Capturing the moment

A primer on capturing a moment in time by taking pictures . . .

Last night I was at my Nana’s house organizing pictures that she has taken over the last 70 years. I don’t believe she has thrown away a single picture, ever. She has never organized them, and hasn’t looked at the most of the pictures since she had them developed. As I sat organizing I considered how important these photos are in representing life, as my nana looked through them, her life went before her eyes. From when she was two until last year, all the pictures were there. And being a rather avid photographer myself, it reminded me of the importance of capturing these moments.

Photos are not the most important part of memories. The stories are. A picture of a brown horse means nothing to you, but to me I remember the stories my Papa has told me since I was a little girl, living on a sheep station in the outback of Australia, what his horse was called (Cordite), and how he used to ride them as he herded sheep, killed rabbits, and rode to school. With those memories, the picture now means something special.

It doesn’t matter that the picture didn’t have perfect composition, wasn’t properly framed, or had poor lighting. It was a simple picture, but it meant something because of the story it told.

As you go through life, take pictures and capture memories. You can take a picture of a beautiful sunset or your delicious dinner, but a couple of years down the road those won’t mean anything. You will have seen more colorful sunsets and eaten more unique food. But if you include your friends sitting and watching the sunset, or the people eating the food, then you have created a memory.

What I've learned:

Capture today, the now. 

Take a picture of you with your phone, iPod, refrigerator, or computer. It sounds stupid now, but 30 years from now your children or grandchildren will loving poking fun at you for thinking you were hip and techie.

Capture a moment. 

Instead of a sunset, have your friends jump in front of the sunset so you have a lovely silhouette.

Give context. 

Don’t just take a picture of a face; give it a story and a background. 

Zoom out. 

Instead of the face in front of a garden, try a person in the mud in the garden on a rainy day.

Movement. 

Movement in pictures gives the eye something to imagine. If everyone is simply standing still then the mind moves on quickly, but if they’re walking, jumping, or laughing it causes the brain to imagine the details and tells a story and captures the feeling of the moment.

It’s worth the trouble. 

I don’t always feel like taking pictures. In fact probably half of my pictures I didn’t feel like taking, I would much rather have just sat, talked, or watched the moment go by. But I’ve learned from experience that months or years later I’m not going to remember the “trouble” I went through to take the picture. But instead I will remember the time and experience even better. I can be reminded of details that I have forgotten.

Print. 

Pictures that never come off the Internet or a computer don’t do you a whole lot of good. Hard drives crash, websites go down, and files are lost and forgotten. Instead print the pictures and put them in a box. It will be lots more fun to go through an album or box of photos then to flip through them on a screen.

 

Record when, who, and where.

 In the moment you take a picture you can never imagine forgetting your friend’s name or where you were. But a couple of years down the road, memories start to blur together.  So, make it simple. Write all the details down immediately. It will save you tons of time and frustration later.

Life and Books

A couple days ago I asked my sister Emily what my next blog post should be about.  After I ignored some rather ridiculous ideas (like a post all about her cat eating), she suggested a book review. I thought that was perfect since I had just finished a fantastic book, The Hidden Hand.

I sat down full of confidence, and placed a piece of crisp white paper in front of me opened a word document.  Suddenly, I remembered that I don't enjoy writing and have severe writer's block. Plus, the book is so suspenseful that I didn't want to give anything away.  That said, I'll just just keep it short.

 This amusing and suspenseful book is about a girl called Capitola Black. She has a sharp mind that gets her into plenty of trouble, but also helps her get out of mischief more than once. It is definitely a page turner and has kept various members of my family up till the wee hours of the morning. 

Despite my lack of writing skill, I can take pictures and I have a marvelous time doing so. So here are various scenes from my life in the past week. 

Sometimes I feel like being a cat for a day, curled up in the sunshine with nowhere to go and nothing to do but sleep. And instead my desk (below) is rather full of things for me to do. 

Hot cross buns for Good Friday

Spring

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:--
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

Lines in Spring by Williams Wordsworth

Table Mountain

This post chronicles our final day in Cape Town. On this bright day wherein joy mixed with sorrow, we rode the cable car up Table Mountain to enjoy a picnic dinner and watch the sunset. After Cape of Good Hope I couldn't help but assume that it wouldn't hold a candle to CoGH . . . but once again Cape Town surprised me with its breathtaking beauty.

One of my favorite things about traveling is comparing the scenery with the view from home. Let me just say, our beach doesn't exactly look like this.

Yet another gorgeous place to spend time with my dad. I can't even begin to express how blessed I am to have this amazing dad in my life. 

It's amazing how something simple as a sun setting the Earth rotating around the sun, can make the most spectacular view imaginable.

photo credit: Christine

I will end my posts on this trip with a spectacular picture. This shot never ceases to amaze me.This is straight out of the camera, without the slightest bit of editing. It truly looks just like it did in real life. 

This earth is beautiful; yet corruption, sin and greed are around every corner. Still, God shows us His beautiful grace and mercy through the simplest things, like sunsets. They happen every single night and have for thousands of years. 

Winery

On our second day in Cape Town, we drove an hour inland to visit a winery that some friends had recommended.

"The small farm"

Once again, we enjoyed a beautiful 70 degree day with bright sunshine. 

I never have been one for wine. Whenever I've had wine in the past, I always had to eat or drink something directly after taking a sip of wine in order to wash the taste away. Well, then I tasted a white South African wine, and enjoyed it very much, somewhat to my surprise.

One thing I was craving throughout our entire stay in Nyankundee was cheesecake. Not that we had horrid food; on the contrary, the food 'twas lovely. But one always has that craving in the back of one's head whilst in Africa, and mine was cheesecake. Once I found myself in Cape Town, I indulged most heartily indeed in some mango cheesecake with passion fruit. It was scrumptious, just in case you were wondering.

I felt rather grown-up sipping wine at a winery. 

After lunch we wandered around the cute little town nearby and did some shopping and admired cute little churches surrounded by beautiful mountains

Cape Town day 1

After leaving Congo we flew down to Cape Town, South Africa for a couple of days of rest before jumping back into American life. I didn't quite know what to expect, but it wasn't long before I decided it was the most beautiful place I've ever visited.

On our first day we rented a car and drove down the coast. 

Each turn brought a new breathtaking sight. 

The water is so blue in these pictures.  It looks like they're too edited and saturated, but the water truly was that blue.

Downside for Cape Town beaches: smelly kelp.  +1 point for our beach at home.

We worked our way down the coast and enjoyed it so much we decided to continue all the way down to Cape of Good Hope. 

Cape of Good Hope is not the southern most point of Africa, but it's pretty close. It used to be a common stopping point for sailors before heading south or across the turbulent waters off the coast of South Africa. 

This is the view from the restaurant where we had lunch. What an eyesore... not!

I could have spent all day here.  Between the color of the water, and the fact that it was 75 and sunny with a lovely cool sea breeze, it was pretty much the ultimate lunch spot.. 

Somewhere behind us is Antarctica.

On our drive back up the coast we stopped at Boulder Beach, which happens to be home to dozens of these tiny little penguins

It was really hard to leave Congo, but it was hard to complain in a place like this....