Voice

“Find your voice.” I heard this early on when I started my journey to improve my own skills in photography. What is “voice” and how does one go about discovering what that is exactly and how it can be consistently portrayed? I think of voice as simply the recognizable style that ties my work together. It is certainly illusive at times and possibly not even fully consistent but I know it when I see it in my work and that is always exciting when it happens. Finding one’s own particular voice in this art form can take years to develop and mature but with practice in both capturing and editing it starts to show and is very fulfilling to see.

One of my favorite locations to shoot is the Chambers Bay Golf Course near Tacoma, Washington. I have an expanding collection of images that I have started to share on this site and will add more over time. It is here that I feel that I could start to detect where I wanted to go with my own particular style and voice. I love the soft almost surreal images with a strong interplay of light and shadow and this golf course in the right evening light serves this up in spades. Changes of seasons and weather can bring new and different images to the landscape but the ability to play with the lights and shadows is always there when the timing is right and it is very exciting to me when I see it happening. Today’s image that I have attached shows the light and shadows over the dunes of the full course and I think it is a beautiful site to take in. I hope you feel the same and if you are in the area head out that way to see it in person… it’s certainly worth the trip.

I was inspired to explore the topic of “find your voice” today because I feel that this photoblog is serving as a voice and a platform for me to help bless others both with photography and spiritually. For much too long my own voice of witness and helping others with whatever I can offer with biblical lessons has been confined to the walls of “church” groups and has had no pathway to bless anyone beyond those confines who may need to be blessed by these short blogs combining an appreciation of Creation through photography with biblical truth.

Proverbs 31:8-9 exhorts us in this area. “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” In other words, speak up and don’t remain silent. Find your voice and don’t be afraid to use it because someone will be blessed because of those words. That is my hope and prayer for this project. If one person is blessed through it then it was worth the effort.

I would love to hear from you in the comments if you are someone who has been blessed with my photos and daily musings in this blog!