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Two Photos–One Memory

My friend Carrie and I have the exact same camera. .

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She bought hers a few years ago, and after living with a severe case of camera-envy for two years, I finally bought one last summer. She and I both love taking pictures and between the two of us, we probably took around 2,000 photos during our recent vacation to St. John.

My question for you is this.

Can you tell the difference between these two photos?

Photo #1

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Photo #2

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I didn’t think so. Me neither.

So who took which photo? Well, I can tell you this-

One of these beach photos was taken by a photographer who:

  1. turned her camera to the “landscape” setting
  2. composed her shot in the viewfinder
  3. pressed the shutter button
  4. put her camera away
  5. had fun on the beach with her family and friends
  6. came home and put her pictures on Facebook
  7. never once obsessed about the white balance, sharpness, or color saturation of her photos

The other beach photo was taken by a photographer who:

  1. before she even left for vacation, spent an afternoon scouring the internet for tips on getting perfect beach shots
  2. turned on her camera and monkeyed with the settings for five minutes
  3. composed her shot in the viewfinder
  4. pressed the shutter button
  5. repeated steps 2,3, and 4 at least a dozen more times
  6. put her camera away
  7. had fun on the beach with her family and friends
  8. thought about a setting she didn’t experiment with
  9. repeated steps 2,3, and 4 at least a dozen more times
  10. came home and carefully examined each photo to determine which ones were the best
  11. spent hours obsessing about the the exposure, saturation, and sharpness of her photos
  12. spent an afternoon scouring the internet for post-processing tips
  13. repeated step 11
  14. wrote a silly blog post about how she learned that in the end, capturing the fun with family and friends on the beach is all that really mattered in the first place.

Another valuable lesson learned from my dear friend. 

Happy Birthday, Carrie! Thank you for teaching me that it doesn’t have to be perfect and that I don’t always have to reinvent the wheel.

I love you!  Kelly

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About Me

Hi There! I’m Kelly. I am a wife, mom, light seeker, homemaker, and storyteller. From an empty nest to an abundant life, all it took was a little time, a lot of faith, and the courage to see my life differently.

You can read more about my story here.

So now, armed with my trusty Canon camera, here is where I share my journey to live an inspired and intentional life.

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