The journey started on October 28, 2009 with a yellow plastic bunny at Pinkberry, a frozen yogurt shop. The bunny was in a top-hat and when you pull its ears it reveal its purpose as a toothpick holder. It was priced at $35.
“Who would pay $35 for that plastic trinket?” was my first thought. “Why was it yellow?” was my second.
This curiosity launched The Story of Yellow in 2009. It was a simple creative exploration. Whenever I saw the color yellow, I would stop what I was doing and take a picture of it.
At first, I attempted to take photos with my professional camera I was using for my wedding photography business but that had to be quickly replaced with the 2-megapixel camera on the iPhone (1st gen.). Because when you start looking for “Yellow”, it’s everywhere! And lugging around a big camera was not ideal.
Apple’s iPhone saved my project and the 2-megapixel camera pivoted the focus of the project from photographing beautiful, high-resolution pictures to embracing the ubiquity of yellow in my life captured in low-resolution.
Within a couple of days, I created parameters around the project for the sake of my sanity and my marriage. For example, when I am driving, road signs don’t count. Pulling the car over and over again to take a picture is not pleasant for a family with a two-year old.
This effect of noticing yellow is called the “Frequency illusion”, also known as the “Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon”. Have you noticed when you are thinking of buying something, you start seeing that item everywhere? Look for the yellow in your life, and I bet you will notice it in your ordinary, everyday life. And when you do, you are going to think of me.
However this exercise is not what changed my life. So what did?
Replace Yellow with God. This changed my life.
I am a person of faith, who believes in a living God who wants to be in our lives. And when I decided to look for God in the ordinary, everyday, like I did Yellow, I found Him.
In the ten years since I took my first picture, I experienced life changing moments and transformative seasons. And most of it is captured in my collection of personal journals. These journals contain the stories but more importantly the testimony of God’s goodness, faithfulness and love. There were great mountain-top moments, however, most were of the journeys navigating through the dark valleys of life.
My intention is to share with you the stories, testimonies, insights, and learnings from these years and you are invited.
You ready? Let’s go!
Closing Note: I did pay $35 for that yellow plastic bunny. How could I not.
