How Do I Get There?

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi

I am an elementary math and science teacher. One thing I deal with all the time while teaching math is students frustrated that they do not understand how math works and want to give up when they do not find the correct solution right away. We live in a society today that wants perfection, however most people do not have the patience to stay the course and give up quickly. One thing about perfection we have to realize, no one is perfect nor will we ever obtain perfection. We always make mistakes, and everyone has missteps on their journey. Here are some lessons I have learned with photography I share with my 5th graders to help them improve in math and in other areas.

⏲No one becomes great overnight. I look back at my photos that I posted back in 2017 when I bought my first DSLR camera. I look back and wonder what was I thinking when I posted these photos. I compare them to what I post today, and I have noticed a big different. It takes time to grow a skill.

🤾‍♂️ It takes practice to improve. You have to do it in order to get better. No professional sports player woke up one day and was instantly a success. It took years of practice in order to get better. Same thing is true with photography. I try out different tricks and techniques at locations in my hometown all the time. This way when I visit somewhere new, I have those techniques mastered in order to take the best photos possible.

📷 Your first shot isn’t always the best. Rarely is the first picture I take the one I post first. Often it’s the way down the line. I often delete photos while I am on a shoot. Sometimes the focus isn’t quiet right, or I didn’t like how it was framed up in the end. When learning a new skill realize that your goal is to get better, and if you work at it you will always be better than when you first started.

🕺 Do it for you. You will never please everyone. Do not try to grow in a new skill in order to please others. Grow in a new skill in order to make yourself a better person. I practice photography for me. I post the photos and write about them for me. Expressing my creativity makes me a better person.

One the places I went to practice my craft recently was UNC Charlotte. This is the local university in my city. I was in the area because I was dropping my daughter off for summer camp that week. I brought my bike and camera with my one day to check out the campus. My goal was to see the botanical gardens on campus. I never found them. I kept getting turned around with the GPS on my watch. I did find this pretty awesome fountain in the middle of campus, and I am sucker for water features. I set up my camera, and did some slow shutter speed photography with my neutral density filter. This allows me to take slow shutter speed photos with it being super bright outside, and it was really bright that day.

👉I want to hear from you. What are something life lessons you have learned along the way that I can share with my fifth graders next school year? It doesn’t have to apply to math or photography, but that would help. Share in the comment below.👈