Regardless of what I'm doing during any given day, I'm always thinking of ideas, concepts and ways that I might use my photographs to show others just how amazing the natural world truly is. Honestly, I find it strange that there is even a need for the service that I provide –it just seems so obvious to me– but then again, I've always been a little odd. Sometimes I'm exhausted by it all and other times I'm exhilarated. Either way, when my head is in the clouds, my feet aren't on the ground. I'm not mentally tall enough to have it both ways at once, I'm afraid.
It recently occurred to me that during the last few years, I have forgotten some of what it means to be human; to find out what it means to be in the world and live in the skin that I was given. I need to try and remember. By this I don't mean consuming more stuff or anything like that, just what it means to walk on this earth and be a part of the natural world myself without expectation or agenda beyond supplying my basic needs.
Being human isn't a bad thing as some might contend: Our species has every right to be here just as much as the next insect, plant or bird in the air. The problem arises from our amazing and (frighteningly) unique ability to deny where we've come from and the ways that we've replaced our relationship with that source for our own greed, insecurity and misinformation. The other vital issue –and perhaps the most critical one at that– is that we have tricked ourselves into believing that we can continue to live this way, imagining that a reliance on our own ingenuity will allow this path to continue on for perpetuity.
This year, I'm most definitely going to be doing my fair share of hard work, scheming, dreaming, making images and sitting in front of monitor for more time than I would prefer. However, I am also going to be diligently seeking the frame of mind where I can go out into the woods and listen to a bird singing, just being thankful for its song without an agenda but with appreciation for another moment that I've been given here on this most amazing planet that we call home.
Actually, blizzard is not exactly accurate –We only received a couple of inches of snow and ice this weekend but it was beautiful anyway. I had so much fun sledding with the boys and was able to get out and shoot some winter photos, which I admittedly don't have many of in my files. Snow comes so infrequently here in South Carolina that I tend to revert (perhaps too strong of a word since it doesn't take much) to being a child again and would rather throw snowballs than make photos. But, the light was so great this morning that I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Besides, my children were inside thawing out after the old cycle of taking 2 hrs getting ready and 10 minutes to reach apparent pre-hypothermia and wanting to come back inside only to immediately want to go back out again...
