Changing Your Perspective

Look where I found Stacy

"You'll never catch me laying on the ground" ~ Stacy MacLaren

I laugh everytime I think of that conversation I had with one of my best friends, she informed me she would never lay on the ground to take a photo.  Oh no, not me, nuh uh...no way.   We initially bonded because of photography, working together for months, we had hardly even spoken but a few words to one another.   But then we discovered a mutual interest that started us chatting, then taking a class together...now we're stuck with each other.  And I'm quite happy about that.

She gives me new perspectives all the time, about life, love, pursuit of all things craftiness.  And maybe I challenge her to find new perspectives as well...like laying on the ground.   It's just a little dirt, it'll wash.  Now I can't get her off the ground.

Most photographs are taken from the height of about 5 1/2 feet to 6 1/2 feet...curious to know the average height of an American...hmm?  

It's more than lying on the ground, it's turning around, looking up and down, walking in a circle, bending over, kneeling, climbing on something, etc, etc.    For some of my favorite shots all I did was bend down and turn the "nose" of my camera up a little and point towards the sky.  It's the difference of millimeters, but the difference of ordinary to magical. 

But...it's not just about how we position ourselves to take a photo, it's also about what we see and the photos we look for. 

I learned this lesson one night shooting for a non-profit event called "Light the Dark."  It was an event that was meant to bring light to the community and memorialize victims of the shooting that occurred during the Gabrielle Giffords town hall. 

The event organizers had been looking for a photographer and I was recruited to come and shoot it.  I agreed to because I thought they really needed help, as in, couldn't find anyone else.  It wasn't that I didn't want to help out, it was that I had a newborn session that day and those are time consuming and exhausting.  I rushed to the event after leaving the newborn session just to arrive in the parking lot to a slew of photographers.

I was confused, intimidated, and disappointed.  I didn't want to get out of my car.  I didn't want to stay.  Although, I had made a committment to be there.  What was I doing here if they already had people?    What am I going to shoot that they are not already shooting? 

In that moment it occurred to me...shoot what they are NOT shooting.   Be intentional and look for moments, expressions, statements, that are not the obvious.  I was purposefully going to shoot what they are not shooting. 

From that point on my perspective has been forever changed. 

You can tell me what you think about the photos, but when I look at them today, I feel what it was like to be at that event.  The emotion of the days afterward.  Hope.  Healing.  Light. 







View the full album of photos on my Facebook Page


Many Blessings & Happy Clickin'
<3 Kristina