Lake Louise, Alberta. January 2016

This week’s theme is “optimistic“.  What picture shows you an image that will make you optimistic about something?  While a lot of other bloggers and photographers have chosen warm, sunny, bright pictures of summer because we are in the middle of winter right now and they cannot wait for the warm weather and days to arrive again, I really don’t think winter is all that bad.  Winter is the best season to cozy up at home to do things indoors.  What’s wrong with staying indoors or doing things that we take great pleasure in?  Not everything has to be done outdoors when it is sunny.  I always have a problem with people addressing any “bad” weather when it rains or snows.  Some people LOVE the rain or the snow.  Why is it only sun and warm weather that we bask in and celebrate?  Without all the seasons, you wouldn’t appreciate the “better” ones anyway.  For that reason, I purposely chose this wintry scene that I took on January 1 of this year.  There is so much optimism in this photo.  This is nature; a wide landscape and land of opportunity.  There is so much you can do here.  Take photos, take a scroll down to see the rest of frozen Lake Louise, go snowshoeing, skiing, build a snowman, take pictures with the ice castle, and so much more.  I wish weathermen and most people would stop associating rainy or snowy weather as bad.  It’s not.  It’s how you perceive it.

If you really want to stick with the conventional ways of being “optimistic”, then I will appease those readers by saying that this photo has tons of optimism in it too; it will soon thaw when the warmer days come and then you will have a beautiful natural scene of the green mountains, blue and clear lake, and a more “picturesque” photo for those who like that stuff.  But for me, I was so joyful that I got to see Lake Louise during the winter time.  I last visited this place over 12 years ago.  You really have to see both worlds in order to appreciate both.  One is not better than the other.  Both can be beautiful if you choose to see it that way.  I think THAT is true optimism.

What do you think?