Folks,
This trip has been about photography and improving it - from the Nikon School course, from working with Photoshop guru Sean Duggan and then constantly being out there 6-8 hours a day shooting. Then go through the photos, get some feedback, adjust and then go out and try again.
When I am 'out there', I get asked a lot, 'what do you really do' - I will either respond that, 'I am retired' or 'whatever I want to' - depending on the mood. The next question is just about always the same, 'aren't you bored?' - meaning didn't work define provide routine and structure for your life and now aren't you simply lost, directionless? Uh ...... NO!
I am really taken aback by the concept that a large number of people need 'work' - an agenda provided by something else - to give them a context for their daily lives. We all need money but do we need work to 'fill up our day as well?' I have always had many interests and I now simply pursue those in depth. For a while it was audio, right now it is photography, pretty soon it may be writing but it could easily be the Mastery of Photoshop - we shall see. Does that in turn mean that the folks who ask me these questions don't have any interests outside work, and if they don't, what kind of life is that? I don't ask them these questions - I know better.
I'd like you all to watch a 6 minute video that I have linked right here,
To view it you will need QuickTime on your computer and then just simply press the play button in the middle of the image you will see.
It's supposed to be a clip on how to do things in Photoshop but as you watch it, it morphs into a commentary on the artistic development process and then makes some observations that, I believe, will move you. Nobody on their death bed ever said, 'Gee, I wish I spent more time at the office.'
Also in the month's Esquire Magazine, March 2009, there is a great editorial by David Granger entitled, 'The Best of Times'. I will quote,
'If you have the courage to buck the prevailing mood (and are among the 93% of us who still have a job) - these are actually damn good times.
Gas is under two bucks. There’s never been a better time to buy a new car (half off! 0 percent!) or a new house (depressed prices + 5 percent over thirty years = unprecedented opportunity). Tables are available in the vast majority of excellent restaurants, to eat reduced-price menus. TV has never been better (30 Rock, Fringe, Friday Night Lights, plus everything on the winter season of cable). The new TiVo box offers miraculous access to, essentially, the entire history of filmed entertainment on the best generation of flat-screens ever, which retailers are giving away. Airports are way less crowded, there are empty seats on flights, and those flights land on time more often. [. . .] All in all, it’s easier to live a more enjoyable life right now than at any time in recent memory . . . if we can just convince ourselves to go ahead and do so.'
The good times aren't really gone for good - THEY'RE BACK!! Just another example of life needing to be viewed from a slightly different perspective.
I was at Dead Horse Point yesterday, standing 2000 feet above the Colorado River, about 3 feet from free flight. Yes, the Raven-Crow beasts were talking - I had my vertigo thing under control until winds started gusting enough to push me uncomfortably towards the edge. The best part of the day was accidentally coming upon 3 deer and then staying with them for 2 hours. The sunset was unbelievable - and yes the Raven-Crow beasts made me go into the Moab Brewery again.
Yesterday I think I captured some of the best photos I have ever taken - I don't have the time or the software to view them properly or to 'develop' them properly - I just feel I am getting there - another milestone reached. There is much, much more to learn and learning is the sheer joy of doing it.
Watch the video I linked (QuickTime is easy and free to download) - you will be changed,
To quote from verse 9 of the Krome Koan, 'A day without sunshine is, like, night.'
Phil
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