||The Moment||

I remember one time I was talking to my good friend Royal and during the conversation I pulled out my phone to take a photo and he said something along the lines of "Hey right now, are you capturing the moment or are you missing it?" I, being a photographer had instantly gone in defense mode thinking of course not, I'm capturing the moment to later show others. But this morning as I was walking the Lord revealed to me that there are three ways to look at this, are you missing the moment, being in the moment or are you sharing the moment? Often times we do miss the moment, just like Royal said. We get caught up in instagraming and getting artsy more than appreciating what's right in front of us. The worst is when we have to "create" the moment, I do it all the time with senior and family portraits I say to my clients "now this is what I like to call the "fake laugh", we're all going to say HA HA and look at each other and then an actual laugh will come out!" it works every time and the outcome is more than favorable in a photograph but it's not real. So in that sense yes we are missing the moment. Other times we really are in the moment, no camera or phone in hand and just enjoying creation or the company of others. Being in the moment seems to be a rare occasion now a days due to all the technology and social media around us. It seems as though being present has lost its spark for our generation, but I'm hoping that will change in the future. Sharing the moment is the place where I feel I fit best. It's sort of the in between of missing and being in the moment. I believe the Lord has given me a passion for photographing His creation and my goal in this life is to do that to the best of my ability. I want to show people just how amazing God's art work is through pictures in different places to inspire them to travel, engage in culture and meet new people. More than anything I want people to be inspired by what they see in my photos to be more, to do more in life, not for my sake but for theirs. What are we even doing here if we can't encourage each other to do more in life and to follow the Creator of the universe. Sometimes the best thing to do is be in the moment and be present but more often than not I would rather share it.