How Photography is like Life

I’ve been going through a lot of old photos lately, throwing away many ones that are unfocused, too light or dark, show only the back of people’s heads or bottoms, and just plain poorly composed. It has made me think about what makes a good photograph—and why.

In these incidents, I’m not talking about professional photographs, but just ordinary people, and how the same “elements” of photography are the same rules of life.

Correct lighting: Here I’m thinking of the correct light exposure, too dark or too light, but it applies to our lives also. Light is one of the most effective tools of a photographer, and it is important we have the light of Christ in our lives. Christ is never too bright or overwhelming, but lightens our lives; it illuminates, but does not dominate.

Focus: The next obvious tool is to be focused! I have boxes of unfocused, blurry photos that I wish I could undo and retake, but fortunately life allows us numerous retakes. It is important to simplify our lives and be focused on what is important and not waver. There isn’t often time to do all the things we want in this lifetime (those some of us still try to do it), but we must concentrate and focus clearly on those things of most worth—our family, living a good life, being a good person. If not our whole life will be blurry and unproductive.

Frame your photo; isolate the main subject from the outside world. This is so much like the focus element; don’t clutter your background or life with so much “junk” you can’t see what is important.

Contrast: This goes back to light, but it is important to see the contrasts in our life—to realize that there is good and bad, and if we can see them clearly, we can choose the light that is best.

Perspective: In a photo, perspective leads our eyes to the focus of the picture; in life, perspective allows us to see where we are going and to adjust to get where we want to be.

Composition: There are some important elements of composition, but they all place the most important feature of the picture in the center of our eye’s view, although it can be done in different ways:

1.     Foreground; In a photo, it is important to place the most important element in the foreground, so it doesn’t get lost in the background. It is important in our life to place the most eternally important aspects of our life in the foreground; we can’t spend our life playing video games and expect to get anywhere (unless we design video games).

2.     Leading Lines: This is a technique where the natural lines of nature pull our eyes to the most important element of our photo; in this case, we don’t need it in the foreground because “all roads lead to Rome,” or all aspects of our life show our focus on the most important things in life.

3.    

“Rule of Thirds”: The theory is that if you divide a photo into thirds diagonally and horizontally, you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines so that your photo becomes more balanced. This will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. 

It sounds complicated, but it is not. In life, it is important to be “aligned” correctly in your life and not be unbalanced. Look at the two photos below: They were taken the same day, of some of the same people, yet one interests you and the other seems lifeless.

Now I’ll put away my photos, laughing at all the poor photos I’ve taken through the years, but hoping each day to do better. 

New Year’s Day all Over the World

New Year’s Eve wasn’t a big thing when I was growing up, as I remember it. My parents had parties, but I don’t recall any New Year’s Eve parties.

But after I got married and my family and I began traveling all over the world with my career military husband, I learned a lot about New Year’s celebrations all over the world.

One typical celebration for the Danish (of which I am), is the throw dishes at the door and as many as

you break tells how many new friends you were going to have that year. I never did that! Or even heard about it until years later.

My first memory of a big New Year’s celebration was when we lived on the Big Island of Hawaii. You might think of the Polynesian people as the prominent ethic race in Hawaii, but on the big island, Japanese, and then Chinese were the most numerous. New Year’s Eve was a big celebration to them.

I recall our family spending New Year’s Eve with another family in Hawaii our first year. What a surprise we were in for! At midnight, the night exploded with fireworks and firecrackers!!!! Every telephone pole was wrapped with firecrackers and it was exciting to see the night come alive! Never in my life have I seen a celebration to match that of Hawaii.

Our second New Year’s we went downtown Hilo, and watched the fireworks light up the sky and reflect in the Hilo Bay. It was very memorable! But there were still masses of small local fireworks, as though each person was trying to outdo each other.

But the Hawaiians were satisfied with one New Year’s a year; they celebrated the Chinese New Year, anytime between January and February, and all the fuss began again. The Chinese tradition was to clean your house and drive out all the evil spirits on New Year’s Eve to begin the new year fresh and clean (and unencumbered by evil spirits).

To me, Chinese New Year’s Eve is pork sausage wonton, because that seemed to be the most common appetizer served. They may have had lots more appetizers than won ton but that is what I remember the most. For years, I would celebrate my own Chinese New Year by making won tons.

One of Ed's Photos as he rode back to Saigon after Tet

My husband had a fun New Year’s adventure while he served in Vietnam in 1969. He was serving at a base close to Saigon, and he took an R & R (Rest and recreation break) and flew to Hong Kong to see what it was like. He happened to be in Hong Kong when the big Vietnamese Tet (or New Year’s celebration) of 1969 happened. The North Vietnam and Viet Cong mounted a large attack of American bases throughout the country on the Vietnamese New Year, but especially Saigon and Da Nang.

Ed missed most of the “Fun” of Tet, and his vacation was extended because he couldn’t get back into the country. Finally, he got transportation to Da Nang and traveled by truck through the devastated country back to Saigon. I was glad he’d missed most of the conflict.

In Alabama I was introduced to a new New Year’s tradition—Black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. The tradition was supposedly begun on New Year’s Day in 1863 when the Emancipation Proclamation when into effect, and that was all the slaves had to eat. However, Wikipedia claims that eating black-eyed peas dates to ancient Egypt when eating a scanty serving of it on New Year’s Day showed humility before the Gods, and therefore you would be blessed! Wherever it came from, I didn’t care enough for Black-eyed peas to eat them in Alabama and did so later only as tradition.

Ed in Australia during Chinese New Year

 The rest of my New Year’s Day’s celebration were the same until Ed and I went to Australia in 2013. We were in Melbourne on New Year’s and their large population of Chinese made the celebration especially fun. I can’t remember a more fun holiday than that half-way around the world from my normal American life. But it also made me very nostalgic of Hawaii.

Another New Year’s I recall was when my oldest son and his family were out here to celebrate with us and we went to Salt Lake City’s new year’s celebration. I remember doing fun things at the Family History Library, and then going to a Sing-along that was fun. But I don’t think we stayed out ‘til midnight because he had his small children with us.

Marlowe & me at SLC New Year's Celebration

Normally I am a real stick-in-the-mud for New Year’s Eve (this last one I spent scrapbooking after working hard cleaning out my garage), but the neighborhood fireworks have become much louder. We got a special treat this year; our power went out about 9:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and was out for about 40 minutes.

My son Bryan had a good New Year’s Eve. He performed the New Year’s performance of his new play, “The Nerd,” and the theater had lots of food, noise-makers, and yelling, but no indoor fireworks, as far as I know.

  https://www.facebook.com/halecentretheatre/videos/10154883478566098/

Does it matter how you celebrate New Year’s Eve or Day, as long as you welcome the new year, make new resolutions (which you break), and have fun. Isn’t that what it is all about?