A photo assignment

A photo assignment - part 3

My number one photo for 2022 should come as no surprise. It is not technically the best photo I took, but the story and meaning behind the photo make it number one to me.

As documented in my THANKSGIVING post, I took this picture while out hiking at Mount Saint Francis. I didn’t realize at the time I was or had a cardiac event. This might have been my last photo taken. Thankfully, it was not.

I took this photo at 8:45am with my Fujifilm X-T5 and 27mm lens. I took it with a low f-stop of f /2.8 thus providing only a focus area on the leaves.

So why do I like this photo? First, because as mentioned, this will always remind me of what happened that day and the following two days. Next, the leaves remind me of hearts and veins within them. The bottom leaf especially shows some damage and if you look closely, on the bottom right, below the damage, you can see a small ‘vein’ being blocked.

Spiritually speaking, there is the light coming in from the top left, shining on the leaves. As mentioned in my post, it was not my time to go, and that is what I see with those sun beams crossing the photo. I take it as a sign from God.

I have printed this photo, have framed it and it is now hanging in my bedroom. This will be a daily reminder of what might have been. Being alive is a blessing.

I have returned to this spot a few weeks after I took this shot, and noticed the bottom damaged leaf is gone and only the top leaf is hanging on for the duration of its existence. I took the updated shot in black and white as a bonus shot.

These small leaves are at the end of their life cycle. Each day I wake up, I am closer to the end of mine. These pictures and blog will be reminders to not waste time on frivolous things, but to enjoy the beauty of life and the many days I have left on this planet.

Until next time.

Tim

Comments

Rumination

I've found myself stuck in a loop lately. It's like my mind is on a hamster wheel, endlessly circling the same thoughts. I can't seem to shake them. It's exhausting. I've been there. That place where thoughts loop around and around, like a broken record stuck on the same groove. It's like my mind is a haunted house, and these persistent thoughts are the ghosts haunting me. I'll be thinking about something, maybe a conversation I had earlier in the day, and then suddenly, I'm spiraling. I'm replaying every word, every gesture, analyzing every detail. It's like a broken record, playing the same tune repeatedly. It's not just conversations, either. I can ruminate about my to-do list, my relationships, or even the weather. It's as if my brain is determined to find a problem, no matter how small. Rumination, as it's called, can be a real drain. It's like trying to go against the flow of a strong current. No matter how hard I ...

Nobody's Listening

I recently had conversations with two people I know that had experienced a sudden rash of acute anxiety. One was medication related, the other was situational. Both stated that they now had a better understanding of what I have been dealing with. With the recent changes to my medication, Although I still feel anxiety, it no longer takes control of my emotions like it did in the past. However, I know acutely that it still lurks on the fringes, patiently awaiting its chance to pounce on me. During my recent visit to Dr. Erin, she assigned me an exercise where I had to jot down three things each day that I felt I excelled at. This is proving to be difficult for me. The parameters are straightforward and easy to understand. “Anything I do well that day,” she said. As I continued with this exercise, I began thinking of a song by Linkin Par called Nobody’s Listening. I got a heart full of pain, head full of stress Handful of anger held in my chest And everything left’s a wast...

Walk Tall

I recently listened to a song by one of my favorite artist’s name John Mellencamp . The song is called Walk Tall . As I listened to the lyrics, I could not help reflecting on the world around me. John states: The simple minded and the uninformed Can be easily led astray And those that cannot connect the dots Hey, look the other way People believe what they wanna believe When it makes no sense at all… This is a recurring sight for me, encountered daily on social media, in conversations, on the news, and most notably in politics. People readily accept Facebook, MSNBC, CNN, or even their neighbor’s post on any platform as the ultimate truth. Very few people bother to delve into the facts, and it’s even worse how furious they get when faced with differing opinions. A point proven recently with a post I saw on Facebook. Someone stated, “this proves people will argue about anything”. There was a picture of a plastic cup of water that was ¾ full. The caption below said a fu...

Ruminator

Search This Blog