Trip Report: Show Up

Montana feels like it was months ago and yet it was just a little over 2 weeks. It's weird how that works. Anticipate something for a long time, it comes, and it's gone before you know it, and then the memory of it so quickly goes. It's kind of like Christmas as a kid.

But it's time to start going through some of the many photos and memories from Montana.

One of the first evenings out there, we had driven around for quite a while looking for spots to photograph.

But the fall color hadn't really started very much, and finding any color was proving difficult. So we tried a mountain road through a certain stretch, and lo and behold, some fall color! We scouted the scene, but given the blue skies and the lateness of the hour, we would have to return.

I should go through a few of the photos from that night, but I had already worked on this one a little bit and thought it was worth sharing.

A few days later, we returned to the spot. The color was certainly improving by then, but the skies were still pretty dull.

But that's the reality of photography. You can plan, you can check forecasts, but the most you can do is show up. And frankly, that's kind of the lesson I think I was being taught that week. Show up.

One of my favorite movies is Signs. In it, one of the characters is an ex-baseball player who holds a record for longest distance home run. But he also holds the record for most strike outs. His response when confronted on the latter was "it felt wrong not to swing."

I think there's some truth to that statement. It's true that "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky - Michael Scott - Jeremey Voit (not an Office fan, but hey).

Ok enough of secular quotes. How about a better more Biblical concept:

"In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty." - Proverbs 14:23

In other words, I can talk about photos all day long, but if I don't put in the effort to take one, I'm just going to end up with an empty memory card.

Now obviously conditions matter for photography. I'm not saying that clear blue skies are great for landscapes, that harsh midday sun is good for a waterfall, or that smog is going to make a grand scenic shot look better.

But my point is that regardless of conditions, there can be shots to be had, and scenes to be scouted.

Does it mean you have to go out every single day? No again I'm not arguing that. Just that sometimes it's good to push, to try, to experiment, to practice, to work at the craft.

I hope I'm making sense. Maybe this verse will clarify a little more:

"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men," - Colossians 3:23

So, show up, do well, working unto the Lord. When I put it that way, I feel the conviction myself, as so very often I don't show up.

At this point you may be wondering, what became of our scene? Did we get the perfect conditions? No, maybe not, but I feel it was a nice scene, and hopefully both me and my friend captured it in a way that shares the moment, and honors God who made it.