Mistakes are building blocks

While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior. – Henry C Link

I think it is human nature to hesitate because we feel inferior in new situations.  It feels better to remain safe and sound in our comfort zone.  It feels yucky when you make a mistake and really show off the inferiority.  Earlier this spring when I began my quest for learning more about my camera, I just took off and started taking pictures.  I didn't realize that I was making lots of mistakes.  All the pictures looked great to me.  Sarah was patient and showed me different ways of looking at the pictures, how the camera wasn't really focused, so I continued to learn by my mistakes and I continued to have fun in the process.  I was so excited when I discovered there was a contest at Beaver Creek Reserve for amateur photographers.  I thought to myself, "Hey, that's me, I can surely do an amateur picture entry."  I spent an afternoon looking through the pictures and finally deciding which ones to enter.  I entered three.  About a month after the entry, I received the list of "winners".  I carefully scanned the list only to find, I hadn't won anything.  In all honesty, I was disappointed.  But, I still liked my pictures, and I've left them there to go on display.  I'll hang them in the house when I get them back as a reminder that I had to begin somewhere.  The first mistakes were just building blocks in my discovery process.  Just watch out next year...I have some time to prepare.  Now, I need to go see the winning pictures to learn what constitutes a winning picture.

Here are my entries - (Oh yeah...these really shine as "amateur photos")

I still love this little bee picture

I had a hard time coming up with a
name for this picture - I'm sure that's why
I didn't win....(LOL)

I was impressed that I actually caught the
hummingbird sitting on the feeder.