Photo Challenge

A blend of black/white & color!

Recently I was invited to participate in a black & white photo challenge.  Well, it proved to be quite a challenge in more ways than one!  But I am glad :)

Over the summer I was "trying to learn" Photoshop and in the learning process I accidentally deleted quite a few of my photos....ugh.  Let me just say that I am and will always be a HUGE fan of Lightroom....anyway, back to the challenge.

As I started changing my photos from color to black and white, I began noticing a lot of things that I hadn't before... first, a number of things in my photography skills that I am not happy about. Other things it did was opened my eyes to shadows I hadn't paid attention to before, as well as details that you can only see in depth when they are in color, to name a few.

What came next in my thinking is somewhat of a jumbledness as I considered color vs black and white....

• I notice black and white images show me edges more than color. 
• With color photos there is so much to look at in the depth of color, as a photographer there seems to be more grace in the imperfections of the photograph.
• Black and white gives me a clearer indication of beginning and ending with shadows, in color there is more blend or flow opening a space to see uniqueness with each transition of color change.
• Color photos fill my being in a delightful way that black and white do not.
• As I looked at my photography in black and white it revealed I still have ALOT of skills to work on.  

As I consider all this, the way it speaks to me is that in my life I want to look at myself in black and white to see the edges, the shadows, the imperfections. As I look at others I want to look with grace and their uniqueness as one created in the image of God. Bottom line... I want to live life seeing myself and others in color, which includes black and white!

I think I needed to look at black and white to see what color is:)

Even if you are not a photographer, what would it be like to consider things in black and white vs color. And if you are a photographer, consider the challenge-then pay attention to what stirs in you as you look at the difference between your photos.

the light and the dark

  
God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 

The verse above from Genesis came to me as I continue to read, "Learning to Walk in the Dark". There is much that is coming to mind as I think about light and dark, this one for example...dark is never dark to God, as Psalm 139 tells us.

Fear of the unknown, fear of the dark, fear of the absence of someone, fear of loosing love....fear for me was dark and scarey. 

My perspective is changing as God awakens things in me that I previously suppressed.

Over the last several years walking into the unknown has shed light on to things that either I didn't want to look at, or I had no idea was there....there were things that I didn't like, hummm, but  as I look back I wasn't afraid.

When I would wake in the middle of the night for months on end, I treasured what God and I would "converse" about as I lay in the dark....hummm, in those moments I didn't fear the dark.

I could go on about the things that I am thinking, but the question that is coming to mind to take into my life is, what if, when I find myself in a "dark" place, I could take a step back and ask, "show me your light Lord, that I know is here-what do you want me to see?"

What would change in your life if you considered this question in times of "darkness"?