I’m currently borrowing some photography equipment from a newfound friend I made at church. It’s ultimately for an event next week, but now is as good a time as any to get some practice in using the gear. They’re some wireless flash strobes, and I had the pleasure of pairing them with my camera and took the afternoon to work out the setup and usage of these things.

I’ve always been a “natural light” sort of photographer, but it’s only because it’s way easier to adapt my approach to the environment than to gather the right tools to manufacture the perfect setting. So I’m a little out of my element here; there’s nonetheless a great satisfaction to stretching my comfort zone in this way. And don’t we all benefit from being stretched once in a while? Speaking as someone who relies perhaps a little too much on familiar comforts, experimenting with new techniques exercises my mind in a particular way that produces a unique kind of joy. It’s unsurprising, then, that I would take on this extra dimension of creative expression. And as with anything new that we try, perhaps it will lead to something even more neat.