candle crafting

Every day I listen to a Buddhist lecture, the one this morning was about disappointment. How we are often disappointed with outcomes because our expectations are far too lofty. Perfection is part of our daily lives - spending time grooming ourselves to look as close to perfect as possible, meeting goals set at work, staying at the office later to finish every task for the week, photoshop our appearance to resemble our ideal in images, retake photos and edit them until no disagreeable notion is found. This is all smoke and mirrors. And the result is stress, anxiety, and falsity. This gathering of friends may look idyllic but I am going to take a moment to point out all the trip-ups that happened - to encourage a platform of truth.  

There were an odd number of people gathered around the table. The lawn was incredibly uneven causing the table to tip. Almost everyone got lost trying to find the house. The kitchen where the candle-making took place couldn't comfortably fit everyone. The wild mushroom risotto burned. We didn't decided on the menu until 5 minutes before serving supper. All that to say, the conversation out lasted the candles - which means it exceeded all expectations in my opinion. Retreating from the need to curate the perfect atmosphere gave way to a real and authentic one. 

I teamed up with VSCO to showcase their new Chromatic Collection, all these photos were edited using a filter from the new releases. My favorites are C4 & C6 - they are perfect for gatherings and portraits. 

Hosts: Sarah and Matt Ervin, Virginia Petitte, and myself || Location: North Chattanooga, TN || Date: End of November 2014 Video: Ken Munoz