Lovely Reminders

Last night as I was laying in bed, I had this thought in my head about losing touch with photography by getting wrapped up in one of the multitude of aspects surrounding this business. When I first realized that I love this stuff, I was like a teenager head-over-heels over his first real relationship. Those amazing and wondrous emotions in the beginning that consume you as you explore what it is about this person you’re obsessing over that makes your stomach ache at the mere thought of them. Then, the feelings mature and you become more functional and less passionate. Sometimes when the fog of love clears a bit, you find out that she really isn’t all that interesting to you anymore and then you move on.

One of the greatest fears that plagued me when I decided to take the plunge and become a professional photographer was idea that I might find the work less than intriguing over time and become merely functional instead of inspired. Instead of searching for the light, I’d be searching for a compromise. Instead of creating, I’d be replicating. Instead of loving it, I’d be simply going through the motions.

This morning as I walked down the steps of my front porch, something caught my eye. In the center of one of my wife’s little succulent plants that she’s been collecting for a project she’s working on was this giant water droplet. It caught the light and was glowing like a diamond. I was absolutely entranced by it and went back inside to grab my camera. Then I noticed how all of them were retaining water in a similar fashion.

As I moved from plant to plant I realized that I was shooting for the love of it. I saw something interesting and captured it in a way that conveyed what I felt. Like an answer to a wish, I felt a calm come over me as I realized that I’m still in love.