Is there anything more validating than being able to use whatever you have at your disposal to create? That has been the single most rewarding thing about my passion/career so far. I wanted to take pictures and so I did, despite not having a studio, lights, expensive equipment, etc. I started out with a tripod (pieced together with different brands) from a thrift store, a lens that was gifted to me and thus completely inappropriate for my tiny little space I was shooting in, and I had absolutely no concept of what it meant to be a photographer. I only knew that I had passion, and so I created in any way that I could.

That is what White Wall Wednesdays are all about. It means that we stop making excuses about why we can’t create and we find ways to make it happen. It might not always turn out like the image of your dreams, but if I’ve learned anything it is that there is just about always a way. Things get done because we have the inspiration and motivation to try.

When I see a blank wall, I see an opportunity.

This week we are focusing on the editing process that has gone in to the image we shot last week. I hope that you pick up some tips that help in your own process and that you enjoy the video!

Please share any images you’ve created in your blank space, and/or a before/after if you want to show people where it came from!

When I finished editing the image on air, and the cameras went off, everyone in the room let out a big sigh. We all knew it didn’t really work out but we were happy we tried. When I got home from Seattle I decided to start editing it again. I tried twice more and it still wasn’t coming together. That was when I took a slightly different approach.

I started choosing new shots to work with – a higher angle of my subject as well as different house shots from the kiddie pool so that you could see more of the house under the water, thus adding to the believability effect. Those changes made a world of difference for me, fixing some perspective issues as well as changing what was a very static shot.

I have been on a book kick lately, really wanting to experiment with how books (stories, really) can transport you to another reality. Books are old, universally recognized, and provide an amazing symbol for anyone to latch on to. There are many different emotions attached to books, but one thing remains the same. If you read, you take your imagination to a different level. What an amazing metaphor for creating.

I ended up using all of the same techniques to edit this image when I was home as I did during the CreativeLive editing segment for this picture. Some of the featured tools were the Background Eraser Tool, Curves Adjustment Layers, and changing of the Lighting Dynamics. I think something that brought the image together for me in the end was the choice of clouds, and really creating a light source as well as light variation so that some of the image was in darkness and some in light.

Thankfully the light for this image was quite natural, with no extreme highlights or shadows, so changing the light slightly was not a problem. Of course, I can’t say if the image did ever come together or not, but it did satisfy a dream I’ve had. I always know when a picture is finished when I feel it matches what I saw in my imagination…so I want to thank you for watching and for supporting this photo shoot through your encouraging words as well as to CreativeLive for setting this up for me!

There are so many different connotations that go along with asking someone’s age, and a lot of it has to do with different ways that we ourselves perceive age. What someone should have done or not done by a certain age is only fact in our minds because of the life we have lived. But everyone is different.

So no matter how old you were when you discovered your passion, or if you haven’t discovered it yet, that is of no consequence. What matters is how passionately you go after your dreams and how much you believe in yourself, age aside. Because whether you are very young or very old, or somewhere in between, like me, you have every right to chase your desires. The only time age is an issue is when we make it one.

So, I had a birthday. And I happen to adore birthdays. Not so much the celebrating of them with a party and a cake (though I do love cake…) but more the idea that life moves forward and with each passing moment I learn something new about it. I love celebrating life and how wonderful it is to be here. I am so grateful for it.

The question of age comes up very often for me. When I am speaking somewhere or teaching or exhibiting, one thing that everyone seems to want to put in the introduction is how old I am. I’m not sure why there is a preoccupation with age, but to me, it is irrelevant. We are as old as our imaginations.

So when someone asks me how old I am, I want to respond with this simple statement:

I am old enough to know right from wrong.
Old enough to know love.
Old enough to have a business.

I am young enough to chase my dreams.
Young enough to believe my dreams can come true.
Young enough to understand my imagination.

Numbers mean so little. So while I could sit here and tell you that I am now 27 years old, it doesn’t mean anything. What matters more is impossible to put into words, let alone numbers. What matters is how we embrace who we are, our imaginations, and our dreams. Old or young, everyone deserves that much.

How old (or young) do you feel?