Turkey Day: Looking to the true meaning versus what's actually going on. Plus, cool photo tips for the day!

I had the honor of being a guest blogger on Wrought Ink's site, which is a professional writing and resume website offering professional coaching for your career.  Check out the below article on the site as it should be posted soon.  I wrote with you all in mind too!  Thanks Wrought Ink!

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For weeks you’ve been thinking about it.   For a period of time, you’ve worked to set the table, make preparations and now the time has hit.

You’re in the homestretch, prepping your turkey for its defining moment: The Thanksgiving Dinner.  The turkey is about to hit the oven for it’s destined 4+ hours and before you send it on it’s way, you snap a couple of pics to document your success. 

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Now, some choose to wait till after the turkey has been baked to take a moment for photography. Either way, here are some helpful hints on how to capture your turkey in all its glory as well as the rest of the day’s photos.

Ways to Achieve The Ultimate Turkey & Thanksgiving Selfie

Make sure you have enough light.

Many times, photos taken in the kitchen (or inside) are under tungsten lighting, which emits a yellow light.  Sometimes, this yellow light gets to be too overpowering.  So, look around, if there is a window nearby, adjust the blinds to allow the daylight to come in. 

Daylight emits a blue hue, which helps to balance the yellow.  Watch out for hotspots though, where there might be too much light on the subject and create a white spot on the surface.

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Another idea is to turn on your flash, which can remove some of the yellow as well as reduce the noise, or grainy-pixels found in photos that don’t have enough light.  You may also need to use your red-eye setting, depending on your environment.

Position your bird.

Swivel your bird around to where it looks the best and put some fruit or décor of some sort around it.  It only takes a moment and gives a more aesthetic presentation. 

You could also place the turkey on the table before anyone sits down to capture those last quiet moments before the mayhem of the feasting begins.

                                           www.atipt.com

Look for obscurity.

Interesting enough, tons of action happens just out of the corner of our eyes.  Sometimes it is the three-year old dancing away, sometimes it is the cat laying in the windowsill about to fall off, or maybe it is the cranberry sauce with rosemary that looks so good.  Whatever the case, capture these! 

     © Candice Irion

In technical terms, these photos would be called “B-Roll” shots.  It’s these photos that tell different parts of your story and help your premise come alive.  Look for these.  Get up close and personal.  Shoot tight shots.  Snap photos of your Granddad laughing or your Mother’s hands.  These documentations relay a far greater story and emotion than you’d ever expect.

Course, your turkey may steal the show with its fantastic golden butter façade.  Capture that too!

    myrecipes.com

Make a funny face.

Let’s be honest.  After baking, sometimes the turkey may not come out just how you wanted it. 

Never fear! Laughter is near! 

Take a step back and try to remember, it’s ok.  The moment can turn around, if you just add some laughter, which is one of the most important ingredients of the day. 

Even though you might have feelings of inadequacy, frustration or stress, try to see that these are still timeless moments to be had.  Know that the perfection isn’t in the turkey but in the being together with those gathered around. This recalibration is essential and a day changer.

So take a breath, look at the smoke seeping from what could have been the biggest masterpiece of all Thanksgiving in all of history and just laugh.  Wipe away the tears, make a funny face and snap the photo.  The moment of glory is still yours; for you will have overcome and will continue to press on.  And don’t forget… everyone who has ever attempted making a turkey has been there too! 

Plus, regardless if the turkey is moist, chewy or charred, the photos of when you were cracking the jokes or jousting with the celery will conjure up warm memories for years to come.  And that’s what lasts.

Just Think Tur-key.

It is one thing to take photos with smiling, happy people who are truly happy on the inside and out.  It is another to take photos of grumpy people who plaster a fake smile just for the camera.  When another takes a photo of you, which side of the smile are you on?

In the face of whatever is happening, it is so important to keep a temperate disposition and to focus on what the day truly means versus what is actually going on.  Thus, probably the most important ingredient you can add to Thanksgiving photo, or any Holiday, really, is love.  Granted, it is probably the hardest one too. 

Let’s face it.  Loving others is hard work on any given day, especially on any given Holiday when the heightened festive time can rapidly turn fragile just as easily as the football game you’ll probably end up watching can go south.   In an instant, you can find yourself, phone in hand dialing 911 thinking: “Get me out of here, now!!”

That’s where “Just Think Tur-key” comes in.

As the going gets tough, remind yourself that you can be the key to turn things around.  Get it? Tur(n)-key or said with a silent “n”,  Tur-key!  Course, a turkey usually is in reference to a coward, but in my proposal, it is a one of a steadfast difference maker. 

Now, you may not be able to fix whatever is going on, but a hug, a decision to hold your tongue, making positive impacting choices instead of negative ones, can be hugely pivotal to your day.  Arguments, fights, spouts, demands can all be made later. The dog yack or baby spit up can be cleaned.  The clothes can be changed. The visitors will, at some point, leave. 

And while emotions can be sequestered, the precious time cannot.  Time will continue to run and the 24 hours of celebration will quickly pass if you aren’t careful.  Everyone around you has made a personal and financial investment of some sort to be there; even if it was just a gallon of gas… it was still something.  Their presence is the direct result of a personal decision to be in attendance with the rest of those gathered around, specifically you.  So, remember to honor people’s investment with wise, respectful choices: ones that elevate, uplift and encourage. 

“Dear Friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another,” 1 John 4:11.

So, as you snap your treasured photos and are in others snapshots, remember to be the tur-key this Thanksgiving season and may it benefit the many around.  After all, love is what truly matters and it will be remembered far above the taste of the food or the logistics of the day. 

                                               www.nyip.edu

You can make the difference… just think tur-key!

Copy content and respective photography © Candice Irion. All Rights Reserved.

It is God Who Brings The Rain: Frustrated in your circumstances? Why hasn't the dream happened? Yes, me too.

"But time and chance happened to them all," (Ecc. 9:11)

This morning, I watched a nice fall rain pour into my backyard.  It was soothing and pleasing.  Our dry grounds need it.

I caught a few rain drops in this image...

                                     

I looked back to my reading in Ecclesiastes 9, and stumbled upon today's Scripture verse.

"The race is not to the swift

or the battle to the strong,

nor does food come to the wise

or wealth to the brilliant

or favor to the learned; 

but time and chance happen to them all."

Ecclesiastes 9:11

I find this passage of Scripture affirming because for all my efforts successful or not, it reminds me that there is a greater One who is in charge of it everything.  It reminds me that the dreams of my heart that have come to fruition as well as the ones that have not, all of them lay in the hands of God. And if He sees fit, they will occur.

"The mere possession of speed, strength, wisdom, cleverness, and skill does not in itself guarantee success.  We cannot bulldoze our way through life, " (J. Stafford Wright*).  Wright goes on to say that there are proper times for each action and we must continue "to use our gifts in the light of what we think the future will bring."

As I watched the rains hit the ground, a thought occurred to me.

It is God who brings the rain, not I.  

There is no way that Candice can make or force the clouds to rain, but it is only God, His power, plan and will.  There is much comfort in that because I find myself continually frustrated by the "make it happen" push our world speaks.  There are so many major things I'd like to achieve, but absolutely can't on my own.  While I might be a catalyst, far be it from me to poof! bam! voilà! it's done!  Granted there are plenty of things that poof, bam and voilà can pertain to... but when it involves others, their thoughts, decisions, and a team full of efforts, the notion of "make it happen" can and is very much out of my hands.

It has been a huge struggle to leave my dreams in the hands of God.  I am really good at saying, "Ok, thanks for the surge of energy, I'm going to take it back and go try to get er' done." Swipe! There I go taking the dream again out of God's hands.  Then there was the season I just left it there.  It was peaceful until I got frustrated with that too.  So on again and off again it has been.  In His hands, out of His hands, back in His hands, back out.  Ugh.  Know the feeling?

I think we'd all admit waiting is INCREDIBLY HARD.  Whenever I have to wait on something or someone, I get really fidgety.  I can't just stand around waiting, I feel like I have to do something! So what do I do?

I find myself doing stupid stuff.  Or I find myself depressed and saddened about the situation.  Or I find myself being idle and in denial.  Or I go try to make something happen on my own.  But it's when I find myself doing the two things that will actually get me somewhere is when I find progress.

It's when I worship and prepare that I find peace.  It's when I look to God and say, "here you go" that I can trust Him to take it and do something with it.  I know that if it is meant to be He'll make it happen.  I lay down my desires and trust in His.  Then, I prepare.  I seek where He wants me and work where I feel called.  Typically, it's to go back to my drawing board and tighten the loose holes.

It's kind of like Noah preparing for the flood.  It took the man 140 years to build the ark for an event that had never happened before.  These people had never seen rain.  So, picture this older gentlemen building and building for an event that no one has ever heard of.  Can you imagine the ridicule?  The disbelief?  What about his own doubts, fears, struggles?  These aren't mentioned in the Bible, but since he was technically human, it seems like he'd face some of these.

But what do we find?  We find this aged man striving in his belief in God, worshiping by preparing; continually chipping away at the ark, building it one wood log at a time.

                                          www.rabbimoffic.com


So, if you struggle with a dream and are at the end (or way beyond the end) of your rope, just lay your dream down upon God's altar and see what happens.  Some dreams may end there.  Some dreams may begin there.  Either which way, there is an acceptance of what God wants over what you want.  This exchange is key, for it is the difference in striving against a dead end, versus peacefully and joyfully progressing through life.  Continue to worship and prepare one wood log at a time and see where He leads you.

For it is only God who brings the rain.  It maybe different how you imagine, but if it is meant to happen, it will happen.  Rest in this acceptance and find the peace to persevere. 

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Content and First Photo © 2013 Candice Irion. All Rights Reserved.
* (Wright, J. Stafford. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Vol. 5.  Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991.)

Old Habits Die Hard

Where is the butter knife? I wondered.  Like all of us, I am a creature of habit. I have my morning routine where certain items make me happy and get me going, namingly my flavored coffee, quirky pottery and my wooden butter knife.  

"Ah" I remembered.  It's in the dishwasher with the other dirty dishes.  So, when I reached for the dinner knife, I reasoned: "this isn't so bad. I'll try it."

Then my eyes looked up.  I realized that many times new experiences come when the old is finally relinquished.  

I think that is the season I'm in.  It's one where not only am I having to let go of a lot of things, but also, my old habits are crashing and burning like never before.  Moreover, I'm gaining an understanding of how repetitive we, by nature, are and how sometimes, it is by forceful determination that an old habit must be thrown out the door.

The Lord has demonstrated this for me through pottery making.  As it turns out, also in this season, I've rekinded my love of making ceramic bowls and what nots.  It really happened by a spoof, actually.  

I was sitting in an orientation and the speaker mentioned an independent bookstrore that participates in a fundraiser by making and selling ceremic bowls then using the proceeds to benefit the local food pantry.  I was intrigued.  I have always loved pottery and took two semesters in ceramics in college.  But that was many moons ago, a.k.a. fourteen years ago.  

So, one day, I found myself downtown and decided to stop by to offer my meek, but "hey, it's something" services.  To my surprise, she took me on.

After such a long period of time of completely nothing, I couldn't believe it when I sat at the wheel and my hands instantly went to the place where I was taught.  I didn't think "now where do I put my hands?"  It wasn't anything like that.  In fact, I wasn't even watching my hands because I was talking!  I had just rested my hands on the bowl as it spun on the wheel.  When the conversation ended, I got set and then did a double take.  My hands were in the right position!  This realization started me on a course of examining muscle memory.  Then, my course extended to examining muscle memory in regards to how we think.  

The first series of my bowls.

Our thinking develops right from the womb.  There are countless studies proving that so much is determined at such young ages.  Then in our adulthood, when we face difficulties, we have to do this huge mind trek back to our earlier days gruesomely hunting down a particular line of thinking that has now postured itself into our lives and is wrecking much!  Ugh. What a laborious journey it can be.  But, ultimately, it's a worthy one for it's like spring cleaning... it's time to get rid of the old and clean things up a bit.  The new has come.

In addition, when it comes to our muscle memory and thinking the same (usually poor) things over and over again, we must take a radical stance and say: 

"NO MORE." 

We must recognize the thinking for what it is, then respond and refuse to accept it, then replace it with the truth.  

Unfortunately, musle memory regenerates itself.  Sometimes, its life cycle will eventually pitter out, other times, it comes back in full force.  The battle can be short lived, or it can be an ongoing struggle, of which, many of us find ourselves.  The important part is to avoid getting yourself tangled up into it.  This is also hard because sneak attacks can happen quite often, just like "a lion on a cheetah," as an old friend used to say.  But, thankfully, as we grow and chip away at the journey, it can become more and more manageable.  

However, (and thankful so!), there is One above who has given us access to renew our mind by the transforming power of His word.  In addition, our Lord took action.  His Son journeyed to earth, and battled mind games with the evil one probably more so than we realize, for He has power to see into the Spiritual realms far beyond we will ever be able to.

But in His journey, He gave us the ability to having "living water" (John 4:10) pour into our empty cisterns and renew our broken vessels.  By His Spirit, we are able to be comforted and assured of His love for us, though we are such a misfit of people.  

My bowl evolution for the past two 

months.  One of the first ones is on the left, to one of the more recent ones on the right.  I also "graduated" myself from ceramics low fire clay to 112 hire fire clay(: 

So, if today, your old habits are in the way, it might be time to allow them to crash and burn.  It might be time to recognize the muscle memory that is causing you havoc and respond to it by refusing to believe the trash and replacing it with truth. Then look ahead for the new to come and all the refreshment it entails.  

My most proud bowl endeavor.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind," (Romans 12:2, NIV).

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life," (John 4:13-14, NIV).

"Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal," (2 Corinthians 4: 16-18 NIV).