Hanging in the Keys, recharging, as they say, the batteries, and amazed at the all the wonderful folks I’ve been blessed to work with throughout 2019.

So much time and so little to do.

Wait a minute.

Strike that.

Reverse it.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Stunning to find ourselves with 2020 nearly upon us….

Listening to Sandy Denny sing “Who Knows Where The Time Goes”, getting gear sorted for three Friday photo shoots and prepping for a month of travel…. I love to wander, meander and flow.

Walking through Bloomington, carrying a camera, chatting with good folks every step of the way, being aware of angles and scenes and moments, and knowing my work will be on clients’ walls, desks, tables and websites…. What a beautiful life.

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?

Thoreau

i could make you happy, make your dreams come true

nothing that i wouldn’t do

go to the ends of the earth for you

to make you feel my love

dylan

Off to shoot another autumn Brown County wedding this afternoon, and editing recent shoots beforehand….

We got home in late-August from a long Bucket List vacation, and it’s been an Autobahn-in-the-fast-lane from that day onward, with photo shoots every day, a house move during the craziest month of the year (I give myself an “F” for thinking that one through, though an “A” for having done it!) and a month of juggling the business singlehandedly as Siobhan spent four weeks in Seattle. I’m looking out toward Key West in December as a mecca, of sorts!

But while I’m on shoots — actually working with folks on their images — the whirlwind stops, and I’m in a mental/emotional time-and-place that’s tranquil, quiet, peaceful and calm. I love the moments where I’m looking at a physical space and thinking of angles, shadows, light and composition. I love moving from spot to spot working the light and watching moments unfold naturally.

Perhaps everyone feels a certain chaos of momentum in life. I don’t know. But I do know that I’m thankful for the opportunity to have a career that literally forces me to stop, to look around, to be aware, to notice, to feel, to create and to appreciate. Even more so, I’m thankful that I get to share that blessing with others, so they, too, can feel grateful for special moments captured in photography.

I woke up this morning and said to myself that today could quite likely be among the best days ever. Thus far, indeed, it is.

We are stardust. We are golden. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Last night while editing recent portrait work, I listened to the original soundtracks to both “Godspell” and “Jesus Christ Superstar”. I hadn’t listened to either full album in decades, and they somehow randomly came to mind. I had had a photo session with a woman earlier in the day, and as we talked she told me of her husband’s death from four years ago. She told me his final words were “I’m ready to go home”. That impacted me greatly, and was likely the link to my subconscious choice of these two albums.

On so many levels listening to the albums transported me to another time, another place, yet, paradoxically, toward the future, as well.

Growing up in a small farming town in rural Indiana was a blessing I’ll never undervalue. I loved the simplicity, grace, hard work and tradition of the land, its people and its customs. I loved then, and even more so now, the cycle of planting in the spring and harvesting in the autumn. It was an annual reminder of the miraculous circle of life.

And powerfully, I loved, and love, the quiet Christian roots of the community. We grew up believing, unquestioning and honoring all things holy and divine.

Last night I was (metaphorically) back in my hometown, falling in love with these magnificent albums, learning each song’s lyrics verbatim and singing joyously at church camp around a fire with my friends….

Concurrently last night, I was editing recent sessions. Listening to these transportive albums in the darkness gave the images, to my eye and soul, a still-deeper beauty than I might have otherwise seen in them. I am so grateful for the opportunities as a adult to be moved to tears by the enormity of life.

Portrait sessions are an organic mixture of classic, posed images that are timeless for a reason — they always look great! — and impromptu, spontaneous moments that are fun, honest, sometimes intimate and often breathtaking.

I often like to keep in the back of my mind (amid the clutter!) that I want to get a percentage of both in every session. It’s important to make sure that clients get the traditional, perfect photograph — I would never want to omit those from a session. It’s equally important that clients get the candid, “Oh my God, I can’t believe he captured that moment!” photographs.

Somewhere in the future, hopefully the distant future, someone will write/read my obituary. In it, I hope that it’ll include something in the realm of “He saw and captured so much beauty in this world for others to enjoy in their own lives.” To see all this beauty on a daily basis, and ultimately to have lived a life doing so, and then to be able to give the gift to others, is almost without peer in the peaceful rewards it brings to my time here.