When to Sacrifice Your Ideas

I recently started working on an exciting new project.  It is set to be one of the most enjoyable sites that I'm going to do.  This is partly due to the fact that the client seems to trust me.  Your site always looks better when you trust the designer ... assuming the designer knows what he's talking about.  Anyway, I was given total creative freedom on this project, and I let the ideas flow.  As is often the case, I had a concept for the project before I even sat down with the company leadership.  I knew the layout; I knew the colors; I knew the feel, everything.  Then a strange thing happened.

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Through the Lens of Contemplation

I once read a book whose author proposed that every college graduate should be required to take a photography class.  The thrust of the idea was that photography forces you to see things differently.  It forces you to pay attention to light and the angles that we see everyday but never notice.  I can't for the life of me remember the author's name or even the book, but that concept has stuck with me.  What I want to add though is that photography may not make you see things differently, but it will make you look at them longer.  We live in a terribly un-contemplative world.  Our world never slows down and never notices what's going on around it ... let alone thinks about it.

My four year old son and I recently took our usual trip to the Flint RiverQuarium.  However, we did something unusual this time.  We took our cameras.  My wife is a terrific photographer, but I usually don't take pictures.  Honestly, the plan was for my son to take pictures, but he was having so much fun I honestly couldn't control myself and had to bring out the iPhone to join in.  We had the best time we've ever had there.  If you're interested, here are some of the pictures below.

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