In a Moment

A few days ago, I thought it would be a good idea to enact the "Top Ten Tuesday" feature again. It's been awhile. And what's better than a Top Ten Tuesday on a Tuesday?

Answer: A Top Ten Tuesday 1 day early!

Really, though, I foresee a busy tomorrow, and since I have a window of time now, I decided it better happen today.

So here it is.

Topic: Moments.

I love the concept of time. It really fascinates me. In fact, lately I have been hearing a lot about how God is outside of time. One fact I always struggle understanding is that God always was and always will be. The eternal nature of this makes my head spin. I get the "forever" part, but the "always has been?" Crazy.

But the reason I don't "get" it is because everything in this life is measured by time. Beginning & end. We were wired to understand events, circumstances, and happenings by time.

So to say something happened before time... it just doesn't compute.

My point is, time is a real interesting piece. Another cool thing about time is that every second (or pick your unit of measurement) is unique. You can't duplicate a minute, you can't get a minute back, and you can't experience a future minute until you're in it.

Which is another reason why I love that my passion is what it is. Taking pictures allows me to have just a little control over capturing a moment forever.

You can't pause time. Sometimes, moments are forgotten forever if they aren't recorded in the written form or told in a story.

But a moment CAN live on forever if it's captured in a picture.

The definition of a moment is "the exact point in time."

Photography is my job, so there are certain criteria that must be met regarding what it is I'm shooting. If it's a wedding, there are standard pictures we get. If it's a family photo session, there are certain poses we set up.

But photography as a passion in my personal life is a little different. Sure, there is the occasional "family photo" I take at birthday parties or events, but all in all, my camera lives on me when I'm with family & friends for one reason: I love, love, love to capture "moments."

To capture a moment means to capture the story of why you're there. The "action" of it, the "feeling" of it, the "candidness" of it. Taking pictures for me is almost like writing a book. It serves as author and illustrator. Even when I don't have the ability to write captions with my photos, I feel pictures say so many words on their own.

As much as possible, we also try to incorporate this theory into our Imagine Artists' work. I almost feel like it's there by default, especially at the more candid parts of our shoots (wedding reception, family walking from one location shoot to the other, a senior laughing at a joke).

So, to stop the long-winded explanation, here is the Top Ten. I went through my online albums from Dec. 2009-June 2010 and picked out images that I feel share what I've been talking about in a "moment."

Vote for your favorite moment.

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Love you all!

T