On the day before New Year's Eve, I ventured to Isle of Palms in Charleston with my camera gear, Champagne glasses and bubbly to capture shots for the New Year. I also thought I had with me my bag of goodies that I had run all over town the night before to find in order to get the exact shots envisioned in my head. Key word being *thought*.
Well be it as it may, as I walked down the beach and found the perfect location, I immediately noticed there was something missing...my bag of props (gasp!). I stood there staring in disbelief as I pictured the bag sitting idly on my kitchen table. For half a second, I debated whether or not to trek back to the car and drive home to get it; but I didn't have an hour to spare and neither did the sun. Being a photographer, I very much came to terms with how the sun can either be my dear friend or straight up enemy; I knew it would quickly become the latter if I delayed my shooting even if just for a short period of time. Yet, as any good story that starts off rough, the silver lining was on the horizon (quite literally being I'm talking about the sun here!).
As I made the decision to stay put, it was as if Mother Nature understood my dilemma and gave me the perfect rays of sunshine to create an even better shot. In that moment of sunshine clarity, I set the Champagne glasses by the ocean's edge, poured the bubbly and began snapping away. As the sun rose in the sky, the clouds cut away allowing new reflections and shadows to take form. I may not have had my props, but the shining sun did a great job of instituting an alternative.. a far better one at that!
What I'm trying to get at is that while the New Year comes with new expectations, don't be alarmed by the unexpected. It may very well be that those unforeseen circumstances may shine a whole, new (brighter) light on you! With that, I wish you all Happy Happenstances in the New Year!
