Q: how is life? A: mamafufu mamafufu

i always wanted to take photography lessons but also always able to find excuses not to. no time, too far, too expensive, not the right class, not for my camera, i don't need it, i am doing just fine - along with other bad excuses too. the past weekend i finally convinced myself to take one. it was a private lesson with a pro. we started at 9:00 am on a sunday morning and the 4-hour session went by very fast. we talked about white balance, metering, depth of field, aperture, f-stops, iso, exposure compensation, dust, crop factor and other random musings. his bag seemed to carry every gadgets ever made for digital photography. at the end of the session we went through the features and capabilities of my camera and lenses. at that time i started to realize how little i know about photography, how little i know about my camera and how much i underutilized its capabilities and features.

in the same afternoon i took my dog for a routine walk in the neighborhood. i had my camera with me and took this picture of beautiful flowers from the yard of a neighbor. i may have passed by the same flowers yesterday or the day before but didn't notice how beautiful they were or even their existence - until i paid more attention this time for things around me with my camera looking for picture opportunities.

what i have learned from the photography lesson was more than taking better pictures. i also learned something that i didn't expect. i learned about how to cherish what i have instead of keep chasing what i don't have. i learned about beautiful flowers can also be found in my neighborhood instead of miles away. i also learned to notice the great songs that i have not listened to for years on my playlist, the great books collecting dust in bookshelf that i have not finished reading, the great movies that i bought years ago that are still wrapped, and the "long lost" friends who are only one phone call or email away.

more importantly, with thousands and thousands of lives lost in the myanmar's cyclone, sichuan's earthquake, conflicts, accidents, illness and other natural or human-made incidents around the world, i also learned about cherish the people around me (珍惜眼前人) and learned to cherish life.

it is good that we still live ...