO mode instead of truly going for the shot that we would want.
As our beautiful and brilliant instructor Rosalie started the class… one of her first comments is “YOU are the boss of your camera.” Now being the witty girls that we are, we all instantaneous looked at one another and said…..”There is a metaphor in that.”
I couldn’t agree more. While Rosalie was talking about the camera, it was easy for us to think about it in the aspects of life, as well. While it is true that even the camera has it’s limitations – and so does life – it is also true that far to often we choose the AUTO setting – rather than truly taking away the memories we want.
We let others determine what is “cool” and what isn’t, who is popular and worthy of our time, who is right and who is not.
We, for whatever reason, choose to not live in the moment, maybe it is because it is hard to always embrace the present, or perhaps there are too many things left un-done in the “here and now”.
It seemed so obvious that as photographers – we would make the bold move out the box and shift the button over to Manual…. just as it seems obvious that as adults, we would take control over our own lives…. yet, it still was a shocking revaluation. Could it really be THAT SIMPLE…..?
Well, of course not, if it were simple, everyone would be doing it. But it is obtainable if you are willing to make some mistakes, to admit that you don’t always have the answers, and worst of all you might even miss a shot or two… but in the long run…. you can know without any doubt that you OWNED the shot.
I don’t know about you, but I sort of think that when I get to heaven, it isn’t going to be enough for me, when God asks me why I did this or that, to say, “everyone else was doing it.” I sorta hear him explaining in that lovingly, yet stern kind of way… “princess, I gave you a brain, I thought perhaps you would use it.”
I have missed more than one perfect shot, by being the boss of my own camera….. but, the shots I did get are all the sweeter because I knew that I was the boss – perhaps I will have the same experience as I apply this principal to life…. Happy Adventuring!!!
A Cowgirl Called 