Closer Than We Think

It is not so far away, Christmas.

When taking shots of Christmas ornaments it is a good idea to try and get close. Sometimes the big wow-wee photos of trees in all their splendor work out well but often the ornaments are lost to the greater show.

Get close and make sure you have good lighting. Take the ornament off the tree to decrease clutter. Here, some of the light spots in the back (some sweet bokeh) and also the shadow in front, echo the shape of the ornament, pointing to it instead of taking away from it.

Be Present

Sometimes it is pretty easy for me to look ahead and own all of tomorrow's troubles today. The thing that happens when I do this is I actually forget about today. My mind is so busy trying to figure out how the future will look, to see the hazy ideas of what it might bring and try and make some sense out of it that am not present here, now. What value is it to worry about tomorrow? There is no value in it. In fact, it takes away from today.

Don't get me wrong, to look ahead, to anticipate, to hope, to wonder, to make plans (knowing plans can change)...these are all good things to do but not at the expense of today...not if it robs me and those around me of being present.

As I was walking on the trail this morning and saw the dotted lines, they spoke into my life. Being present on the dotted line of today is what I want. I needed to get this shot. I used my macro lens and a shallow depth of field to make sure that all but one dot and only part of that dot was in focus. It marked being present in today. Adding a layer of texture increased the blur of tomorrow's dot, encouraging me to remain on today's while it is still today.