When I talk to my students in my online class with the BPSOP and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I’m reminded as to how short a time they’ve been photographers; certainly not all, but quite a few.
Most of these people have jobs and can’t devote as much time as they would like. However, there are those that do have the time but find themselves procrastinating when it comes to going out and taking pictures…making art; I have been guilty at times myself.
That said, I’ve been extremely fortunate as to have had photography my career as well as my passion going on fifty years; traveling on assignments two hundred and fifty days out of the year before retiring.
Even after all these years, I still get all warm and fuzzy when I have taken a photo that I knew even before clicking the shutter that I had one of those illusive ‘Keepers’.
The analogy I can draw is through the game of golf. I’m not very good and I never know who’s going to address the ball on the tee. The Tiger Woods that can hit the ball three hundred yards straight down the middle, or the duffer that hits the ball to the ladies tee; I’ve done both.
My point here is that if I can hit the ball once in a blue moon like Tiger, it’s what keeps me going even after hitting fifty in a row into the woods, people’s back yard…or lake!!
Taking a great shot, an illusive keeper, every once in a while is what I live to shoot for. For me, it’s the elixir that keeps me going; it keeps me living for the next one. It keeps me setting the alarm clock to be somewhere at least an hour before the sun comes up…whether I get something or not really doesn’t matter; perhaps it’s just the thrill of the hunt.
So, my fellow photographers, I’m here to help motivate you to go out whenever you can and enjoy the gift you have given yourself. Remember that a camera on a tripod is just like a blank canvas on an easle.
You and I are artists who have chosen a different medium other that a paintbrush. Go out and paint and if you’re lucky you can come home with a work of art, if not, then maybe next time.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come paint with me sometime.
JoeB
