Dear friends,
I took the photograph, you see here today, in Hawaii last year. Hawaii is known for gorgeous beaches, beautiful flowers, stunning scenery and the famous and welcoming Hawaiian spirit of “Aloha”. Imagine a picture perfect sunny day, lush, green trees, flowers so colorful that no paint would suffice if you’d tried to color them, and blue skies melting into the turquoise Pacific. On my walk along the beach I arrived at a lagoon. I stopped and took the stunning surroundings in as much as I could. Any thoughts of winter disappeared way back into my mind. I did not want to be reminded of any cold, wet, and snowy weather this time of the year. This was February after all.
Suddenly, I felt a presence. I turned around but could not see anyone. I shrugged my shoulders and walked on. There it was again. “Who is it?” I asked. No answer. I had had someone in spirit communicating with me before. Still, no answer. So I walked on.
Then my eyes fell on my camera. “Maybe I should take another picture”, I thought. And so I did. I have always liked taking pictures of something beautiful as long as I can think. I have also been very blessed in my life being able to travel around the world and capture many picturesque sites. I was used to pointing my camera to something amazing. This time it was different. There seemed more at work here than just me. It felt as if someone or something was taking my camera and guiding my hands into something I had never seen before. As I looked through the lens and let my hands and camera go where they wanted, I realized that they were pointing into the sun. Immediately, I remembered any knowledge of photography I had. “Don’t take pictures right into the sun or they will be too bright”, is what I had always been told. However, spirit seemed to want me to do exactly that. So I took the picture.
The photograph you see today is the outcome. It was not taken at night; nor was it altered. I believe that spirit guided me that day to look directly into the sun, take a picture and see what happens. What happened is amazing. What happened made me realize that things are never as they appear. Green palm trees were suddenly pitch black, flowers were gone, the water murky, items unrecognizable, and the sun barely there. If you imagine scenery like that, you would never think that I am still speaking of the paradise of Hawaii. At a first glance, it seems that everything is just black. That’s not considered beautiful, right? Now, take a closer look. Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it magical? It’s not colorful for sure. It’s black and it’s white. Isn’t it gorgeous combined that way?
That day I learned that where there is light there is dark and where there is shadow; there must be a light nearby. Each cannot exist without the other. Colors cannot exist without each other. Otherwise, there would be no difference. Everything would be the same. Everything would be just one. No colorful flowers, no stunning landscape, no vibration raising our spirits, no color. I also learned how beautiful black can be. In addition, I learned that no color is what it appears to be. It depends on your perspective. It depends how you see it and what kind of lens you use. If you don’t like what you see, change your perspective and take a closer look. You might find that it is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Even in black. Just as spirit guided me on that day to trust its guidance instead of my judgment and knowledge, open your heart and mind when you take a closer look at things around you, people around you, and colors around you.
Isn’t it beautiful? Aren’t people of all colors just as beautiful as the exotic and colorful Hawaiian Islands? Black is beautiful. Not just in February.
Love, Barbara
Copyright © 2015 by Barbara Bullock
Photo credit © 2014 by Barbara Bullock
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Bullock/277533425653786
#Hawaii #photography #color #February #black