Biannual posts were never my intention with this blog but as they say, life happens and things get busy.
I can't seem to think of a word that quite sums up what my life has been like in the past 6 months; busy just doesn't seem to fully do the job. I've done a lot and I've been all over the place (both physically and mentally) but constant movement seems to be the common thread. I crave business though; it's what keeps me motivated toward a goal.
Through all the craziness of the past several months, though, I have tried to find time to myself. Time to keep myself centered on what really matters. All too often I dwell on the future, on the what-if's of life and plan well past my calendar's last day. Though there is an insane amount of planning that goes into photography (I'll send you pics of my calendar if you doubt me), the actual execution of photography is all about the complete opposite of planning. To take a photo, the photographer must be present in the moment, both physically and mentally. (I guess there could be some crazy remote controlled, timer-enabled contraption to contradict my claims but lets just ignore that for now.) Photography has not only become a job for me, but also something so much more: an escape. After all the leading up and planning, the actual shoot is incredibly relaxing to me. There isn't any more planning to do. Most of the time no one talks to me, I guess because I'm there to do a job, so I feel alone often in very crowded places. But that isn't a sad thing to me, it focuses me. It's a paradox: the thing that has kept me so incredibly busy and caused me to schedule everything is also my release. It pulls me into the present, instead of dwelling on the future.
I think being in the present is the only way to fully capture the essence of what is happening. A little over a month ago I took a trip to Europe and then New Mexico. I had one simple goal for both trips: be nowhere near Arkansas. By simply walking onto the airplane I had already fulfilled my only goal for the whole trip. Yes, I wanted to be physically away from Arkansas, but I also wanted to be mentally away as well. I adopted this mindset so that I could actually SEE what I was seeing, not focused on what was happening next or back home. For much of my trip I left my camera in my bag. I wanted to see things with my own eyes, not through a lens. That's how I want to live my life, living in the now and knowing tomorrow will happen however it is supposed to.
Below are some highlights from the past six months. From visiting my best friend in Greece and traveling to see my future home in Italy, followed by New Mexico for work, and then back to capturing a college campus and several other projects in between, life has me all over the place. One day it was below freezing and the trees were brown, then I blinked and everything came to life again. It's crazy how time flies. But then again, so do I.
I get incredible joy from capturing other people's joy and I hope that is evident by the images I share.
Enjoy.
Ciao for now,
