Thursday, February 23, 2012

Memories of a different time
How our photography creates memories in a curious way

In 2003 I took a road trip, driving my 1988 Chevy S-10 Blazer, across the country to Vermont.  I was attending a photography business workshop and could have flown, but decided on driving across the county alone to see some new sights.  And of course take some photos along the way.

It’s hard to believe this was nearly ten years ago.  Sometimes if feels like it was a very distant time.  Other times the memories are quite fresh.  It was a great trip, great workshop and an all-around fantastic experience.  Shortly after this trip I donated my Blazer, with 444,000 miles, to a friend whose car had been stolen.  It was a nice farewell trip for the 15 years we shared together on the road.

There was one sight I spied while nearly home, just across the border in Arizona.  At the time it was quite humorous… dark humor about the price of gas.  Now we might see something similar now in 2012, but the fuel price would be substantially different…and higher.  How I wish for the 2003 version of what an arm and a leg looks like now!

Photographs provide great memories for our families, vacations and other events.  Sometimes the memories seem a bit twisted, like this sign, but they still are fun.  I think the lesson for me here was to stop and take the picture.  It was great coming across this image in my files recently.  Momentum could easily have gotten the best of me as I passed by this photo opportunity in the desert.  I had just traveled through more than two dozen states and was just one border crossing away from home.  Yet I overcame inertia, stopped the car and captured a memory.  Don’t let too many of these chances pass you by when you have easy access to a camera.

Friday, February 17, 2012

One goal down...getting started

Well, I set a goal to start a Blog in the first part of the year.  Here it is!  I'm looking forward to sharing stories, lessons learned and other bits I learn while behind the camera.  It looks like much of my learning will be sorting out the Blog controls for the first few posts so please hang with me for a while. 

Any insight you would like to share is always welcome.  I've been out with the camera quite a bit over the past few weeks and I'm looking forward to sharing some of the experiences I've had while looking through the viewfinder.  Thanks again for your patience and more to follow...soon.