I mentioned in my earlier blog that there are four rooms at Camp Hope. Each room has different age groups and different levels. Last week I worked in the garden in the mornings then went to a classroom in the afternoon. Four out of the seven people on our team are in the rooms all day.
This week, I am doing a little cleaning, food prep, and seeing where I am needed in different classrooms. I am learning to be okay with not having a particular room I belong to. I was asked to help take photos for their new website. I instantly was excited to have a bigger purpose that I enjoy doing.
Taking pictures has been something I have been excited about for a long time. Before I moved to Charleston, I always desired to take good pictures. Last year I booked four weddings for my own business and worked many weddings last summer for another photography business.
I love the experience I got and the opportunity I had to capture beautiful photos, but my heart is longing for more than just a beautiful family beach photo. All the families I have worked with know that the photos I delivered and posted were one out of the fifty options I had taken. These pictures included kids not getting along, crying, or the parents trying to discipline but trying to look picture perfect.
Ironically we want pictures that just represent the good side of us, or just what looks pretty so people have a beautiful perspective of what our lives look like. I also can fall into this category. I want my Instagram to look a certain way, have a nice contrast and to look back to all the coffee, lighting, food, and plants I admired.
But is this real life? What does real life, real ministry, reality look like? I get this amazing opportunity to take great photos, but it might not look picture perfect. What we are doing this month is not pretty. We feed kids blended soup that gets everywhere. We help change diapers, we get constant slobber on us. What I want to capture is the joy that these kids carry, the innocence, the slower life, the workers who dedicate their time, love and energy on these kids.
I desire for the Lord to use what photos I take to give people a perspective that I am seeing for myself. A peek into what this ministry looks like and to see my God in it all. I am excited to see what I am able to capture to share with you all, but also what I can offer to bring impact to the foundation we are working along side this month.
This month has been about refining and growing in new ways. There will always be room for growth with photography and to constantly check myself and my motives. I am challenging myself to “be here now”, which is something our host ministry is encouraging us to do. Not to look back at the past seasons or the ones I will be in, just present with where I am.
