Every story has a beginning, here is mine…
Will Smith in his movie “Hitch,” says something that is resonating me with me now. In truth, every since I saw the move, this particular line often comes back to me a various times. The statement is:
“Life is not about the amount of breaths you take but the moments that take your breathe away”
A simple, yet complex statement. We all experience so much in our lives from the day we are born. In actuality, most people (God willing) are afforded 925,600 minutes in one year; we are given 925,600 different moments in a year to experience something that is breathtaking. Realistically speaking, all of those minutes do not equate to breathtaking moments. There are times in life where we are literally, just breathing. In other words, we are going from minute to minute, day to day, moment to moment where nothing spectacular or breathtaking happens. However, if we are lucky, at some point in our lives we are able to have moments that “take our breath away.” I am fortunate to have experienced such a moment.
It was the end of 2008 and I was more confused than ever about my purpose in life. After discovering I truly didn’t enjoy grad school, I didn’t want to pursue my PhD to become a professor, and I didn’t enjoy PR as much as I should I was completely lost as to what came next for me. I thrive on plans, on structure, and for once in my live… I had neither. I must admit I was frightened, I’m still a little a frightened. However, God already knew what was in store for me. After talking with everyone I knew, I still didn’t have any clarity so I turned within. I searched within myself to discover whatever it was that I truly enjoyed, unfortunately, I could come up with nothing. The fear began to intensify, I was completely lost. However, my decent into the dark abyss of uncertainty, in hindsight, was short lived.
One of my Facebook friends tag me in a note that changed my life. It was THAT moment, the moment that “took my breathe away.” I am forever grateful for that moment in time, the one moment out of the 925, 600 that I was given that year. The title of the note was: “The Engagement – A Beautiful Young Couple from Georgia.” There was a link (http://www.photosbyknight.com/gray/) to a slide show attached, a slide show filled with photographs by Ross Oscar Knight. I thought the photographs as well as the story behind them were amazing. As a highly impressed spectator, I googled Ross Knight, found his blog and began to check it periodically from then on.
I truly enjoyed Ross’ blog. I’m a little embarrassed to say this but I read every single post within a week. After that, I checked his blog every other day, waiting anxiously to see new pictures. I had fallen in love with photography. At this time, I was merely a spectator, casually looking and admiring the artistry of it all. This continued for about year. Within that year, I played around with the idea of purchasing a DSLR but I didn’t have the money or really the confidence to actually buy one. However, something changed… I found my mother’s old SLR cameras, put some film in them, and began taking pictures. It was another one of my breathtaking moments which lead me to the eventual purchase of my first DSLR in Sept. 2009. I’ve been taking pictures every since.
Although I am still a novice in the world of photography, my love and my passion for it runs through my body to the depths of my soul. I finally feel like I’m exactly where I’m meant to be, doing what I’m meant to do. I realize that the Lord is not done with me yet, that I have a lot more learning and growing to do but I’m excited to see where this road leads me. This is only the beginning of my story…
~Saadia Me*Chel
The picture at the top of this post as well as the one below are the very first pictures I took with my DSLR. It so happened to also be another breathtaking moment. After I took these pictures I realized I could be something more, something extraordinary, something spectacular… *neither of these photos have been edited in Photoshop or Lightroom. This was before I knew anything about photo editing*
