We Don’t Have To Settle For What We’ve Always Settled For

You can always tell if it’s one of his photos.

My friend Peter Pereira is a photographer. Actually, he is a highly regarded and respected award-winning photojournalist who can tell an entire story within the frame of a single image. Peter’s work appears locally as well as globally in some of the world’s most recognizable media. I’m getting quite good at looking at a photograph and knowing that he was the photographer without needing to read the photo credit.

One of Peter’s greatest gifts is his gift of perspective. While many photographers will shoot at what is right in front of them, Peter will find his own unique vantage point. He positions himself outside of what would be considered the conventional. Above looking down. Below looking up. To the left side. To the right side. He will use components and lines within an image to frame his subject and direct the viewer’s eyes deeper into the photo. By positioning himself in unconventional positions, his work demonstrates the true power of perspective, of being open to seeing things from a different view point.

Perspectives are of great significance. Perspectives are how we choose to see the world, each other, and our own self.

How we choose to see our own self significantly influences everything about our life. Our experiences, our relationships, our expectations, our opportunities.

Everything.

Our sense of self is rarely intentional. It usually just happens as we evolve and grow through life. It will be shaped by our environment and those within it, reinforced and strengthened as experiences and relationships continuously repeat themselves. It’s not something we notice, so it’s not something we tend to question.

But there is great power in questioning who it is you tell yourself you think you are.

We have the ability to see ourself from a different vantage point. To reframe our self image. If we choose to do so. Maybe the story we tell ourselves about ourselves isn’t true. Maybe we really are good enough, smart enough, worthy enough, unlimited, beautiful, perfect, lovable, complete. Maybe we don’t have to settle for what we’ve always settled for, for life’s breadcrumbs tainted with doubt and fear in a world of abundance and opportunity.

What if we just decided to see ourselves a bit differently, from a different perspective?

Peter’s photography shows that perspectives are never fixed. As a photographer has the physical mobility to change his vantage point, we, too, have the emotional mobility to reposition our thinking and to see ourselves as the beautiful, talented, intelligent, worthy, unlimited beings we were all created to be.

Shifting perspectives exposes us to new possibilities to create something extraordinarily beautiful and special.

In photography.

And in life.

photo credit: Peter Pereira

View Peter’s extensive collection at http://www.peterpereira.com