Now, with all these young guys coming up in my area of play, it’s hard to compete again. They have all the time in the world. I have a family that I will not put aside just to go take free pix to up the skills.

This is not to mention that I am loving this writing part of my creative pursuits. I can now mine my archives and finally create the stories I wanted to create all these years ago.

The circle of life can be both fun and frustrating at the same time

The one part of my photo career I am very quiet about is all the practice sessions. All the long hours of playing with Photo Elements. (eventually, LightRoom and PhotoShop). All the hungry days of frustration that came from people stiffing me on a bill because I was not an established business with legal recourse to collect on the invoice.

I don’t talk about the long drives out to the country side just to take a few snaps of the sun setting because that was what I was practicing that particular month. I don’t talk about the freezing cold… waiting for the perfect sunrise just to get that winter light right. I don’t talk about the times I was made fun of because of my stance trying to get the right angle for a photo that would never see the light of day… because I had the wrong shutter setting.

Yeah, I have learned a lot about the art of business in the hobby of photography. I have that much more respect for the professionals that go all out and create masterpieces. I admire their craft. I have learned not to be envious or jealous however. They have their own route, their own journey, their own art to make.

Life lessons

Whenever I get weary and tired, I think back to all the sacrifices I’ve made to understand photography. That fuels me. That keeps me going. I did photos as a single man sport. A solo endeavor. Sure, it was not a one man show. Without models (ie friends) to volunteer their time, I wouldn’t be the photographer I became.

The lessons from the discipline of pushing myself is what helped me become the writer I am today. It’s what is allowing me to write nearly every single week for this blog as well as the other two I write on weekly. It’s the same tenacity that allows me to build out yet another blog that hosts yet other interests of mine. (my speaking career needs a virtual home too)

All while giving my kids their nightly routine they’ve come to expect from me. Same with the time my wife expects from me too. And my boss is not neglected either. My sleep… that’s a work in progress though.

As I link some of the pictures into future posts and pages on this site, it will be the gradual realization of one of my many dreams. Sure, this is not the workhorse that will build a financial future. No. That’s not the goal here. The goal is the making of dreams come true one baby step at a time. The business side will eventually grow and support the dream. But first, the dream has to get rolled out and built up.

Without all of this foundational work, the dream of opening up my own virtual business online would remain just a fanciful pipe dream. I used to dream a lot about taking my speaking hobby/career from the donation of my talent model of business to an actual revenue making business.

I faced my fears and broke them down to bite sizes and realized my single biggest hurdle was getting online consistently to write content. Just like it was in the early days of my photography. I was scared. I didn’t know how to do the work of getting good. So, I just started small. A decade of shooting, I can finally confidently do a shoot and know the results will be good. I can even teach other photographers how to get good without going to school.

(yes, the irony of that thought is not lost on me at all… since I do not yet have any teaching products on this page or any other blogs yet)

Now to go from good to great… another blog post for another day…

I’m now taking that understanding and that passion and applying it to all my creative endeavors. 2017 was about learning how to write in a very busy schedule. Regulars of my blog have read how much I’ve progressed. 2018 is now about taking it another level. Bringing this professional grade touch to the blogs. Taking my hobbies from their current state into the realization of the vision I have held quietly close to my vest.