Pictures are coming soon! Thank you to those of you that have been waiting so patiently. It has been a busy couple of months for us and we’ve been enjoying every minute of it. We are starting to get into our slow time of the year and have been going full steam ahead with trying to play “catch up”. In the last month and a half we’ve shot 5 weddings, an assortment of rock’n senior and family portrait sessions, battled corrupt hard drives, participated in a bridal show and even had some family portraits done of ourselves by an incredible photographer (more on that later). So we wanted to let everyone know – so much more on the way!
In other news, we are in the middle of planning a photography project that will hopefully keep us really busy during this Iowa winter. This will be an attempt to try and get back to the reason of why we do what we do. Photography has been a very rewarding path that we’ve taken. We’ve been able to meet so many wonderful people and been able to visit so many fantastic places. I thought it was time to give something back. I don’t want to reveal what we are doing yet as it has just barely made its way from my head to paper. I can say this – I hope it has impact.
I’ve been reading a lot lately. Seth Godin’s books have been on the top of my “must reads” since I’ve heard others rave about him. I didn’t realize what a great message he has. No matter what book you pick up or what clip you watch off of youtube he seems to have a central theme and message. I’ve caught on and have been really inspired to get back to the reason why I have chosen to photograph people. Here is an excerpt from an interview he had recently:
“There are no ads on my blog whatsoever. I don’t write my blog so I can get something out of it. I write in my blog because I love giving the gift of a perfect paragraph – or a semi-perfect paragraph. And I limit myself, I only do it once a day. So once a day I give it my best shot. Tomorrow’s thing, I only get to do it once. How do I wrap it up and structure it and say, “Here, you might get more of it for free by subscribing to my blog..” OR you know what – as a customer I don’t want to wait in line anymore, here’s money to fly out to Washington, D.C. so you can say it out loud. Here’s money to write it down in book form so I can sell it. And that’s how I make a living. But I don’t say, “how do I write provocative blog posts so someone can show up and give me money?”. That’s not how I work. I’m trying to give people something.”
Obviously his words are put into the context of why he writes, but this can apply to anyone. Why is it you have chosen to do what you do? Is it to make money? I understand everyone has to take a job to put food on the table and pay the bills. I have a wife and four children. I understand that. But what is your passion? What is it that you have a desire to do? Find it. Pour everything you have into it. I believe there is always going to be risk involved but the payoff is immeasurable. I’m reminded of another author who wrote a book I picked up called Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity:
“Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb. You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don’t make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.”
Really powerful stuff here. So I’ve rattled on again for far too long. I’ll leave you with a snippit of what we’ve been staring at for the past few weeks. ::wink::
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