Picture Perfect

For better or for worse, I realize as I age I approach things like walking…one foot in front of the other. Having June around though assures me life is much more creative. Her approach to things is more like a two-step with a twist. Last night June and I were going through some of the photos she recently took. In the short time she's had her new camera, she is already able to capture beauty within a given moment. Now, I would be lying if I told you June and I have a picture perfect marriage. But then again, I guess it all depends on your point of view. Based on these moments she caught on camera what do you think…

 

 

One interesting thing about this new camera is that she is able to professionally edit pictures. I had never done this before, but just by looking at the options it seemed pretty cut and dry. What I didn’t realize as she began to show me how to edit, this was not a cut and dry moment. This was a let me show you all the beauty that can be discovered within each photo you edit.

[Guys, listen up. I have noticed this my entire life. {and even though I have witnessed this, it does not make me an expert.} Growing up as the only boy in the house I have realized woman desire to create beauty, not to label it. Truthfully, nobody has a better vantage point of what beauty is, than a woman herself. Every woman is wired this way. Let me explain it like this…guys will look at a mannequin in a storefront and think that looks beautiful, they probably wouldn’t say beautiful or even think that, more like that looks cool, hot, or sexy. After guys come to this conclusion, they go in to the store and buy that exact outfit for their significant other. A woman will walk past a million window displays before entering a single store. Then she will proceed to try on everything, and then she will retry everything on, purchase an outfit that mirrors a kaleidoscope image of all that she saw that day. For a woman, like a kaleidoscope, beauty changes or evolves with each movement. Tomorrow’s beauty could be totally different than the day before. For most guys, what was sexy the day before can easily be considered beautiful for the next 364 days. I am not trying to say woman are difficult, nor am I trying to say that guys are ignorant. Often we just approach life with one step in front of the other. Girls are more of a two-step with a twist!]


Back to editing pictures. When you edit a picture you have the ability to bend and manipulate space and color. Also, you have the opportunity to shift focus and lighting. It is a the chance to take something that is raw and lacking form, and turn it into beauty. It really gives the photographer the option to recreate the image they saw in their mind right before they caught it on camera. Within each picture the photographer has captured something unique. Something that can never be taken again. No matter how many times you try, you can never duplicate the photo you just shot. The earth’s rotation and orbit around the sun truly make this an impossible feat.

Unfortunately, just as June began to show me how to edit the pictures she took, [aka, how to create beauty] I immediately walked in the store and purchased the outfit. In her mind she had just begun to window shop. So, what am I trying to say? Relationships, in many ways, are like pictures. The first picture you take may turn out fuzzy, or the lighting may be off. Rarely is any relationship perfect. Fortunately though, like images from your camera, relationships can be edited too. Even though one moment appears tough, dry, or looking like you are going nowhere. You may just need to spend time figuring out why your relationship looks the way it does, and discover the beauty within. Being able to see from the other person’s perspective, in my opinion, is more than half the battle. Knowing what they see and why they see something a particular way, helps you understand how they define beauty, or anything else for that matter. This doesn’t mean that life is relative, it simply means life has seven billion different camera angles. Personal I think this angle says it all. Not picture perfect, but with a little editing, it could be great!