contemplative photography Archives

Smiling for the camera

On 10/07/2022

I went on vacation this week. Well, a staycation. Ok, I spent a few hours relaxing on my deck. But I nursed three mugs of tea and just sat. It was amazing!

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I have tried for ten minutes to figure out what to write. I type, then I delete. Because, I finally realized, that morning was so relaxing that I just really can’t write about it. Writing about it feels like it makes it work and that morning was not about work at all.

So, I’m going to share a few of the pictures that I took over the course of 2 1/2 hours of sitting on my deck – a very quiet, still time that calmed my body and started to restore my soul.

I enjoyed just being present to what came into my backyard. To the little gifts God sent my way that morning. I hope you find a few moments of peace as well. And maybe a chuckle about the squirrel that Cody thinks was smiling for the camera.

The secret of the healing power of beauty is learning to receive it as a gift.
John Eldredge, “Get Your Life Back“

“Look! He’s smiling!” said Cody when I showed it to him.

I finally captured an upside down nuthatch!

The things I would have missed

By Carrie

On 11/21/2021

In Beauty in the Storm (epilepsy), Gratitude, Pay Attention

What did you think your life would be like as an adult when you were in high school? Did you have specific plans? Is your life filled with things you never could have predicted?

I remember an exercise in high school that instructed us to write out a timeline of goals for our lives, how we saw them unfolding. Schooling, marriage, kids. All the things we think will play out in our lives. I can’t say I followed that timeline of expectations very well, both by choice and by circumstance. All the best planning could not have predicted where I have ended up. Do you know the feeling?

I’ve been trying to learn to let go of planning and to just receive instead. (Yes, I know some of you are laughing – I’ll wait until you’re done).

One great way to do that has been learning about contemplative photography, whose principle is to not “take” shots, but rather to receive an image. Three times recently I have received an image but only in looking at the photo did I really see the whole picture.

I decided to avoid the highway and take the back roads to run errands one day. The greens and blues and peace of the little lake (which I’ve driven past for 20 years) made me stop and back up so I could photograph it. I posted it to Facebook with the caption, “I took the road less traveled.”

Somehow, I missed the fact that I included the side mirror in the image. I was kind of bummed about that because I really only wanted to see the lake. Then a neighbor commented, “I can see your past” and I really looked at the image captured in the mirror. That image was, in fact, my past – the road I had just taken, a road very much “less traveled.” A past that lead me to the beauty I was currently enjoying. That reflection in the mirror actually became my favorite part of the picture.

Blowing me kisses

By Carrie

On 10/24/2021

In Beauty in the Storm (epilepsy), Pay Attention

One of my pastors created a Facebook page called Contemplative Photography, a place for its page members to post their own photos. I learned about it almost a year ago and immediately joined the group. I am not a professional photographer nor is that a requirement for the group. The point of the group is to “receive” photos, a visual way to pay attention to God in your daily life and share it with others.

Last week at breakfast, Cody said, “Oh, look! Half the sky is gray and half is sunny.” If you had drawn a line down the middle of the window, one half would have been completely overcast with dark gray, misty cloud cover and the other half shining with bright blue sky and a few wispy white clouds. I quickly grabbed my phone and went on the deck to photograph it. I posted it to the Contemplative Photography page with this thought:

“Like life, some days we get sunny, blue skies; some days we get dark gray, cloudy skies. And some days we get a combination of the two. Maybe most days it’s a combination of the two.“

And I have thought about that combination – of blue skies and gray clouds – several times since then. I contemplated how glorious those brilliant blue, cloudless-sky days are. We had one just the other day, with almost unbelievable deep blues.

Finding breath and beauty amidst the storm

Tag: contemplative photography

Smiling for the camera

The things I would have missed

Blowing me kisses