Of life and photography

Prompted by my good friend and fellow photographer Jeff Richter, I finally got out and shot a little. We Hiked up, over and around Bare Bluff, a Michigan Nature association preserve near Bete Gris. We also shot on the beach at Bete Gris and on the Hunters Point preserve in Copper Harbor. My blood has evidently thinned a little since my dog sledding days - brrrrr. I have had a lot on my mind since may and especially this last week. Walking along the Lake Superior shore and through the Autumn woods certainly helps to put things into perspective and clarify thoughts. Not having shot much over the last year I am quite rusty and found myself going over all the aspects of creating good images. One thing that immediately popped out was something that I recognized as paralleling some other things in life. A common mistake photographers make is to go into the field, driven to come home with a certain image. This can be fine sometimes, but often it’s like wearing blinders and we fail to see the many other beautiful images right under our noses. Relationships are very similar. If we concentrate on small details of our friends, lovers, family and even strangers we miss their essence, their whole, all that combines to make that person. I have recently been guilty of this and my heart is heavy because of it. A lesson that I remembered too late was one I learned from my Daddy. When I was a teen I ask him “ why don’t you teach momma how to drive a clutch right, she’s going to burn that thing up” he replied “ what’s a clutch among friends”

Another lesson that I just learned is pay attention when you are reformatting a hard drive. I accidently reformatted the wrong drive, the drive with most of the Images I was going to share from those shoots. I think they can be recovered and if and when I do I will share.