Ode To Summer

Hey! I have had a crazy week. Some of the highlights were, I think I was unofficialy dumped; I saw Harry Potter 7 pt2 two days before the majority of everyone else!!! =D I broke my hand mountain biking. And I get to teach in relief society for the first time this sunday!

(I am mostly typing this with my left hand, so this entry may be shorter than planned.)

You know that quote "You can't always get what you want, but sometimes you might just get what you need." Vell, I think that is a lesson that I've had to learn this summer. I know summer's not over yet, but I haven't quite gotten what I've wanted, but have learned some valuable lessons.

First of all, I've learned a bit more about Lindsey, me, I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder, I'm very independant, and I love to listen to Taylor Swift non-stop when I'm sad about a relationship. I've also had my faith confirmed in the power of love, and more specifically of God's love! I've been able to get myself back up and remember the bigger picture, thinking always about the eternal perspective and finding humor and wisdom in my faults and tribulations.

Secondly I've learned that my gut instinct has honest-to-heaven always been right about the people I come in contact with, those I date, and that I really don't like gravely trails for mountain biking! Not to mention what career choices I feel I should make, and probably concerning my confusion as tohether I should serve a mission or not (the latter is still being digested in my gut, waiting to be decided upon...)

Thirdly, it is easy to stick with what one knows or understands best, but change is constant, and eveyone learns something new each day. Therefore it would seem that what we really know how to do best is to change. That and everyone is a master of patience and faith. We are always having to wait for something, therefore believing, or having faith that what we are waiting for will come to pass...

I could go on about religion, my thoughts on relationships and the ending of the Harry Potter Era, but I am too tired right now. I will simply leave you with an encouragement to find what lessons you have, or can learn this summer and write your own Ode To Summer.... =)

Words Of Wisdom

Hey,
I believe it has been awhile since I last posted something, or at least it feels like it's been awhile. I'm still thinking about, and working my way through those big decisions that are looming over me. I'm still taking pictures...and busy with work.
I came across some great quotes recently, of which I'll share with you.

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am—a reluctant enthusiast...a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards. [Edward Abbey, "Joy, Shipmates, Joy!"]

Here is another great quote, it's one of my favorites.

The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.
( Albert Einstein - The Merging of Spirit and Science)

Ahh, I love those great thoughts from those great men! If you read them and did not feel any inspiration or enlightenment of sorts, give 'em another read!... =)
I love this time of year, summer always brings out a lot of emotion from me. I love it for so many reasons; summer rainstorms, the sound of crickets, night hikes, camping, reading books out on my back patio like 'Into The Wild', summer boyfriends...[insert 'Grease' lyrics], and most of all it reminds me of my grandma Lola's house in Willard, roasting hotdogs in her backyard with cousins.

I've also been thinking a lot about the future, some of my goals and dreams seem so distant, others I believe will come about because of my patriarchal blessing. But I've never been able to really comprehend the future, and it's never been something I like to think about very much. Which I guess is good, because it's best to live in the present anyway. I mostly feel lost in confliction between so many things right now. Oy! it's tireing...(I was gonna say agsauhsting, but I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling. How'd I do?) ;)
Hope you enjoyed some of those wise words, and to add some of my own;.....music, exercise, and laughter are some of the best cures for confliction blues! And faith in prayer.
=)

Photo Editing

Have you ever photoshopped one of your pictures, even in the slightest to make the contrast better or brighter? I certainly have, infact I feel like I do that with all of my pictures. Am I to blame it on my small camera (a Cannon PowerShot SD600), or is it really an artistic vision that could not be improved with even the best camera out there? Most "nice" cameras use filters and other built in devises to improve the image right when it's taken. This seems to me that perhaps photo editing really does improve the photo, and some photos need a little lighting adjustment to make it look like what we saw with our own eye, and tried to document.

This blog post was inspired by a couple of artists that said it better, here is the link to the page, some of the comments are wonderful. PLEASE READ!  http://meowgli.deviantart.com/journal/poll/2082069/

I thought I'd add a few of my own photos to show the differences from before and after I edited them.
Before editing:

After editing:

 

Another point I'd like to make is that I believe that it doesn't matter what kind of equipment one uses, as long as it can capture your vision. Litterally in what you or I see, and figuratively in story or meaning....Btw I'm not saying my work is as good as my vision, I have so many ideas for cool shots, but I often feel like I don't have the time or the equipment to do them. That's why most of my shots in the last couple of years have mostly been macro shots (from my backyard). That is where I think I've become an expert of sorts.

Here are a few other examples of mine of before and after photo editing:

Before editing:

After:

Over-editing ;)

Anyways, I think to conclude this post I'll say, editing can bring an individual's perspective and vision to life. And it does kind of depend on what equipment we use. Good cameras are great, but one still needs the "artistic eye," and small cheaper cameras are also great...if I use photoshop. ;) However I have gotten a lucky shot or two that hasn't "needed" any editing, but like one of the artists said in the link, even Ansel Adams would edit his images a tiny bit in the dark room...

I would also like to say, God is the great artist, and we are lucky to get to capture and document memories and beauty for our own pleasure. Photography is an art and can definetly be fun....and photoshop is fun too....

=]