Horizons

I have this amazing and beautiful friend, Tatum. From the moment I met her fourteen summers ago, I have been inspired by the beauty that she creates and the way that she lives her life. She embraces it full on with compassion, humor, faith and wit. She writes funny notes, wears unique clothes, loves two little boys (and one big one!), listens to great music, embraces culture, tries to cook (he, he) and expresses her creativity with a camera. She is a photographer, business woman, wife, mother, and friend. Today as I read her blog and looked at her latest photos, I was inspired once again by the way she can capture a person's essence, charm and brilliance.

She has been struggling over the past few weeks to photograph grad students in the rain. Every time she's been scheduled to do a grad session the weather has not been cooperating....very frustrating to a photographer! But you should see what has come out of the struggle! Umbrellas, ominous clouds, breathtaking greenery, and truly unique photos celebrating this milestone in life. One photo in particular struck me. It is of a young man in a suit, standing on the railway tracks with these huge gray clouds hovering on the horizon.

We never really know where life is going to take us or what's in store. Sometimes the horizon looks like it's going to be smooth sailing...calm, peaceful, cloudless blue stretching for miles. The kind of skies that you can only see in the prairies. Other times you can see the approaching thunderheads and you tremble at what that cloud could bring into your life. But what I have realized today is that sometimes the most beautiful part of life, the improvisation and the creativity are brought to the surface when the storms are looming and the rain is soaking. Thank you dear friend for showing me, again, what to do with the mud and the muck that storms bring.... roll up the sleeves, put on the creative cap and make something beautiful in the middle of the mess.

Check out Tatum's blog and her gorgeous photos by clicking on Paper Moon Photography under my list of blogs or click on this link: http://www.papermoonphotography.com/blog/