Tattered – Imperfect Beauty

Tattered – Imperfect Beauty

Today a friend and I hung out in a garden photographing the butterflies.   The arrival of these elegant monarchs was like a royal assembly as they gathered for the ball.  They escorted one another through patches of flowers showcasing each flighted dance and captivating their audience as we sat, watched and waited for the perfect shot.

At times they would flutter in, dropping on the backside of a flower patch out of camera’s view, and then quickly leave.  Yet other times they would float in on a breeze and land for the perfect shot as if posing momentarily to appease the beasts scurrying about them in the garden.  We spent hours sitting, watching and quickly moving to drop in position to capture their beauty.  It was, to some degree, a test of patience but mostly a lesson in skill.

I realized early on just how many choices must be made in the preparation of a photograph before the opportunity arises to get the “perfect shot,” which still eludes me.  With each setting in the camera a different effect can be achieved.  The beauty of this hobby is in the infinite possibilities that can happen.  One person’s viewfinder may be focused on the same subject as another, yet they can compose and see it entirely different.

After a long period of time in the garden, my friend made a statement, saying, “Save your shots, that one is tattered.”   I stood up and snickered at the thought that in our quest for the perfect shot we actually believed that there was a perfect subject.  How infantile were our beliefs up until that moment.  Focusing through the viewfinder at this elegant specimen and seeing his tattered and battered wings, of whose life span is coming to a close, I made a choice to photograph him as much or more than the others.  After all, there really is such a thing as imperfect beauty.  This is why he was chosen as the model for the image of this post.

I myself have been tattered and battered by life’s winds of change that have scarred and rearranged me.  Even though my wings may appear to have been clipped, I can still fly and realize that these imperfections really do not reflect the beauty I am.  If you know of another who appears different from your ideal of beauty, ask yourself this:  “Is my viewfinder clouded over from a haze, a preconception in my own mind’s eye of how the world sees beauty?”  Are you able to find the settings needed to see beauty in their countenance if that is what truly exists?  What the world may value as beautiful is not necessarily what God sees as beautiful, and ultimately from His perspective, the big picture can be found . . . the perfect shot.

In Other’s Words:

“The true perfection of man lies not in what man has, but in what man is.”

~Oscar Wilde~