Monday morning devotional for photographers

Nikon D4, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, Sigma TC-2001 2x, ISO 12800, ƒ/5.6, 1/1250

There is a lot of reasons in sports they tell you to keep your eye on the ball. All of them have something in common. There are many distractions in the game.

There have been studies on golfers that showed those who kept their eye on the ball sank more putts than those who didn't.

They discovered that when you look at the ball, then the target, then back to the ball, the brain is desperately trying to process all that information and it can yield unwanted results. By glancing at the target first, then focusing on the ball, you narrow the mental chatter and can get a more accurate shot.

The technique where before you perform an action, you focus your gaze on the salient aspects of your goal—the rim, the catcher’s mitt, the malignant tissue, and so on is called "Quiet Eye."

The quiet-eye technique stimulates the dorsal area of the brain, which regulates focused, goal-directed attention. It may also suppress activity the ventral region, which oversees stimulus-driven attention—the kind that keeps track of a scattered, fluid set of variables.

Not So Easy

Researchers found out that the difference in focus time between a beginner and an expert is as small as a fifth of a second.

Nikon D4, Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art Lens, ISO 2500, ƒ/6.3, 1/5000

The moral to the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" is that children must obey their parents and that they must never talk to strangers. Even a very friendly stranger is capable of having bad intentions.

Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 DG OS HSM | S, Sigma TC-2001 2x, ISO 10000, ƒ/5.6, 1/400

Red Riding Hood was distracted by the Wolf and we know what happens to her grandmother because of her not listening to her mother and not talking to strangers.

What is my ball?

I continually am asking myself what is the ball that I should be concentrating on today. What is the target that I should be focusing my attention?

I go to scripture to help me discover the ball for today.

Timothy, you belong to God, so keep away from all these evil things. Try your best to please God and to be like him. Be faithful, loving, dependable, and gentle. Fight a good fight for the faith and claim eternal life. God offered it to you when you clearly told about your faith, while so many people listened. – 1 Timothy 6:11-12

We need to do the right thing. We need to be faithful, loving, dependable and gentle. All of those words are verbs. We are to be active.

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” ― Martin Luther

Martin Luther was incredibly, overwhelmingly busy. His calendar was always full. And yet, in spite of his incredible workload, he found it absolutely necessary to pray. He had to meet with God before he met with the cares of the day. He would not dive into his day without first being refreshed by the Lord. He knew that he couldn’t serve the Lord well without first asking God for help.

I do not know what your ball is for today. I do know that through prayer you will be more likely to find it. Taking the time to stop and spend time being still will let your mind calm itself. You will be able to concentrate and have that "Quiet Eye" moment where you are able to get rid of all those distractions which are keeping you from seeing the ball.