encouragement – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Things A Little Bird Told Me #3

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Mockingbird 21420” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

During a break in the rainy day I decided to step out for a bit of fresh air. The little minstrel that visited me at lunch flew out of the forest and landed on a Multiflora Rose on the edge of the property. He had been singing his little heart out all morning and once more it was time to pay the piper. Today however, I was not caught without a crust of bread and presented my offering in return for his song. The mockingbird flew to roost with his meal and soon returned. Now, you may not know this but when birds aren’t singing they’re listening. And because they fly all over the lands they hear a lot and pick up on a lot of wisdom. The mockingbird looked me over and then I clearly heard him say “Thank you” in the voice of one of my teachers from many years ago. He must have noticed the shocked look on my face because he grinned and noted that he was a mockingbird and the imitation was no challenge at all. I’m sure that I was still blinking when I replied “You’re welcome.”

“Well then”, the mockingbird continued, “because that was such a fine crust of bread I’ll share with you one of the treasures that I’ve learned in my journeys flying to and fro and listing to the best teachers in the land. I leaned in closer as he spoke.

“You’ll never achieve a goal that you don’t believe in.” He said. “To have a dream is one thing but to believe in that enough to take action is another thing. If you believe that something is impossible then you won’t give a full effort and you’ll give up before you succeed.” Then he paused for dramatic effect. “Failure begins with a lack of faith in yourself. You’ll always have what you believe in. If you believe in success you’ll find a way to make it but if you believe in failure then that’s what you’ll create.” Then in typical little bird fashion he spread his wings and took off.

And so I took to heart what the little bird told me and as I looked back at my own life I saw times when his words rang true. And even though certain goals are genuinely out of reach most if the ones that I’ve missed I missed because I gave up too early in my efforts. Likewise, the things that I actually achieved I achieved simply because I knew that there had to have at to make it happen and I kept making small adjustments until they did.

I hope that you are encouraged by the things that the little bird told me. If so then let me know in the comments! 😊

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The Sentinel

black and white photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Sentinel 123119” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

Throughout the night the cold North wind howled has the rain battered the glass in vain. The caretaker sat in his spot as he did every night making sure that all the machinery was running to keep the light on. In his modern lighthouse the duties are simple. If the main power goes out he flips the switch on the generator to restore power. He listens to radios in case of a distress call. That’s about it. To pass the time he tosses cards into a hat or plays solitaire. Sometimes he reads or works that Rubik’s cube that he’s never figured out. But tonight was different. Tonight one of the radios crackled to life. “Hello” was all the small voice said. There caretaker sat his coffee down with a thud that slashed a little coffee onto the 3 of diamonds. He paused and gave a disgusted grimace as he saw the stain form on the edge of card. He lifted the microphone from it’s bracket mounted on the side of the radio and gave his identification numbers along with asking what emergency was taking place. “Can’t sleep” was the only reply. The caretaker realized that the disembodied voice emanating from the overhead speaker in his office was that of child. The caretaker keyed the microphone and said ” well, you’re going to need to find some other way to deal with it. This is an emergency frequency and you can’t play on it. Go back to bed and you’ll be asleep in no time. ” After a few moments of silence the caretaker returned the microphone to it’s place. He was frustratingly trying to clean up the coffee from the edges of the cards when the radio crackled again. “I think it might be a emergency” the small voice said. The caretaker retrieved the microphone and spoke again. “Why do you think it’s an emergency?” We was dubious but his job requires him to respond. “Because I’m scared and that means it’s an emergency.” The child on the other said. “Obviously” the caretaker muttered under his breath. He keyed the microphone again. “Okay. What are scared of?” There was another long pause. “The storm. I can’t see the light of the lighthouse from here.” The child said. The caretaker thought for a moment. The lighthouse was on a hill but there was taller hills around. With the storm even the powerful beacon on his tower might be obscured by clouds and heavy rain. He transmitted his reply. “I am at the lighthouse and I promise you that the light is shining. Go back to bed and you’ll be okay.” He smiled at the cleverness of how he handled the call. But then the radio lit up again. “Yes but I can’t see it.” The caretaker knew he should have thought of that. He also knew that he couldn’t keep the frequency tied up in case a real emergency occurred. He could send a first responder to check on the child but he doubted that the child could even give the address. Then an inspiration hit. “Well then, there’s only one thing left to do. I’ll need to commission a deputy lighthouse and a deputy caretaker to be in charge.” The caretaker asked if the child had a flashlight and a roll of paper towels. The child found the items the caretaker radioed the instructions to let the roll of paper serve as a tower and to shove the flashlight into cardboard tube so that light could shine out in all directions. When the child finally stopped transmitting the caretaker looked out to see that the storm had passed long before the conversation ended. All the child needed was for someone to talk him through the darkest parts of the night. As the caretaker was locking up for the day he realized that that it wasn’t really light from the lighthouse that was needed. It was the light from inside that needed to be reveied.

A Peek At Spring

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Forsythia 1112020” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The months of January and February are the most challenging for me when I’m trying to find fresh images. The landscape is dull and the wildlife is scarce. A few different types of Woodpeckers cruise the forests along with the Blue Jays but they simply refuse to be photographed. The big Pileated Woodpeckers even gave a laughing call as they deftly maneuver through the thin canopy. The squirrels are asleep in their hollow trees and it seems very lonely among the boles.

As I crossed my yard hoping to find a small songbird visiting my feeders something out of place caught my eye. A tiny speck of bright yellow on a drab day. My Forsythia bush has offered one single bloom. It’s actually about four months early. I have been observing the buds on the trees surrounding my home. Some of them are swelling but not really more than normal for my latitude. It’s actually common for some plants to waken slightly in winter and then go back to sleep. But the Forsythia has actually opened up a flower. Just a single bloom but it’s there as if the bush was giving me a word of encouragement to hold on just a little while longer.

It wasn’t really in the news but January 6th was perihelion day. The day that the Earth is closest to the Sun and we often get a snap of warmer weather around that time. But in the weeks that follow is when it’s the coldest. A lot of the plants in North America will open a few buds only to have them frozen afterward. However, if you look closely you’ll see that not all of the buds open. They actually keep a few in reserve to open again in Spring.

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Perseverance

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Dogwood In The Fall 10119” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The dry September wind claimed a toll on the Fall colors. However the Dogwood tree in my parent’s yard still shows it’s glory in crimson. No special treatment was given to the tree. It’s change seems to come from sheer strength of will. The photo was taken on October 1st which was a few days before the rains finally returned. As I stood beneath the branches and thanked God for the beautiful colors I started to think about how hard the late Summer drought had been. The image shows that many of leaves have turned brown and are dry. And yet the tree gives as much beauty as it can. The few red leaves are more appreciated than in the past few years because they’re less abundant.

You see, it’s easy enough to have success in the good times when everything is going right. But it’s the harsh conditions of the bad times when you don’t give up and bring as much as you can muster to bear that makes the difference. The harder the struggle, the sweeter the reward.

We need to not judge ourselves according to what was done in a perfect environment when success was almost a guarantee. It’s what we can do when times are tough that truly shows our resolve even if the results are not as prolific.

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The Secret Of Now

Color Photography

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Simply Live” and is available for purchase by following the instructions at the bottom of the article.

The September sun smiles warmly into shady side of my Appalachian home. All too soon the fading light of September will give way to the October winds. The weekly task of mowing the lawn as already been replaced by mulching fallen leaves. The thought of enjoying the day before it is yesterday has been heavy on my mind. The last few weeks of summer seemed to pass by like the falling leaves in an October gale. I still have a few butterflies playing in the yard but soon they’ll be gone. It gives me a better appreciation for the value of now. Now is the point when preparation meets opportunity. Sometimes, all the preparation in the world can be done but we miss the opportunity. For example, the next image is the same butterfly, in more or less the same spot on the same day and shot by the same photographer with the same camera. But the opportunity wasn’t really there.

Lost Moments — The butterfly was just too fast to be captured by my lens.

When the moment is lost there are two things that you can do.

1. You can beat yourself up. ( Or more accurately, beat yourself down. ) This is really not productive. It makes you second guess everything and usually leads to the loss of the next moment and possibly even more moments depending on how much it impacts your confidence and motivation.

2. You can honestly evaluate what went wrong and make take corrective action. In the case of tonight’s feature image that meant making a few adjustments to the settings and paying more attention to the timing of snapping the shutter. The adjusted plan results in being better able to take advantage of the next opportunity.

Of course I was disappointed with the first shot. I’ll tell you secret. Most photographers will never show the ones that just didn’t turn out as planned. That doesn’t mean it never happened. But it’s important for me to encourage you to take the positive action of stepping back for moment and fixing what went wrong before trying again. This applies to so much more in life. When something doesn’t work out use the time before the next opportunity to make it better.

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Life In The Moment

Color Photography

Most of what I capture in the lens is a fraction of a second. Working with such tight tolerances has given me an appreciation for how fluid a moment is. It takes less than one second for the bumblebee to disappear inside of the flower and change the entire scene. It also takes less than one second for the bumblebee to drop out of the flower and become airborne. Again changing the scene. Light changes, wind moves the subjects and with wildlife there’s a pretty good chance that the subject will be spooked and run away. All of this forces us to see the moment and react before it’s lost forever. That’s going to happen and it’s going to happen often. Action is always faster than reaction. But on the other side of this paradox is the fact that a missed moment is an event that is also constantly changing. If we become mentally trapped by the lost opportunity we’ll miss the one that follows. The truth is that it takes a lot of missed shots to learn the patterns and anticipate the next opportunity. I have come to understand that this is a pattern repeats itself in almost every aspect of life. It takes a lot of failure to learn the patterns and recognize the next opportunity in time to be ready for it. And, if you mess up don’t get discouraged because that moment will soon pass too.

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A Light In The Darkness

Color Photography

The Monarch Butterfly glides silently to where the sweet scent of the Ironweed eliminates from the shadows. Delicately, she explores the purple flowers for a sip of nectar. Together they are a bright spot in a darkened world. She playfully skips from plant to plant spreading her beautiful wings for only a moment. A moment was all that was needed to be a light in the darkness.

In the world today we have so much darkness that surrounds us. It is easy to allow it to swallow you up. But the light is there if you look for it. Sometimes we ask why the world has so much darkness in it. I think that the answer is so that the light can be better defined.

Believe it or not, you are that light in someone else’s word. It only takes a moment to share a smile and light their lives. Never forget that what you do matters in this world.

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