According to the good folks at Google, there were 3,103 visits to the Jeff Norris Photography website in May. Wow!

Naturally, we can accept only a fraction of the sessions we’re asked to shoot, but we’re thankful, humbled and filled with gratitude for the constant demand.

I love to mix in as many variations as possible into each month. May, in particular, could easily be 90 Indiana University cap-and-gown sessions, scheduling three-a-day for the graduation month. What’s even more joyful, though, is to mix in weddings (of course!), headshots, family reunions, commercial/corporate sessions, a wildlife kayak outing or two, etc….

Here, at the Bloomington Airport, we collaborated with the IU Air Force ROTC on their commissioning ceremony. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the facility, as we watched and admired the selfless young adults take this important step in their lives and service to the country.

Awed by the wonder of it all…. This life is a splendid adventure….

If I weren’t a photographer I’d want to be a photographer.

It’s not simply the end result — a lovely image or collection of images — but it’s the connection between subject(s) and photographer. From the back of the camera, you can palpably feel moments in real time. You can feel joy, celebration, nerves, confidence, love, hope. Different from watching people walking on a street, or riding a subway car, or attending an event, portrait photography takes watching and transforms it to collaborative interaction. There’s a shared place and time. There’s connection. There’s a magic unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

No question a percentage of that energy is shared eye contact. How often do we have the opportunity to truly look into each other’s eyes, feeling those remarkable bursts of humanity and common bond…. With portrait photography, it’s each and every day.

Perhaps I feel more connected to the “good” in life’s ledger because I’m immersed in the “good” of life’s ledger. I choose every morning to see, create, share, acknowledge, grow, cultivate “good”. At the end of each day, there are more new images that share the lighthouse beliefs that guides my life, and I get to rest knowing I’ve placed another pebble on the “good” side of the scale.

I read this week that being an artist means having homework due every hour of every day and then you die.

Funny, tragic and essentially spot on!

It’s absolutely true that I don’t go more than an hour without thinking about this business. There’s always something more to do, no matter how much is accomplished in a day/week/month. It’s not a career for anyone who needs to sit back and feel “Job Well Done”, as the focus is always forward-thinking (the next homework assignment is due in an hour….).

But….

The highs are high. No question about that. It’s a crazy, sometimes irrational, always fluid, constantly changing lifestyle choice.

Or maybe it’s not a conscience choice, at all. I don’t know. Am I steering my photography business, or is photography simply taking me where photography intends to take me.

A toast to you.

Whoever you are. Wherever you are. Whatever you’re working on or thinking about.

Cheers.

Celebrate you. Celebrate your journey. Celebrate your influence on others. Celebrate others’ influence on you.

This is it.

A humble partial recipe for an enriching life:

Avoid anything and everything that calls itself “news”

Go outside

Explore new places and embrace your favorite places

Exercise each day

Question everything

Listen thoughtfully

Embrace wherever your heart takes you in the arts

Be kind

Say “Hi” to every dog you see — They’re among the good guys in this world

Carry a notebook, a camera, an instrument or a sketchpad…. There are fascinating moments all around us creating inspiration at all times

We’re all biased toward the things we love. I’ve always loved that our school colors are red and white. The classic combination is so wildly photogenic, and, to my eye, wholly compliments springtime graduation season.

Red and white, then coupled even more so with incomparable Indiana limestone and colorful flowers throughout campus, presents photographers (and all passers-by) with gorgeous, inspiring visuals.

Add to that the thousands of proud, happy, smiling graduates, and there’s no place I’d rather be each spring than my beloved, beautiful, BloomTown.

Spring is extraordinary, and I’m extraordinarily grateful that I get to spend the days outside soaking in the sunshine and pastel coloring…

While collaborating with folks on photographs that they value and that are meaningful to them.

Joy.

Bliss.

Peace.

Beauty.

Gratitude.

Humility.

Purpose.

Appreciation.

Thankfulness.

For three wondrous years I was fortunate enough to be a Resident Assistant at IU in my undergraduate years (at Wright Quad).

The experience was immeasurably valuable in my life, as I paid for my undergraduate degree myself — in present-tense terms, taking out no loans and paying every semester in advance, on my own. It was imperative to me to have the upcoming semester paid in-full before the current semester ended. I owe that mindset to my mom, who emphatically taught me the value of hard work and the importance of money’s value (to do good) — and I’m proud and humbled by that mindset to this day (30-plus years later).

In my dorm room, as an RA for three years, I often listened to a large collection of amazing albums. One was “The Final Cut”, by Pink Floyd. I completely related to this music, even though I hadn’t lived through WWII or lived in the British Isles or experienced my dad being killed in the war.

I’m listening to this album right now. I’ve not heard it since 1984 or 1985. It’s still as remarkable as it was then, and it’s still as intimate as it was then. Some powerful moments are steadfast, resilient and enduring in their impact, and for that I’m deeply humbled and thoroughly awed.

The great thing is to last and get your work done

and see and hear and learn and understand;

and write when there is something that you know

and not before;

and not too damned much after.

Ernest Hemingway

The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Hemingway