Monthly Archives: November 2014

Learning to See

On the Rocks II : Prints Available

“Learning to see” applies to so many areas of life. As babies, we are born with blurry vision at best and must use our eye muscles (instincively) to train our eyes to be able to focus both near and far. I often get asked when people look at my images online or in my gallery, “How did you see that”? I must admit that it has taken years of studying and practicing and applying what I have learned in order to achieve that vision. I was once told as a young photographer that if I couldn’t “see” creatively now, that I would never amount to much in terms of being an “artist”. And unfortunately, I actually believed that for a short time, though soon after that I vowed to disprove that theory (not to prove anyone wrong, but only for my own good). I believe that there are those that “seeing” comes much easier, but coming from someone who never really had an artistic bone in my body until I picked up a camera, I can tell you that you can learn to see. But you must be willing to invest the time and effort into studying images of other photographers, & applying what you see and learn to your own images. Eventually it does get much easier and you begin to develop your own vision. And don’t feel like when you don’t see what someone else sees, that your (or their) “vision”is wrong. That is how we as artists develop our vision; the light, shape, patterns, & forms that interest us. So how do you “learn to see”. It is much easier now with the digital & internet age. For me, I picked up books with images from such artists as John Shaw, Galen Rowell, & Art Wolf and read them cover to cover many times over and studied what I liked and found interesting about their images. I would then go into the field and try to recreate what they did to some degree. You learn to see patterns in nature and begin to understand what feelings the different patterns, combined with light and shape, & form, begin to evoke in you and hopefully in others. In the image at the top for instance, what I saw in the river were two things: the first being a diagonal line formed by the stream stone that leads the viewer’s eye deeper into the image, and secondly I saw an “C” curve at the very end of the stream that led your eye even deeper. The more you look for and practice these sorts of techniques, the easier it becomes to spot them. It really does become almost “second nature”!

Tree of Light : Prints Available

I awoke early (as always) this particular morning and noticed the fog rising up from the lake.  I grabbed my gear and headed over to pick up my uncle to head down to the creek to capture an image I had seen the day before while riding mountain bikes.  As it turned out, that particular image was a bust and so we headed back up to the fields to try and capture this big oak tree with the fog and the light.  And this is the result of that capture!

In this image above of “The Tree of Light”, the beams of light bursting through caught my eye. Beams of light that radiated from a center source that happened to be right in the center of the tree. Again, because I have looked for and practiced these techniques for so long, I almost don’t have to think about it anymore. So search the web from some of your favorite photographers, and begin to pour over their work and put into practice what you learn and before you know it, you will be capturing images that amaze you and others.
In our walk with Christ, we must also learn to see with “Spiritual eyes”. It is not merely enough to see what we think we see. It is much deeper than that. In John 20:29, Jesus said “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” What I believe Jesus meant here was that it is one thing to believe when you see something with your own eyes, but for those that see with their “spirituals eyes”, now that is something totally different. That is Faith. Trusting in something greater than ourselves! Something that we cannot see! When Jesus walked the earth, He saw with spiritual eyes. He saw the greater need and the effects of not just those around Him, but on those that would be touched and changed by the ones on which He witnessed to and performed miracles for. That is what He wants for us. To trust in Him! To see the greater need & good in circumstances and situations of which we may not understand. To trust that He will work in and through us to change hearts, situations, & circumstances. Even when we don’t see how or understand why. For His Glory! And almost every time, He is working things out in our hearts as well. He is teaching us Faith. That we can trust Him to lead, guide and direct us in every moment & every situation. In Psalms, it says that “if we prove ourselves faithful to Him, He will prove Himself faithful to us”. Go to Psalms and count how many times David talks about God’s faithfulness. Too many times to count, right? I believe that the more times we practice seeing in a spiritual sense, the easier it becomes to see those needs. It becomes second nature. God does not want us to over analyze or try and rationalize situations and circumstances. He wants us to follow His lead! Most of the time, we will not be able to humanly understand unless we have a Heavenly perspective. Understand that God chose us! He chased us down! He never gives up on us! In Church, when we sing songs of our love for Him, I think “Of course I love Him! He rescued me from myself and an eternity in Hell”. But when I sing songs of His great love for me, I can’t even get through the words without becoming emotional. How can the Creator of the Universe love a wretch like me in that way? It literally brings me to my knees. You see, God saw that we were condemned and destined for Hell because of our sin and so He sent Jesus on a rescue mission down to Earth to show us “the way” to Heaven. To Him! He created us for His pleasure! We are His children. Just like when we as parents call our children’s names and they answer us. God is calling our names, and all we have to do is answer Him. And when we answer and call on Him, it is a life changing experience. Not from the outside in, but from the inside out. God performs a heart transplant. He takes our cold heart of stone and replaces it with a heart like His. He teaches us to see with a Heavenly perspective! It is not our job to call people to Christ! It is for our lives to be an arrow pointing the way to Him. Eternity in Hell in exchange for eternity with Him. Not because of who we are or what we have done. But because of who He is and what He has done and continues to do in and through us. So draw near to Him, and He will draw near to us. Find situations today where you can make a differnce and do it. Being confident of this, “that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Until He calls us Home, for eternity with Him!

In the Light : Prints Available

The light beams that radiate in the canyons are amazing.  It is a surreal scene and feeling of experiencing them first hand.

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