I remember in sunday school… way back when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade, my sunday school teacher brought glass jars, whole walnuts, and rice into the classroom for our lesson. I remember her teaching us how to prioritize our lives (as best as a 2nd or 3rd grader can understand, mind you…) putting important things like spending time with God, doing our homework, and loving our families first. She put a few whole walnuts in the jar, almost so it looked like there wouldn’t be any more room for anything else. I remember feeling anxious about there not being anymore room in the jar for things like playing with friends, soccer games, and art classes… things that I loved, but that my teacher categorized “not as important”. But then, the teacher added grains of rice to the jar… a great many little grains filled in the gaps between the “important things”, and I was amazed to find that all those “little things” I wanted to do found room in the already very crowded jar of life. ”Decide what your walnuts should be first,” my teacher said. “Then fill in the rest of your time with all those small things you wish to do and need to be done.”

Well, I just turned another year older last week, and surprisingly enough, this lesson still replays in the back of my mind every so often when life seems a little too crowded for my taste. While I don’t have that jar anymore, I do have that memory to serve as the rudder to redirect my priorities. When I allow “all the small things” to get filled in first, the important things don’t end up fitting in my calendar… important things like spending time with Christopher, spending time reading His word, journaling, and reading that book I’ve been meaning to read for months.

So this lull in blogging… this has been a time of re-adjusting my “priorities rudder”…. a time for figuring out what the important things are and making time for them amidst the many little things that need to get done. I have a stack of AMAZING shoots to share with you in the coming weeks, but for now, I wanted to share snapshots from my life in the past month…

Today, I’m missing Herrnhut…. my home away from home. I’m missing the endless green fields, the tall skinny trees, the red roofs, and the stillness of the small town. This last trip to Germany, I had the chance to take Christopher to this place that’s so near and dear to my heart. We got to walk from the castle to town through the silent forest, listening to nothing but the wind rustling the leaves high in the tree tops. We got to explore through this quiet town, grab some Turkish Doener to snack on, and we got to enjoy the lack of impending to-do lists. The quiet that surrounded this place inspired quiet hearts and quiet minds, and as we walked in silence, we felt His peace.

Where, in your life, do you find your home away from home? Today, I pray you find peace and quiet away from the craziness… even, if only for a moment.

One of my favorite things to do is explore. It’s exciting getting myself lost (just as long as I can find my way afterwards), experiencing the culture around me, and feeling free to be inspired. This morning, as Christopher and I walked out into the crisp morning cold, I told him I was excited to photograph and not feel the pressure of “getting the shots”. I could take photos of post-its if I wanted to… and I did. We had a late breakfast, then headed out toward the old town of Nuremberg.

Fun Fact: The old city of Nuremberg is embedded in the center of the greater Nuremberg area and is surrounded by the old wall that originally acted as the city gate. Within the old city is a bunch of historical landmarks that include two giant churches and a castle…. all built in the 1500s. We visited all of them!

It’s amazing how deep the european culture runs. I love it. Here are a few pictures from today’s adventures…..

Funny story about this pic…. Chris was quite confused reading the title of this book. He thought it was some sort of anti-fitness book. But in fact, it’s not…. Mike and Jasmin were quite amused by that…

Some people have the gift of learning by hearing instructions, or even by looking at a step by step manual. I, unfortunately, don’t really have either of those gifts… I learn by doing. A lot people ask me how I started with photography, wondering if I went to college to get a degree in it. The answer to that is… I almost did. For a long time, I bought into the normal societal assumption that to be anybody, to make a decent living, you NEED a degree. So naturally, when deciding I wanted to be a wedding photographer, I assumed that I had to go to school and graduate with a degree. Well, after a lot of conversations with numerous people, through lots of prayer and deep thinking, I decided against going to school… and instead, go and do photography. I watched tutorials, I went to photographer shootouts, I read books and manuals. I did take a few college courses on business and photoshop, but all my knowledge and experience in photography comes from doing as much of it as I possibly can.

So, at WPPI, that conference I talked about in my last post, my friends and I decided to further what we were learning and actually put our learning to the test. For these photos, since I didn’t bring my own camera (Nikon), I used Alexandra’s camera (Canon) to shoot. Now, before you Nikon lovers shun and banish me to the edge of town, just know I’m even more in love with my Nikon than I was before.  But for the record, it really truly is what you do with the camera that matters…. not what brand you use.

Here are some of my favorites from the evening of shooting for fun….

(Photo Credit: Betsy Lackey)

These three images were taken with one table light to her left….

These were taken with the desk lamp on to her left, and a floor lamp held up to her face to her right…. kinda looks like studio lighting, no? Loved these photos!

Alexandra holding the lamp for the above shots…

Then I shot a few of Alexandra with just the desk light on her left… Love the soft and seductive feel of this one!

Then they both stole the cameras back and shot me, but they made me laugh too much…

So then we got dressed to attend a photographer social function and ended up being REALLY late because we were doing this….

All in all, it was rejuvenating and SO MUCH FUN to shoot just for the fun of it. I highly encourage you to have fun, experiment, and put your book learning to action…. however that looks in your own life.