Outtakes and Final Cuts

I love this image, it reminds me that in ONE image, there can be both good and not so good photography. There is beauty, and there is room for improvement. But from this one image, I learn. 

I believe LIFE is full of outtakes and final cuts.

For example. 

My memories of past relationships have changed over time.

I think about the other boy I ever loved and I remember things like the fireworks show he had put on for me, and the special little names we had for each other. {final cut} That was almost fifteen years ago. Had someone asked me right after we broke up, I would have pointed out all the frustrations {outtakes} I had with the relationship, certainly not the sweet memories. 

 When I think back to my childhood, I think about the snapshots in my head of both my parents in the same room (which are few) and family vacations together. {Final Cuts} But I also think of the day they told us they would no longer be married, and memories come to play of those painful times I felt I had to choose, like my graduation day. {outtakes}

Outtakes AND Final Cuts in the album of snapshots in my life. And although I would never erase the outtakes permanently from my memory, the final cuts are much more fun to remember.

Just like editing out the "bad" photos when I load them into my computer, I edit the rough times out of memory to create a better Final Cut of my life. Before I erase those images from my camera, I always try to learn from them and recognize what I can do better the next time I pick up my camera.

The last 8 weeks of my life.......full of outtakes.

Some I hope to forget,

  more I'm willing to learn from

and a few

that will 

in time

become final cuts.