Finding beauty in the world around you

A big reason why I've always concentrated on my artistic side is because I love to create beauty. I've battled different types of depression in the last few years, post-partum being the most difficult to overcome. I've been determined to overcome the darkness of my mind with the beauty of the world. There is nothing more satisfying to me than to take time and work hard on something and have the end result be something new and beautiful in the world.

Depression can sink a person into a bottomless hole in which that person feels there is no way out. Emptiness and sadness can consume a person. As a photographer one is asked to make beautiful images, to find beauty in the world. When I hold the camera in my hands I feel as if I hold a magic wand. The darkness in my mind is clouded by a sheet of happiness as I search for priceless moments that need to be captured. As I edit the pictures I feel as if I come alive and work my magic.

I am in the very early stages of what I foresee to be a live-long journey. I've never been one who enjoyed school or studying, but learning every aspect of this trade sparks a light within my soul. My first lesson in my course was all about how to think like a photographer. In my opinion in order to think like a photographer, you have to be able to see beauty in things others wouldn't. To think of an example, I bring to your attention the simple dandelion.

Make something beautiful out of something ordinary. To a gardener a dandelion is a weed, a menace meant to be plucked and tossed. When the weeds began to overtake my own yard I became annoyed. Then I took my daughter outside to play one day and all she could do was pluck and play with these weeds. I then saw the beauty in something ordinary. I immediately took out my camera and with my magic wand I captured that beauty. With a few clicks in editing, the picture was ready for the world.

Make others see the beauty in what is ordinary. I received compliments on the picture I took of the annoying weed. I had accomplished my task as a photographer. I made something that one would normally overlook or look at with annoyance into something someone looked at and appreciated.