The Emotions of a Photographer

As a fledgling photographer, I admire, respect, and am awed by the work of master photographers, especially landscape and Nature photographers.

I love browsing through the photography books at Barnes & Noble, especially those featuring Mississippi Wildlife and Nature scenes. And once a year, usually in December, I enjoy browsing through the new calendars to find one I'll enjoy throughout the upcoming year.

I'm partial to nature and landscape calendars, and one of my favorite recent calendars was National Geographic's American Landscapes, from 2008.

In fact, I liked it so much that I couldn't bear to throw it away at the end of the year. It had the most gorgeous photographs, and each month when I turned the pages, I tried to imagine myself standing where the photographers stood and wondered about the emotions they must have experienced seeing those gorgeous places. Did they experience a racing heartbeat, or "chill bumps," or perhaps even teary eyes? I know I have felt all of those things at one time or another when I take pictures.

Before I continue, I would like to thank two of the photographers whose pictures were featured in the calendar ... Tom Mackie and Tim Fitzharris. I wrote each of them asking permission to use their photographs for this post, and received very gracious notes from both of them granting permission. To see more of Mr. Mackie's and Mr. Fitzharris's truly awe-inspiring work, you can visit their web sites by clicking on the following links: Tom Mackie and Tim Fitzharris.

I was so inspired by the picture below, which was taken by Tom Mackie, that I actually googled the town shown in the picture to find out more about it.

I discovered that it is a little town called Waits River, which is located in eastern Vermont. I would love to go there some day and stand on that hill where Tom stood the day he so beautifully captured that pristine church standing in the midst of the New England countryside. I'm sure he took a few moments before he snapped the picture to appreciate that glorious sight.

And speaking of glorious sights ... let's travel, literally, to the other end of the country to see Cathedral Rock at Red Rock Crossing near Sedona, Arizona, one of the most scenic (and photographed) sights in America.

I truly cannot imagine trying to capture such a magnificent scene with my camera. I would be so excited about just "being there," and would probably be totally spellbound by witnessing God's glory in the form of those awesome rocks. Photographer Tim Fitzharris captured it beautifully.

Moving over to the West Coast from Sedona, we find this breathtakingly beautiful sight, also captured by Mr. Fitzharris ...

It's Jade Cove, which is located in the Big Sur area of the California coastline. I'm not sure I would want to stand where Tim stood when he took this picture, because it looks as if he was teetering on the rocky cliffs overlooking the cove. But wherever he was standing, it was definitely worth it for him to capture the majesty of this gorgeous scene.

I'm sure these two extraordinarily talented photographers, and hundreds more like them, capture magnificent pictures like these every day ... but I'd like to think that no matter how many photographs they take, they will never cease to be inspired and humbled by God's glory, and will always take a moment to reflect on "How Great He Is" before they click the shutter release button.