Shedding Some Light on the Subject


I work a 9-to-5 corporate job {in addition to this blogging gig} and they both require some photography work.

At my day job, I’m part of a communications team. We stage an event every year where my assignment is to accompany the professional photographer for the evening

As we shoot photos and conduct interviews, I pepper him with questions about lighting and setting up shots. 

He tells me about his new camera and all the amazing things it can do.

Even after four years of shooting photos for my blog, I’m still confused about shutter speed and light settings. 





I just put my camera on AUTO and almost always turn the flash off. 

I tell him the flash gives my photos a strange yellowish cast and I don’t know how to fix it.

He’s incredulous and tells me I’ve got it all wrong. 

The flash, he says, is my friend.  

I'm not so sure about that. 

After all the time I've spent with my camera, there's still so much of it that's mystifying to me. 


And after all this time, there's still so much that's perplexing about life. 

The questions I can't quite figure out, doubts that make me wonder if the road I'm on is really taking me where I want to go, and fear that rises up that things will never change.

{Can you relate?}

Maybe you've had emotions of jealousy or anger stirred from a circumstance that didn't go as you wanted it to. Maybe you're facing a disappointment and loss of hope. 

Maybe it's sadness from a broken friendship or relationship, or maybe just a letdown from the holidays or something you'd been looking forward to.


I'm thinking that maybe I just don't know how to use these things that show up in my life -- and sometimes stay long past their welcome.


Have you ever had God illuminate your life for a few minutes? 

What I mean is, like a flash, I can suddenly see what's going on from God's perspective. 

What he's doing, how he's moving, how the pieces of my life fit together. How he's weaving the past into the present for something beautiful for the future. 

I see the hurt turned into hope, the pain made peaceful, and the loss look more like love.



Then it goes dark again. The thought isn't as clear anymore and soon I doubt what I saw in the light.

But maybe it's those illuminating flashes that we should hold onto and know that God's using all the pieces of our lives . . . for them, for us, and for him. 
You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. - Ps. 18:28
For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see. - Ps. 36:9



So as my photographer friend advised, I'm going to try to use the flash more often with my photos {because you can see how they turned out when I tried to shoot at night last summer when I was in Italy}.

He took the photo {below} of Brittany {my blog's social media manager extraordinaire!} and me when it was nearly dark.

Thanks to the flash, you can still see us.

And who knows what kind of photos I could take when I start making friends with my camera.




A little invitation for you: Beginning Feb. 15, my friend Heather at Recollected Design and I will get together via a Facebook group to study Angie Smith’s Seamless, to see how the people and promises of the Bible fit together and what they mean for our lives. Get a copy of the book here or here and come join us on Facebook! 




I'm having coffee with my friend Holley Gerth at Coffee for your Heart and with Bonnie Gray at the Faith Barista. Click the images for more posts from my blogger friends!




Comments

  1. Love the conversation you've shared with us today, Valerie. You inspire us all as you reach higher, gain understanding, and go for the pinnacles!

    A visit here's always good tonic for the soul. And yes, I always savor the images you share with us, flash or no.

    ;-}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda,
      Oh I am so glad you enjoy the photos anyway! I find it's hard to keep everything straight and then I miss the shot, worrying about how to set it up! At least I capture it and then do some photo editing! :)

      Delete
  2. I love how you write. The flow is elegant and I got so much from this. I am in a unique season so it spoke to me. I am chukling at God because He had me be your Faith Barista neighbor today, right where I needed to be, even down to the little detail of needles and thread, which is my love. It is those priceless moments that no one else really "gets"...that only He truly understands, that make our relationship with God so intimate! Thank you for sharing and I will be reading more from you : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Meg,
      So nice to meet you and so grateful for your kind words! Oh you and I must be kindreds when no one else gets what we're walking through and only God can understand! There's really only one perspective we should consider and that's his, isn't it? I'm looking forward to knowing you more!

      Delete
  3. "I'm thinking that maybe I just don't know how to use these things that show up in my life -- and sometimes stay long past their welcome." ....Ummm, Yes to this and so much more in your post...! (sending you a link to a devotion I read this morning that also truly shed some light on the struggles I'm having!♥) And yes I have had those divine flashes from time to time and oh how I hunger for them more... but maybe they are just meant to show us the next small step-- not the whole grand picture just yet... Love you and your illuminated writing ♥ And maybe one day I will understand how to use my camera too! xoxo OH and Hi to Brittany!! Glad to finally put a face to a name! ♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heather,
      I just LOVE those devotions you send my way! {Keep them coming!} You are so right that maybe sometimes we just see the next step and slowly sometimes the grand picture comes into view. So glad you got to meet Brittany, virtually, anyway -- she's the greatest! :)

      Delete
  4. Hi Valerie. I put my camera on Auto as well. I've intended to for so long to learn more about what my camera can do, but I just never seem to do it. Your photos always look professional, and you look so beautiful and radiant on the one the photographer took. :)

    I so identify with what you experience. Those flashes through God's perspective.
    "What he's doing, how he's moving, how the pieces of my life fit together. How he's weaving the past into the present for something beautiful for the future." And how then it can get dark again. We'll have to keep encouraging one another to hang onto those illuminating flashes, right? Thank you for this hope-filled post! Blessings and hugs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Trudy,
      Well aren't you sweet to compliment my photo -- your kind words are much appreciated! And I couldn't agree more that we will keep encouraging each other, as we walk into the days ahead, hopeful! xo

      Delete
  5. Your photographs, you and your story are all beautiful! I love the image of God being like a flash and illuminating for us what is really going on. Thanks for your words today!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Judy,
      Thank you so much for stopping by and your kind words are so much appreciated!

      Delete
  6. Sometimes I feel like God shows me little things everyday. But there are sometimes I can see a little from his perspective and it changes my entire day. This was such a beautiful post Valerie. I'm always left inspired when visiting.

    Kia / KTS
    http://www.houseofkts.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kia,
      Thank you for your sweet words friend! I love to keep looking for all the little ways he shows us his view of our lives!

      Delete
  7. Love this! Especially your eloquent use of extraordinaire! So glad to be on the GWS team!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well you are kind of the star of this post. And I could have added a bunch of other lovely adjectives to go along with extraordinary -- because you are!! xo

      Delete
  8. I totally relate, Valerie. Especially to those things that come up and then stay around for too long. It's my heart to be able to catch those flashes God gives and really meditate on them for His lesson, or even just His wonder. And..I think your photos are beautiful too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tiffany,
      I love what you said about meditating on his wonder -- sometimes that is the absolute best part of those little illuminating flashes! Thanks for your kind words!

      Delete
  9. I fancy myself a decent photographer (amateur, of course) but that flash thing - it makes me a crazy woman! I get it. Love the way you pulled it into God's light and illuminating our way. In him there is no darkness. I'm so thankful for that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debby,
      I'm so glad you have trouble with the flash too -- it's not just me!!! Hoping we can figure it out together!

      Delete
  10. Hi Valerie- I am so glad to hear about your job and what you do- I just love your pictures - You are so talented! My daughter loves photography and wants to be a visual story teller with a mission organization. She may go to Africa this summer and do just that! Anyway I think that you do such a beautiful job telling your story through pictures and words. I like what you wrote about loss looking more like love. I am going to think on that for a while- just so well said. Anyway love the picture of you at the end too! :) with much love

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susie,
      Oh my goodness -- what an amazing idea for your daughter to go to Africa and tell stories -- absolutely incredible opportunity for her! And maybe she could offer me some photo tips! {I'd love that!} I end up just tweaking in Photoshop the best I can -- always learning -- and isn't that the best way to continue to be curious?! Still want to hear more about your trip to Hawaii!!! xoxo

      Delete
  11. You need more pictures of yourself on here because you are gor-GEOUS!
    And I am with you on not knowing how to use the flash. Probably a good thing to learn :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah,
      You are too kind! (I'm on the right, you know in the photo, and gorgeous Brittany is on the left!) :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading -- I love to hear your comments! To leave a comment, you can choose an ID in the "comment as" box or just choose anonymous. Choose your ID first, write your comment in the box and hit publish. Your comment will be visible just as soon as I can post it!

Popular Posts

Contact Details

I'd love to hear from you! Contact me at valerie@gracewithsilk.com or use the contact box at the bottom of the sidebar.