When you visualize an image of the moon in your minds eye what do you see? The impossibly large disk of a “Super Moon”... glowing softly as it rises slowly over a silhouetted landscape? Or the crater Tycho... shining like a lunar lighthouse, the arms of it’s massive ray system extending out for 1500 km in all directions. Maybe you see the lunar mare (Latin for "oceans") that make up the so called “Man in the Moon”.
These are timeless images. The one's everyone sees and everyone tries to photograph.
And so did I until just the other day when I made this photo. After years of trying (and failing rather miserably) to recreate those "other" images for myself... something drew me to take this simple photo instead. And as soon as I saw it I knew I had succeeded in creating something that satisfied me and finally expressed who I was... my personal views and what I felt when taking this photo. Yet I wasn’t quite sure why.
Then it hit me. This image contained a message. It was telling me that in my previous attempts to photograph the moon I had been succumbing to thinking and seeing like everyone else. I was part of "the crowd"... going for the “big glowing disk” photograph. I was focused on achieving a specific result rather than allowing myself to explore options. However now I have a photo where the moon is properly portrayed as just a small part of something much larger. In this photo I feel as though I can see right past the moon, through the blue of the sky and into the depths of space that lay beyond. For me it helps define where we on Earth fall in the grand scheme of things.
But no matter the subject matter, your political views or the country you live in... few of us ever exercise our right to think and act as individuals. We believe what we see on TV, the opinions of our friends and what we read online to be true. Without question. We have a desire to fit in and therefore become a part of the crowd. And while comfortable and easy, the reality is that this limits our development both personally and as a society.
However to think for yourself, to consider options and to encourage others to do the same requires courage and taking certain risks. It can be uncomfortable... but the rewards are worth the risks. And this is true whether taking a simple photograph, teaching our daughters and sons how to be better people, or simply searching for the truth. In my opinion the the world needs more risk takers... and we need to applaud, support and recognize the efforts of those who already do. Or better yet... become risk takers ourselves :-)
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