Once again, I found myself discouraged when my photography was not chosen and passed over in a photography contest. I found myself questioning and yes, even comparing my work with others, to catch a glimpse of why I was overlooked once again. But then, as I was perusing the FB news feed, one of my FB photo buddies, Tammy, posted the following quote:

 

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”~~ Steve Jobs

 

 I repented to GOD after reading those words. I am not the creator of my gift of photography -- GOD is. I cannot be haughty and tell HIM what HE should do with the gift that HE blessed me with. So, after humbling myself, I realize that it is HIM that I serve and I surrender myself and the gift that HE blessed me with to HIM. Thank you, JESUS. I will end with some other timely words of wisdom of why I photograph. GOD bless.

 

"There are certain pictures I can never take. We turn on the TV and are smothered with cruelty and suffering and I don't need to add to it. So I just photograph peaceful things. A vase of flowers, a beautiful girl. Sometimes, through a peaceful face, I can bring something important into the world" -- Edouard Boubat

 

"The urge to create, the urge to photograph, comes in part from the deep desire to live with more integrity, to live more in peace with the world, and possibly to help others to do the same" ~~ Wynn Bullock

[The Nature Photographer] will find [her]self in the company of the most generous and elevated minds, of those who, be they artists or not, have offered us the means of feeling at peace with the universe, of feeling the trace of the infinite and the presence of the eternal ~~ Camillo Semenzato