Recently I hiked Hanging Lake with my cousin Teresa. It's a
beautiful hike where at the end of 1.5 miles straight up lies a beautiful blue
green lagoon with waterfalls. There is this long log that you
can walk across which makes it feel like you are walking on water! Of course I wanted to walk it and take a picture of it. I asked a guy to take
pictures for Teresa and I on this log. I asked him to take a few pics, be creative as he so chose, and take different
variations.
When I saw the pictures I
was thankful but they were kinda blah. I got what I asked for: 3 pictures, one
at a far distance so you can see how small we are, one medium, and one close
up. In return he asked me to take pictures for him
and his girlfriend.I was happy to return the favor. When I took the pictures I did some candids of them because
she was afraid to walk on the log and thought she was going to fall off, all sort
of diagonals and some straight on, I took a dozen of them. When I handed it to
him I told him he could delete them if he didn't like them. He was ecstatic and
said they didn't have any pictures like these.
In that moment I realized: people will do what you ask them, very few will go beyond and be creative, even if you encourage them to do so. Many people do not know HOW to be creative unless they were
shown the way somewhere/somehow. What I wanted him to do, was what I did. My
disappointment is really my own expectations. So in order to be the change in
the world, YOU MUST be that change. I hope I planted that seed in him. You can always delete but you cannot always
get back that moment. I realized then to really be aware of what I ask for and
perhaps even guide them with examples and let serendipity work her magic. Being
vague can set you up for disappointment!
