Photography.

It seems that all of the beauty and mystery has vanished from the world that we live in. Everything is too easily and readily accessible. I remember as a child going to the grocery store to get my film developed. I had captured all of these meaningful, vibrant images on my camera, and I was itching to drop the film packet into the box and wait to receive the phone call that my film had been developed. My dad had let me experiment with his beautiful 1980s manual Nikon, and I was constantly snapping photos. I would situate the 2 pound flash attachment to the top of the camera, load the film into the canister, and strap on the tattered, southwest red printed camera strap around my neck. My dad had taught me how to use the flash, and how to adjust the aperture to let in just the right amount of light. He would take me on car trips to the scenic hills of southern Indiana, and I would carefully snap photos of everything I found beautiful to my 10 year old eyes. After the clicking on the camera stopped, I knew it was time to develop the photos. Would the lighting of the tree be too bright? Did the photo of my brother on the tractor turn out just as I imagined it to be? I learned the art of patience waiting on those photos to develop. I also learned that not everything turned out as beautiful as I imagined it to be. Now, you simply press the small round button on your iPhone, and the image is instantly available. Sure, you can adjust the settings and tones of the photo with Instagram or Photoshop, but it isn’t the same. The process isn’t as beautiful as it once was. Life is too instant. If I have learned anything in my 23 years here on this earth, it’s that we expect too much, and forget to sit back and enjoy the process. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your life isn’t either. Life, like developing negatives, is a series of steps and processes. Next time I’m in a rush, I will stop and remember life through the eyes of myself at the tender age of 10–the results are always worth the wait.