Seeing is Believing! Look Around!

As I mentioned in my first blog, I dealt with addictions. While I was using and abusing, I was blinded. I thought I was enjoying myself most of the time ....in the beginning. I thought life was all about the party. Go to work then party hard! Work hard...party harder. I worked in a factory when I was young. Basically no windows to see outside while on the shop floor. Winters were black. Go to work in the dark, go home in the dark. Weekends were black too....blackouts! They were intentional of course. In my mind life was better messed up and blind. I was having FUN! I did not see the beauty around me. I was surrounded by beautiful scenery and beautiful people, but I didn't really look. I took everything for granted. I did not see beauty. I looked for the destination, but didn't pay attention to the journey.

Be the Child

Do you remember how things looked when you were a child? Do you remember your reactions to the simple things in life? Do you remember when life was simpler and all of your responsibilities didn't obstruct your view of your world? Watch young children. See what is important to them. See how they see things. We can learn from them. We can go back in time and remember how we too saw things before we let life get in our way, and stopped experiencing it from each beautiful moment to beautiful moment.

Look With Intention

If I look out my backyard I can see the trees blowing in the wind, the lilacs swaying on the bushes, my dog playing in the backyard with a rubber toy, having a blast by herself. I can see the laneway that takes me back to my childhood. I can see the birds and a beautiful sky. I can see all of this without leaving my property. There are so many pictures to take if I am in the right frame of mind, and I actually take the time to look.

I drive or walk right by so many things every day without paying any attention!...I have a destination and I don't pay attention to the journey...

We all do this. We get preoccupied with 'stuff'. We are temporarily blinded.

Next time you leave the house make a conscious effort to look around. You might be surprised at the things you see every day, but miss! Have you ever gone from being the driver to a passenger in a vehicle and noticed so many new things along the way?

I drove by this Village almost every day for more than. a year before I realized we had an amazing Pioneer Village!

My Camera Made Me Do It!

I moved here thinking this wasn't the Beautiful British Columbia I was expecting! I remember taking the redeye and looking out the window of a Greyhound bus after travelling all night from Red Deer to Fort St John. What have I done?! I thought to myself I'm only here to work and I'll be leaving soon!

I drive truck and started to see the surrounding area. I started to see wildlife. I had never seen a moose ...honestly. Well actually I saw the south end of a northbound moose in Cape Breton once. Nothing to write home about! One winter morning I saw pink skies I had never seen before. I actually had to pull over. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had to message people back home to describe what I was seeing. The hue was mind blowing! I saw the Northern Lights for the first time driving north of Fort St John...wow!

I called my son who has a passion for photography and asked him what kind of automatic camera I should get so that I could take quick shots of wildlife etc that I saw on my journeys in the truck. He suggested a Sony mirrorless camera, which id not the point and shoot I was inquiring about! I ordered one and the hook was set. I became infatuated with photography again.

I drove by the old buildings. I drove by the horses. I drove by the calfs in the spring. I drove into the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, but until I got my camera I didn't really 'see' them. I certainly didn't appreciate them. My camera encouraged me to see the beauty around me like I had never seen before. The Peace Region isn't all about majestic mountains, it isn't how I imagined BC. It is unique in BC and it gets in your blood if you aren't careful. The North has a beauty, and a spirit of its own. The further North you go the more it evolves. I learned to appreciate winter again. I learned to appreciate the cold. Sub zero temperatures look much different through the lens. I have actually gotten depressed when the snow has started to melt, and winter has come to an end. The black and white of winter makes for some incredible photography, or art in general.

My camera forced me to see and feel the beauty of the Peace Region. The 2 years I was going to stay has long passed and I am hooked