I had the opportunity to visit India yet again this year. For someone who loves photography, this is one of the best and worst places to take pictures. There is so much here that needs to be photographed and shared. There’s so many colors, so many details, so much history, so much beauty…

You can see happiness and amazing creativity everywhere. Wedding photography would be so difficult here, because you would want to take pictures of everything!…But then I say the worst place because as you drive along the roads, you see people on the street that look like they have no where to call home. You see others doing hard labor and getting inadequate pay. You see broken down homes, you see dirty roads. You sit with people and talk with them, and they tell stories of their hardship that break your heart, but they still have a smile on their faces. Yea, it’s the worst because you can’t help but feel attached. You can’t help but get emotional. You can’t help but want to do something for them. You can’t help but feel a portion of their pain.

I kind of wish I was never exposed to this, because then I would’ve been able to live my life happy without realizing what is going on in the world. These stories of hardship are shared by many across the world and even in the most affluent nations. There will be those in the US which will be suffering in the same way. It’s hard to be impersonal from the situation in which you are taking pictures of. You often find yourself smiling when the person you are photographing is smiling. You become sad when you see the subject getting emotional. That’s what makes photography different. You capture that emotion at that time so when you look back, you remember what you were feeling. Whether it’s a best man telling a funny story of the grooms past, or whether it be the brides father as he realizes in the middle of his speech that his little girl has grown up. What makes a good photographer in my book…someone who is able to recognize the subjects feelings and capture it. Just don’t get too involved where you forget to take the picture.

“I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’ rather he will ask, ‘How much love did you put into what you did?” – Mother Teresa