Tuesday, July 10, 2012

For the love of water . . .




Water, is the very essence of life, in some form, for all living things on the planet. It can be soothing, cleansing and quenching. In fact, you can even lead a horse to it.

Now, hold that thought . . .

Sometimes things just happen, circumstances beyond our control that put us in places, push us out of our comfort zones, that force us to grow, or not. Sometimes whether we like it, or not.

Now, although I love adventures and spontaneous exploration, I am not however one that likes a lot of change. So when our family moved five hours south of our home in the Dallas area, to the gulf coast and a very large body of water 25 miles north of Galveston, well you could say that it was met with a little resistance. Or maybe, a lot!


{Sunrise, Galveston Bay}

The day we moved in we were met with the beginnings of a tropical storm coming through and just a mere five weeks later we were packing to leave in a mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Ike. It wasn't exactly the welcome party one hopes for and it was my worst fear of moving here realized. The next three months would prove to be difficult for me in the department of settling in.


{A tiny fish, caught in my little blue net and photographed through a glass container}

But it will be four years ago this August and things have changed, drastically. Slowly, the water began to soothe and ease my pain of moving. It has a unique ability to cleanse some of those stresses of everyday life and now quenches my thirst for adventure.

Yes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. He has to want it for himself, he has to need it first. You see it was in moving here that I discovered my passion for photography and where I could combine it with my love of nature. It is now that same large body of water that breathes life into my soul and for the love of that water, why I don't ever want to leave. You can find me on my personal blog, Picking Poppies, musing often on the beach, the ocean and on seaweed!

Come share your images of water with us in our Flickr page. Go out and capture your favorite form of water, tell us what you love about it and don't forget to label it "Water". You just might be our next INFOCUS selection of the week. Enjoy your day.





14 comments:

Dotti said...

Lovely, lovely post, Kim! I can relate to this very well ... in reverse. I grew up on/near Long Island and was a beachcomber before I could talk. My earliest memories are of ocean beaches. When we were not near the ocean, we found lakes but I always preferred the ocean. The seaside feeds my soul. Now I'm in landlocked Kentucky. Although we have some lovely lakes, they're not the ocean. We travel to some seaside location at least once each year. It's necessary for my survival, I think. So, I am right there with you on love of coastal things.

And ... I love all the photos today. The intro photo is truly delightful.

xo
Dotti

Honey from the Bee said...

So proud of you and how your photography passion has grown into something bigger than you could've imagined. You were meant for this path as we would've all be the "drier" for it if you'd never moved. ; )

Kmcblackburn said...

Well fancy meeting you HERE Kim :) So glad to see you are spreading your wings both thru your photography AND here in the blogging world. Congrats!!! And I have to tell you, the other day the Better Half said to me "So WHEN are you going to Texas to meet that Kim?" haha.

Kim Stevens said...

Well, you just let me know when - but give me plenty of notice to tidy up. That seems to have taken a back seat to photography and blogging these days! haha

terriporter said...

Living in Arizona most of my life, the only water around is several lakes. But, as Dotti said, they're not the ocean. For 17 summers in a row while our kids were growing up, we spent a couple of weeks every summer on the beach in San Diego. That is where my love of the beach began and I still don't really think it's a vacation unless there's a beach involved. I always love seeing your beach photos even though they make me long to be there. We have a week at the beach planned in August, so I don't have too long to wait! I always enjoy reading your posts -- your words as well as your photos. Thanks for being a part of Focusing on Life.

Deanna said...

I love this post because 1st you learned to love your new surroundings after reluctantly leaving a place you were comfortable with, and 2nd because after moving, it awakened your skills of being the wonderful photographer that you are.

Sherri B. said...

It's great to see you in another blog place, Kim - isn't it so true that often the things we fight against the most turn out to be huge blessings in our lives? And how wonderful that this place you weren't sure about brought you into the photography world. That sunrise photo is spectacular! I will check out the Flickr group - thanks for providing the link!

Leigh said...

What a whirlwind that must have been for you! I always find it so interesting to hear what brings people to photography. Lovely shots!

Carol said...

Boy, I hear you... The place is falling down around me lately!

Carol said...

Boy, I hear you... The place is falling down around me lately!

Carol said...

Always interesting to see how people find themselves.
I love the sunset pic, and your writing, as well as the idea behind the story

Unknown said...

Hi Kim! wow...this is very exciting...I see Deanna here too! Hi Deanna! Love that little fish....it's like a little Nemo...but no color! Congrats on this endeavor!

Linda said...

Wow! Welcome to the gulf coast! Such a rough start, I'm glad you were able to get through it and are enjoying it! I would spend lots of time at the beach if we lived closer! We take a yearly trip to Port Aransas and it's coming up! I can't wait! Maybe I'll get a spectacular sunrise over the water like you did! Love that one!

xo,
Linda

stephmull said...

How did I not realize you lived in Galveston? I lived in Houston from 2001-2008, then moved to STL and now I'm north of Ft. Worth....looks like you and I exchanged homes! Glad to hear you are enjoying it now and the change allowed you to discover your passion!

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