Appreciating What's Around You (The Small Things Matter)

Take a second to think about Earth.

It's a pretty freaking big place filled with lots of differences.

• We've got different types of animals that live in different places.
• The plant life is different in different places.
• There are people but the people are different in different places.
• There are things we haven't even discovered in these different places.

Basically the world is a beautiful and unique place.

We all of course have our opinions and think certain places are better then others.

But the thing we have to remember is with all these differences we are still all linked together.

We all have to take part in caring and loving what is around us.

So the person that comes after you can have the same feeling you felt.

What Inspired This Photo

My main inspiration for this photo is the love of nature and animals.

Now I am not talking about loving hiking, surfing, skiing or the love for being outdoors.

I'm talking about nature as a whole, the air we breath, the flowers and plants that grow and the animals we see.

Its so easy to get lost in our every day lives and not to appreciate the small things.

• Like the smell of pine trees or the birds singing in the trees
• Or the wind whistling through the Aspen trees
• Or the sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean.
• Or the beautiful shell on the ground that didn't break.

Sometimes it helps to stop and realize these small things around us and what brings us happiness, peace and joy in our lives.

Lets just imagine for a second, you're on the top of the mountain with no people the breeze blowing, the peace and quite, with the birds singing in the background and the beautiful vibrant flowers all around.

Or imagine you're on the beach you smell the salty sea water, hear the waves crashing on the beach and you feel the sand between your toes.

Do you have an image in your head? Do you feel anything?

Now imagine it was all gone you couldn't hear the birds, the flowers were all picked or dead, you couldn't walk the beaches barefoot and feel the sand.

• How would you feel if you could never hear, see or feel those things again?

I'm not sure how you would feel but it makes me devastated, upset, sad and angry at the same time.

Its frustrating that some people care so much and some people don't even care.

But this is when I've realized you can't force someone to change their thoughts or actions but I can control my thoughts and my actions. I can also speak up and hold people accountable.

Leading by example.

It does all start with you, you have to take responsibly and decide to lead by example and hold your own actions accountable.

And appreciating the small things around you can help you do this.

When we appreciate the small things we realize all that we really do have and it just makes us feel more happiness and joy. This leads us to the message behind the photo.

What Is The Message Behind The Photo

The message behind this photo is we have to appreciate and preserve the world around us.

You know that saying "leave a place looking better then you found it"

Well this is the message I wanted to get across in this photo.

The blending of two beautiful places.

Showing the buildings in the mountains and the footprints in the sand shows that we are not alone and we can go pretty much anywhere but to leave it how we found it, to preserve whats around us so the next person can appreciate it and feel that same emotions we had and feelings we felt.

We as people are the smartest creatures out there we can be our best friend or our worst enemy.

The world can boggle us down and when your energy is down or mentally in a negative head space it translates to everyday life.

Lets say hypothetically you're eating outside and a gust of wind comes and starts to blow your plastic bag and napkins. Typically you'd run after them and pick it up because you hate to litter, but you're to tired and no one is around to see this happen to hold you accountable so you deiced its okay, it was just this one time.

Well think about if every single person in the world had the same thought process, its okay its only this one time. That's a lot of freaking trash.

So we have to take accountability for ourselves.

Yes we can point the figure at the other person, and yes we should hold people accountable for their actions.

But you do have to look at your own actions. You have to decide you want to take accountability for yourself.

People follow people who actually do what they say.

Lead by example.

Why Did You Choose To Photograph Your Subject?

The main subject is nature with showing glimpses of human existence.

The Mountain Picture

Mountains and Flowers

The mountain picture shows the beauty of nature. There is still snow melting off the mountains but yet it was so green with beautiful flowers growing all around.

Buildings In The Background

The building in the background represent us as people that we can live and be pretty much anywhere in the world.

But even though we can be there these people don't go out and pick the flowers or trample all over the land, they walk on trails. They appreciate and love where they live so they take care of it.

Of course their are people that will go off the trails or pick the flowers or leave trash. But you know what we can decided to hold them accountable if we see them doing this say something or pick up the trash if we come across it.

The Ocean Picture

The 3 Birds and The Ocean

These birds and ocean represent nature. The birds are just relaxing at the oceans edge enjoying the day and the waves rolling in. This is what it looked like to me while I was strolling along the beach.

The Footsteps In The Sand

Then I saw the footprints in the sand. Everything was so peaceful and quite, the birds weren't distributed by the few people walking by. It showed that people walked the beach but appreciated whats around them leaving it how it was.

My overall goal for these photos is to give you a feeling of appreciation. Maybe you'll feel some relief, joy, happiness or peacefulness.

Looking at these places looks like no one lives there and not many people visit there. But in fact these are both tourist destinations and receive quite a bit of visitors in the summers and winters.

While on the hike we came across other people walking with their dogs taking photos, and enjoying the day, everyone saying hi to one another as they passed.

While at the beach it is more of a mellow day, it's off season but yet their are still people spaced out on the shores edge. It's not a hot summers day so some people are bundled up and some are daring enough to be in the cold water.

All these people seemed very happy and relaxed. It seemed like their wasn't a care in the world. They were loving the moment they were in and the company they were with.

The Process Behind Creating The Photo

Both photos were taken in a crouching position and my phone was at a horizontal angle.

I wanted to capture that moment in time that I was in and how I felt hoping people feel the same way when they see it or feel some sort off positive emotion from it.

The Mountain Process

This photo happened because I was hiking with my family and we were all just so in awe of the peacefulness and beauty of the flowers and how everything was so green.

I wanted to capture the mountain in the background and not just the flowers, to show how how high up we were in the mountains, but yet we could see some houses in the background.

The Beach Process

I took this photo while I was walking along the beach. The footprints in the sand and the birds just hanging out seemed so peaceful. I felt so much appreciation and happiness for where I was in that moment.

This is the photo I wanted to use first but it just didn't sum up the message I wanted to bring across. So I thought of the photos I took a few months back in the mountains and thought it would look very unique and interesting for people to look at if I layered and blended them together.

Editing Process

Before I even started editing the photos I knew that I wanted to sharpen the images and brighten the colors and change the hue of the color to a more bluish color.

The original photos were taken on a Samsung Galaxy 9 .

I didn't use any fancy exposure program it was normal .

The white balance was set to auto .

And I didn't use a flash.

To edit I uploaded the the image into the Lumii photo app.

I honestly don't remember all the edits I added or exactly what level I set everything to.

I just started clicking on all the Adjust options inside the app first. I was just looking for what looked good and would make someone stop and look at the image.

From what I remember and the options I know I clicked on in the Adjust options is the contrast, sharpen, temperature, vibrance and saturation.

Then I went to the Filter options. I don't remember the filter I used for the mountain photo but I do know the filter I used for the beach photo is Fresh 04.

Ultimately I just had fun with the process changing the image to make it stand out. The original images are pretty, but I believe the edited images are so much more vibrant and will make someone stop to look at it and appreciate it.

What do you think?

What do you feel when you look at these images?

End Result

After all that editing the end result.

I layered the two photos and faded the ocean picture into the mountains using an app called Canva.

I got the inspiration to layer the two photos because I didn't feel the images by it self would bring the message across that I wanted to bring.

So I thought why not blend two places that are completely different. You still can see their are people around because of the buildings in the background and the footprints in the sand.

But everything still looks untouched and looks like the people who visited these places and live there love where they are at and are appreciating the place around them preserving the place and leave it how they found it, or even better.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope this post and image inspired you, motivated you, made you appreciate the small things around you and just love life!

See You In The Next Post,

Your Friend ,

Christina Spohr

IG @thechristinaspohr 

YouTube Channel

P.S. If you found this post insightful, motivational or helpful I would always appreciate a tip so I can keep creating more awesome content you can learn from and love to read. :)