I am probably dating myself, but I have memories of sitting for hours looking through piles of National Geographic and Life magazines that my parents had collected through the years. My dad was a professional photographer, so I’m sure he had a hard time throwing them away since these were like journals with pages and pages of some of the most beautiful, the most powerful images you have ever seen.
I think that’s when my love for photography started. Looking back, it probably wasn’t so much a love of taking photos at the time, but rather loving the feeling that those powerful images gave me. They made me feel like I was there in those faraway places. Those images educated me, encouraged me, entertained me and thrilled me. They were images filled with emotion – and behind them was a person who captured them. It was inspiring.
Now to be clear, I am not going to any war zones anytime soon. Or to jungles with really big snakes. I WISH I had that kind of bravery and determination, but that’s not me. But I can still look at those images. I can feel what the photographer wanted me to feel when I looked at them. And I can be inspired to always put forth my best… because those photographers certainly do.
My husband recently signed us up for a new National Geographic subscription. And those magazines are still as fascinating as ever. I want to start a pile of them in the corner and let my girls look through them and dream of faraway places, and exotic animals, and yes… even to recognize that there is sadness and war in the world.
And I had forgotten these that I had collected over the years…
(Canon 5d Mkii, 1oomm 2.8L macro/f3.5, iso 500, 800)
(Canon 5d Mkii, 1oomm 2.8L macro/f3.5, iso 500, 1250)
These will be out now as well, instead of put in a pretty cabinet for no one to ever look at. They will be out for those lazy Saturday mornings when my kids are bored, or that rare rainy day here in Orange County that is perfect for snuggling up and looking through books that can take them to faraway places… with their curiosity and imagination as their guide. And who knows where it will take them.
