Look Around You

Virgin River
Hurricane, UT

There's a lot of stress in the world today. We feel as if both 9/11 and the SARS virus of '03 have struck at the same time. It hasn't; we've been made to slow down, look around us, and take note that world is still spinning and traveling around the sun.

It's time for lengthy morning walks and hikes. Time to get in touch with nature and our families. Time to both disconnect and reconnect with those who need us most, seniors. Take control of your life and manage those things which you truly have control over.

As you know, I started my blog back in 2010 after I lost my job. At that time it was my end of the world and within a year's time I also lost my mother. Life did not end for me and since then I've rediscovered myself several times. Do not give up, keep moving, look beyond yourself, and find solace in nature and how things resolve over time. Stay healthy and wash your hands, be in control.

Find Your Peace

A Zion National Park View
Springdale, UT

My mother scarred my siblings and me when we were children. At breakfast or in fact any meal she would say "eat all of your food so you don't get tuberculosis". That was the root cause of our general anxiety disorder, tuberculosis.

Years later as I was doing ancestry research, I discovered that yes indeed there was a tuberculosis (TB) asylum in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In 1933 there were 337 deaths reported in Puerto Rico stemming from tuberculosis. Puerto Rico had one of the highest fatality rate in the world. By 1944 the mortality rate from TB dropped by nearly 80% as a result of public health efforts.

While I no longer worry about TB, I do take heed to public health warnings. I do so because it also allays my fears with facts about something I know nothing about. While I pray, I also pay attention to known science for my safety and well being.

It's spring time now for us in TX. Usually it signals a time of rebirth for me and renewed optimism; I simply am not a winter person. Spring affords me days to discover my surroundings and to observe nature. Nature enables me to reconnect with whats beautiful and allows me to see beyond what's inside my head. It's as if I can see the possibilities of life and what has been placed in it for me to enjoy.

So to reduce my childhood anxieties, I've relied on nature and later on in life photography to channel my anxiety into something positive. Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to sanitize myself and meet several of my clients in Las Vegas area. After my work was done, I headed to Zion National Park and acquainted myself with the peace of nature, reconnect, and find my inner solace. Find an activity to quite your anxiety these next few weeks and don't forget to eat all of your food just in case my mother was right.

What If?

From: "What If?"
Zion National Park
Springdale, UT

It's been slow in coming but I am working on a new card series: "What if..." This series features both my photography and simple one word thoughts. The card series is meant to jar and inspire. The premise behind the card is the phrase "what if?"

Playing with this concept as I was processing this image, I thought, what if Moses had an iPad, how would history have been different? It may sound extreme but it makes you think and get out of the rut, the familiar. Can you imagine Charlton Heston coming down the mountain with one iPad in each hand? He instructs the children of God to tap on screens and scroll down to view each new God given instruction. Each day the Israelites sync their iPads so that they are in accord (sync) with God's will for them.

Yes, it's outrageous, but it absolutely makes me think and I believe that most of us need to be jarred and cajoled so that we get our heads back in the game of living. Please bear with me while I indulge in this concept further these next few days.

The card sets will be coming soon and will be made right here in the USA by moi.

Dance With The One Who Brung Ya

Canyon and River
Zion National Park
Springdale, UT

In Texas, we have a saying: "Dance with the one who brung ya." Although it implies to stick with the people who have made you successful; it could also be construed to mean go with the skills that have brought you this far.

While our education system and our business world extolls the virtues of team work, what happens to those disenfranchised from the team? There are times in life when you have to go beyond the team. You have to dig deep and survey your own resources and what has contributed to your survival thus far.

As you explore yourself, you discover the different dimensions of your personality and your various skills. There are many things I do well these include but are not limited to: photography, public speaking (English and Spanish), writing, finance, and marketing. Some of my skills can be measured and some cannot.

This year, it's time for me to make profitable use of my skills. It's time to thread the needle and sew my skills into a product that will provide me with passion and income required to survive. It's an exciting time in my life.

Maturity

Zion National Park
Springdale, UT

My friend Harry Sandler and I were discussing this morning how useful it is to revisit images over time. We both know that our skill palette changes and therefore gain different tools to interpret and render images. In essence, you not only develop acumen but also artistic maturity and confidence.

While everyone who has a camera can take a snapshot not everyone can turn a photograph into a meaningful living image. This requires time, skill, passion, and attention to details. As photographers, we know that some images will never win awards. However each image affords us an opportunity to sharpen, renew, and expand our skills. We draw from our maturity and experiences.

There are parallels that we can draw from in life. We live in a society that discounts the value of maturity. Like old buildings, we demolish them to make way for the new. If the Coliseum was in existence today, we would implode it simply because it is old. This lack of vision lacks perspective.

All of us should consider revisiting images and thought. In the context of time and experience, how would you do things differently? What have you learned? Would you make the same mistakes or would you be able to enhance the same situation today? Don't discount maturity.

By the way, although neither of us realized this today, both Harry and I, worked on images from Zion National Park that we took several years ago.