2020 has been extraordinary, in every conceivable way.

I’m awed by the arc of the year.

Final breaths are happening all around us. First breaths are happening all around us. Life milestones are happening all around us. Stillness and insight and growth and reflection are happening all around us.

I love to observe life. I love that I’m able to apply my passion as my art, as my career, as my world-view.

Joy.

It’s the word that’s been on my mind this past week more so than any other word or phrase. I keep running in to examples of the word “Joy” this week, over-and-over-and-over. The universe is prodding and poking and nudging and steering.

For years I talked often about “The Herringbone Effect”. It was a fun personal story of buying a sports coat in Bloomington in 1983, and the salesman in Sullivan’s Clothing telling me he’d recommend a herringbone jacket. I had never heard the word “herringbone” and was both embarrassed by not knowing what it was and interested in learning. I bought, instead, a green sports coat (which I’m sure was influenced by my love and golf and The Masters, and it was an awesome jacket for years). As I left Sullivan’s, I hadn’t gone a block when I just happened to overhear two people talking about wallpaper. One said “I’m thinking maybe a cream-colored herringbone”. I got goosebumps. I then had lunch at Ladyman’s Cafe (with Mellencamp, which is another story) and a guy at the next table said he’d just bought a new ring, and the centerpiece was a herringbone-effect stone. I got goosebumps again.

I dearly love coincidences and the occasional dancing magic in language and life.

I’d told “The Herringbone Effect” story a few times and our son and I would often share examples of inexplicable coincidences that had happened to us that particular day. One afternoon he came home from school and told me excitedly that there’s actually a name (other than “The Herringbone Effect”, which I’d always thought was a great name) for the experience — The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. So, my little herringbone coincidences on Kirkwood Avenue reached scientific/medical pedestals years later, and was given a clinical-sounding title, I suppose a bit more prestigious-sounding than was “Herringbone”….. And the story comes to an end.

“Joy”, however, though I’ve used the word countless times and isn’t part of “The Herringbone Effect” or Baader-Meinhof, has nonetheless never quite penetrated my consciousness as it has this past week or so.

For whatever reason, I’ve always been disinterested in “Happy”. My bias has been that “Happy” is momentary and somehow less than what ought be one of our life goals. But “Joy”, I’m discovering (as the universe is poking me….), is much more deep-rooted and meaningful. I’m intrigued with “Joy” as a guiding principle.

To feel Joy. To transmit Joy. To exude Joy and cultivate Joy. Even writing those words I can feel a peace.

What does any of this have to do with a photography blog? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Probably something in between. To feel Joy and to exude Joy during a session, as an example, is an extraordinary gift. To genuinely care for the client, to want what the client wants, to exceed the client’s expectations, to gift the client with meaningfulness and healthy pride….. Our lives mean something. Our lives can mean much, much more as we create positive encounter after positive encounter after positive encounter with everyone with whom we cross paths. A smile. A friendly nod of the head. A wave. A kind word. Slowing down. Opening doors (literally and figuratively). Helping. Preemptively knowing. Caring.

Whether you’re holding a camera or plowing the soil or teaching a class or driving a truck cross-country or on your knees praying for meaning and understanding and hope and direction….

Joy to you.

Siobhan’s most consistent, most repeated, quote about our business is “We can be as busy as we want to be.”

There’s no question we could schedule 365 sessions (or more) each year. This weekend we have nine sessions (Friday through Sunday), as an example.

I’ve already bought and begun marking up my (old school) 2021 desk calendar, and, in it, am blocking off huge blocks of free time. I’ve been professionally successful for 40 years. I’m now going to define “successful” as how many days each year I golf; how many days I kayak; how many miles I run; how often I go for long, leisurely bicycle rides (and motorcycle rides); how many days I take Grace (check her out on Facebook at “Maggie the Pug and Amazing Grace”) on long, relaxing hikes in the woods; how many 3-day trips we take to explore all the amazing destinations within 500 miles of Bloomington; and how many Bucket List items I can accomplish (it’s an amazing list!).

I love photography, and always will. I love being successful, and am humbled and filled with gratitude that JNP is the top photography business between Indianapolis and Louisville. But I equally love having time to unwind, enjoy and appreciate…. I think that working less will translate to working more thoughtfully. And I look forward to a more thoughtful, reflective, contemplative, appreciative 2021.

We’ll say a lot of “I’m sorry, but ‘No’” to folks in 2021. But I’ll also say a lot of “I can’t wait to (run, bike, hike, travel, golf, etc.)”, to myself, too.

There’s dreaming. There’s planning. There’s building. There’s growing. There’s maintaining. There’s, importantly, stepping back and giving pause and thanks for the lot of it all.

Addendum, November 16th….

I’ve no idea how many people read my blog, but several reached out to me privately this week following this post. I hadn’t intended the note to be a complaint or an expression of dissatisfaction, at all. I meant it far more in the celebratory sense of “I’m looking very much forward to having more time to calmly breath and reflect, rather than racing so fast through the precious, numbered days”. We’ll no question continue to work with all our long-standing clients, though I’ll be much more selective of taking too many new clients in 2021. I have complete confidence I’ll actually be a better photographer if/as I work fewer days each year.

This shot was about five minutes after a lovely October Bloomington outdoor wedding ceremony, and the bride was so wonderfully nonchalant about sitting in the grass for this image! Her nervousness was gone after the vows, and I think she appreciated having one quick moment to sigh and regather before continuing on with the busy evening festivities ahead. What a lovely shot she’ll have to reflect back upon in the coming years….

True for us all — pausing, regathering, meditating, slowing down….. Sometimes beautiful key quiet moments come as we do, indeed, step off the moving walkway.

October — by the widest of margins — has always been my favorite month of the year. The senses are treated to an embarrassment of riches with the colors of the trees, the sounds of the leaves on the ground as we walk among them, the tastes of pumpkin, persimmon, apples and barley, the feeling of a crisp chill in the morning air and the almost mystical smells of harvest, appreciation, gratitude and reflection….

Here’s to October…. I tip my cap and offer to you compassion, pause and a promise.

Wow, October has been insane!!

Over 40 sessions this month, and the highest-grossing month in the history of our business — Thank you, Indiana…. What an amazing journey….

But, as is always true, the whirlwind of constant activity slows to a gentle fall/summer/spring breeze when actually working together with clients….. The world almost magically disappears, and all that remains is eyes, connections, light, shadows, depth-of-field and the colors that produce gorgeous images….

I absolutely love being on-location with clients. The results, I believe (and clients tell us every day, too), show that very love through beautiful preserved visual moments….

Shooting a family portrait yesterday, celebrating the matriarch’s 100th birthday, I at one point — taken aback by how gorgeous the entire moment was — sighed “Ah, Indiana in October….” and the son, roughly 60 years old and visiting his mom from Seattle for the occasion, finished my sentence “….There’s nothing better.”

I love everything about that.

Surrounded by the most gorgeous reds, oranges, yellows on the autumn tree leaves…. Soft golden morning sunlight shining through….. A perfect blend of warm and cool air…. The celebration of this incredible woman’s century-long journey….

Behind the scenes photography can be exceedingly difficult, at times. But the highs — the magnificent, breathtaking highs — are unmatched in too many other careers.

I said to a friend this past week, “I literally get paid to notice, to see, beauty.” It’s almost impossible for me to comprehend how fortunate that makes me.

What an incalculable bonus to have a career that creates laughter, smiles and positive energy even well after the day is over… As I edit and deliver photographs, I constantly feel a wonderful glow of joyfulness.

I’ve shot this terrific couple (and growing family…) four years in a row. We shot at their home this year (because #4 is arriving on the scene perhaps any day now….!), and, in doing so, they invited us in as we took a break from photography for a few minutes.

Throughout their lovely home are framed images that I’ve had the pleasure to shoot since we all met. It’s remarkably rewarding to see my work product central throughout people’s houses. And it’s awfully rewarding to smile, to boot.

There’s an overabundance of adamant in America. Staunch one-sided, closed-minded, agenda-focused declarations of why X is superior to Y, and why A, B and C are unworthy of a nuanced discussion.

Nuanced discussion, in fact, seems to be a civility that’s been abandoned.

Personally, I tune out immediately when anyone veers into his/her one-sided world view. Our planet is large — in the sense that there are nearly 200 countries, and billions of non-U.S. people, and few, if any, care about the inner ramblings of ours — and our planet is small — in the sense that we’re all connected through common, shared, decent human traits. Whether this candidate or that candidate wins an election in any given country in any given year (an election that’ll be forgotten in five short decades) is about as insignificant a topic as can be discussed.

What’s important is your first cup of coffee each new day. What kind of food you eat. How much exercise you’re giving yourself, and where you’re doing it. Whether or not you’re mindful and helpful and kind.

Let’s talk about music that is meaningful to you. Or what you’ve read recently (outside of political childishness) that touched you. Or what path you love to walk to feel closest to spirituality. And let’s talk about where you’d like to travel before you die. What you’d do on a perfect vacation. The career you would’ve chosen if you could rewind your life. A film that made you laugh, cry and feel.

And let’s talk about the miracle of photography. I shoot every day of the year, and I never stop being awed by the power, intimacy and connection that a photograph can present.

Rather than feeling anger, superiority and/or competition, might I offer a bit of tranquility for your life…. There are many, many more beautiful experiences in life than there are displeasurable. We rise by lifting others.

For some reason, I’ve shot more professional headshots recently than at any 30/60/90 day period in six years. Roughly every other email/call is to schedule a session for an updated online professional visual presence.

I wonder if the sharp increase in professional headshots is perhaps because people are keenly aware, in the midst of seemingly non-stop uncertainty and chaos, how stabilizing, essential and clarifying a successful career can be.

To be our best we need to feel a degree of peace. To feel a degree of peace we need, among other factors, financial stability. There’s no question that an exquisite portrait is an important addition to career/earning enhancement, and I’m always honored to work with people to help them present exactly the look they want to share with their peers, employers, future employers, collaborators and/or clients.