Sunny Skies on the Disney Dream

Blue Sky and Clouds

The sun lights up the water and the blue sky, as seen from our Disney Dream stateroom verandah during our 2018 Christmas Disney Cruise.

Blue skies are just the kind of weather that you want to see when you are on a cruise. After all, that is the kind of weather that you always see in the promotional photos when you are thinking about booking a cruise. So that must be the kind of weather that everyone expects.

Of course, real life does not always match up with our expectations. Even more often, real life does not match up with the expectations that advertisers and marketers present for us to have. Life is not always blue skies and no rain.

In fact, those clouds that are low on the horizon out past the Disney Dream in the above photo were actually rain clouds that we were sailing for. There was not much of a way around them, because we were headed back for the port since our cruise was about to end. We got some rain that night, but it was not the end of the world. The end of the cruise, yes, but not the end of the world.

Just Handle It

What sets people apart is not how many difficulties they face, but how they face difficulties. Whenever hard times come our way, do we just throw up our hands and quit? Do we complain loudly about how bad we have it? Do we throw a fit because nothing ever goes our way? A lot of people do that. These days, a lot of people use social media as their outlet for doing just that. They whine, complain, fuss, and just generally make life unpleasant for everyone around them.

However, there are others who figure out a way to overcome whatever obstacles they may be facing. They do it with a good attitude, and they do it without dragging down those who are around them. These people usually do not even bother to post about their problems on social media. You won’t hear them complaining about how something is not how they wanted it to be. Instead, they just go through their lives taking care of problems and moving on.

Unfortunately, that first group is the one that we hear more about, because they are the ones who are more vocal. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a way to celebrate those in the second group? But I am guessing that they would not want any recognition, because that would go against how they handle things quietly.

But we can choose who we spend our time around. Or who we follow on social media. And we can choose to be the type of people that we want to be. We can choose to handle our difficulties instead of overreacting to them.

By doing that, we can do our part to make the world a little bit happier. And that is always a blessing to those around you.

Bible Verse

Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. - Philippians 2:14-15

About the Photo

For this cruise, I had a slightly easier time getting a photo like this, because in this instance we did have a little more sun than we have had on some of our previous cruises. Nothing wrong with that, even though I have come to love the drama that clouds can bring to a sky sometimes.

Here, there were just enough clouds to keep things interesting. I like the high, wispy clouds in addition to the thicker clouds near the horizon. The blue of the sky was rather intense, too, so I wanted to be sure to capture that well.

The problem with photos like this is that they can start to look the same sometimes. I have lots and lots that have been taken from a stateroom verandah. The challenge is to make them look a little different. If they all look the same, why bother posting any after the first one or two? So for this one, I chose to go with a strong color saturation. I also chose to bring out the yellow of the sunlight reflecting on the water. The colors are bold, and the light is strong. Much like you would expect from a nice, sunny day on a cruise.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Date: December 20, 2018
_Location: _ At Sea on the Disney Dream