Finding Beautiful Moments

Finding beautiful moments in landscape photography isn’t simply about taking a picture; it’s about creating a composition that leaves an impression. It takes effort, patience, and persistence—often met with disappointment. In many ways, this mirrors life itself. Most of our days are ordinary, neither remarkable nor terrible. But even on those run-of-the-mill days, we can remind ourselves of what we truly love and why we keep going.

The Pursuit of a Beautiful Sunrise

This morning, I woke up early, hoping to capture beautiful cloud reflections at sunrise on Lake Worth. The previous night, the DFW area had been overcast, with forecasts predicting clearing skies by morning. At 5 a.m., I checked the radar and saw that the low overcast clouds were beginning to clear, leaving behind high cirrus clouds—the kind that catch the first pink hues of sunrise.

Taking a chance, I drove to Lake Worth. By 6 a.m., in the pre-dawn darkness, I could see the overcast clouds moving south. To the north, they had already cleared, and I knew I had about 30 minutes for those clouds to pass over my location if I was to get the composition I envisioned. By 6:30 a.m., I saw the northern sky coming alive with pinks, but my location remained under thick cloud cover.

By 7 a.m., the morning was a bust. I never even took a shot.

Finding Beauty in the Process

On the surface, it might seem like a waste of time. I had woken up early, driven to the location, and left with nothing to show for it. But that’s not how I see it. I love the anticipation of capturing a beautiful moment—it’s a big reason why I love photography.

Life is no different. We wake up, we go to work, and most days feel routine. But those ordinary days make the exceptional ones stand out. If life were filled with highs 24/7, those highs would become our new normal, losing their impact. Life’s valleys exist so that when the peaks arrive, we can truly appreciate them.

Love, Life, and Photography

Marriage is like that. Raising children is like that. Work is like that. Faith in Christ is like that. They all have one thing in common—love. And love takes effort. Just as a photographer must show up time and time again, waiting for the right conditions, love requires persistence and faith.

Not every day yields a breathtaking sunrise, but we keep showing up because we know that eventually, one will. And just as in our faith, we trust that even in the waiting, even in the valleys, God is working.

This morning was a bust, and it happens frequently. But I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything because they make the successful moments even more rewarding. Ironically, I realized something today: most photographers, myself included, tend to write about the peaks in photography—the moments when everything comes together perfectly. We rarely write about the failures, the days that didn’t work out.

But that’s the reality, isn’t it? Capturing a beautiful scene is far more work than it appears. It’s not just the effort of a single day; it’s the accumulation of all the days that didn’t work out. It’s the persistence of showing up, again and again, that eventually leads to a stunning shot.

So it is in photography. So it is in life. So it is in faith.

As Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Faith without effort is like waiting for a sunrise without showing up.

And it’s the persistent effort over time that leads to the beautiful moments in life.

Author: Tim Maxwell

Related: The Promise – A Thanksgiving Message | Building New Roads | Remembering Steinhagen: A Morning of Hope