ISO 200 | 50mm | f 8.0 | 1/250 sec

Have you ever stopped and considered the enormity of the things you don’t yet know or understand?  Consider the number of pages it would take to contain all the single-spaced 12-point lines listing everything you have yet to discover, learn, experience, see, do, find, and acquire.  We’re not talking a three-ringed binder here, we’re talking the Encyclopedia Britannica 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions stacked end-to-end with a few works from Charles Dickens thrown somewhere in the middle.

Yes, the list is almost endless when you contemplate all the possibilities, that’s what makes it exciting (and a little intimidating).  Imagine dedicating the rest of your life to sitting and reading about all there is to know about everything.  While some would question the fruitfulness of such an endeavor, I would question your ability to actually accomplish such a task.  Such a process, even if executed with the utmost expediency, would take ten life-times to complete, if not more.  We definitely underestimate the vastness of the knowledge that is available to the common man today, and we don’t often appreciate the incredible resources that lie at our fingertips, hidden amongst the yellowing pages of books gathering dust on our shelves.

Although it’s easy to examine our personal knowledge-base and come away feeling adequately informed and well-educated, those thoughts should be disposed of and replaced with the mindset of an eager student who is just discovering what life is all about.  When we get over being full of ourselves and what we think we already know, that’s when we’re ready to start learning again, and that’s when the process of discovery can really begin.  It’s a daunting task, and it’s an uphill battle requiring dedication and a zeal to learn; but I can guarantee that you won’t regret such a decision. 

Take advantage of the resources in front of you right now and start taking those steps towards increasing your understanding of how things work and what life is all about.  Approach your task with eagerness and excitement, for though the task is enormous, the rewards are even bigger…

I cheated a little on the shadow.  I wasn’t looking forward to creating and modifying another pseudo-shadow in Photoshop, so I decided to attempt to do it in-camera.  I couldn’t find a better subject to fill the spot, so I used this Lego dude as a stand-in model for me (since I couldn’t physically pose for this shot even if I wanted to).  Now I had a decent shadow to work with, which would make the compositing look a lot more realistic and save me a lot of headaches in post.