Don’t Discard Inspiration

Living and navigating a global pandemic during this past year has been different from anything I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime. And now that a dim light appears to be shining on all of us representing a possible end of the tunnel, we all will likely establish new normals. One of my new normals that I owe to this past year is a keen realization of my current age and what may or not remain for me looking forward. A renewed powerful desire to life my life to the fullest and make every possible unrealized dream come true has established a strong footing. My photography efforts ended up collecting a mound of uninspiring dust.


Spending a lot of time at home over this past year, I’ve developed a habit of making lists of things to do that fall into different categories. Household projects, life projects, adventure projects, the list of lists goes on. One of the household projects was a purge and reorganization of the storage area in our small house. 


An item that has been moving around the house for about ten years now is my collection of LensWork magazines beginning with issue 51 dated Feb - Mar of 2004 and ending with issue 96 dated Sep - Oct 2011. Given that we were purging and in need of every precious inch of space possible, I considering letting go of them. Any of you who are familiar with LensWork magazine are aware of the extraordinary quality of the content and printing. Every time a new issue would arrive in my mailbox, I would immediately devour it cover to cover. Early on the first stop was the “End Notes” by Bill Jay. Unfortunately Bill is no longer with us and at the time of his passing in 2009 so did the “End Notes”. 


Unable to part with them, I decided to add them to my photography book collection. Moving and organizing them was the first time in almost ten years that I sat down and started rereading “End Notes”, looking at the brilliant photographs and reading the accompanying text. Long overdue and much needed inspiration jolted me out of a lengthy creative funk and clarity ensued. What I need and want to do over the next few years crystalized almost immediately. An epiphany of sorts hit me. My wife and I have been discussing and trying to figure out what it is we want to do over the next few years. Travel and adventure (without wings) is definitely something we agree on. She’s not a photographer so it’s a balance of her wants and needs along with mine. More to come once we work out the details but suffice to say that this is huge for us and we’re very excited.





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