Choose A Job You Love...

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life

- Confucius

“Oh man, this one kills me. It’s so frequently repeated that hardly anyone questions its truth anymore. And the sad fact is this: If you do what you love for a living, you’ll probably end up loving it a little bit less.”

- An excerpt from Bad Career Advice: Do What You Love and You'll Never Work a Day

 - Chrissy Scivicque Forbes Contributor

LIFE AND LOVE

I love taking pictures.  I have loved it since I began when I was 15 years old when my Dad began teaching me the finer points of the art, “People are the most important, Larry.  You have to have people in the shot…”  That was his thoughts on the subject and I have remembered that all my life.

Bob and Deb Martinez

Michaela Bonnett

Scott and Jill Stocking Wedding

He has never been one for landscapes.  “In years you'll see that and think, ‘why did I take that?’” Sometimes that is true; people are a great way to “date” an image or show scale or flag a memory.

  

 Dad and I pursued photography for different reasons.  He was fascinated with the science parts.  He told me on the occasion of giving me his collection of negatives.  He made all of his “machines” himself.  He would go the public library and read about how to do it then he would make the items he needed, pinhole camera, enlarging box (most if not all of his were contact prints, those are prints made by placing the negative directly on the light sensitive paper and exposing that to light of some kind).  He would buy his chemistry by mail order and paper too.  His darkroom was a corner of the attic of the house in which he lived.  His paper route financed most of these purchases.  His images are, frankly, excellent.  They depict life in the 40’s and 50’s in rural and small town Nebraska.  This whole activity, mind you, by a kid during the depression era.  I think it is amazing!  I am so fortunate to have possession of this collection.

Charles Augustus and Ella Anderson
with Mary Lou Taddiken

Netty Timm with Bob, Roger
and Ortrude Anderson

Charles Guy Anderson - State Safety Patrol

Now, I got interested in it, not for the science but because my Dad was into it.  He was usually very technical about it.  I learned to shoot on a 1956 Voigtländer Vito Automatic viewfinder 35mm camera (which I have proudly added to my camera collection along with several of Dad’s other cameras).  Dad bought it in Germany when he was in the service.  Some of you will understand that learning on this camera proposed a few issues but others will have no clue as to what it even is.

Voigtländer Vito Automatic

Bob Anderson circa 1956 - Frankfurt,
Germany

Some may even wonder where the “card” goes.  This is a very manual, small compact film camera with an amazing kind of shutter (I will discuss shutters in a post to come later) and a unique metering system invented by Voigtländer that never really caught on ( I will also cover metering in a post to come).   

This want to “do what Dad does” developed (no pun intended) into the love of imaging I have today. I am proud of my skill and have it validated most times when I show my work.  I have photographed many things, people, events etc. in my struggle to “do what I love” but never really achieving the ongoing every day kind of business I had hoped. 

 

   


 “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

- Polonius to Laertes, Hamlet Act 1, Scene 3 by William Shakespeare

This is frustrating but I also know myself pretty well and realize I don’t have the drive and the smarts to pursue it the way it needs to be pursued.  Hell, I don’t even blog the way I should.  What a cop out, I know.  My best advice to young people, I know is, “Do great things”.  I mean they should not let conventional thinking get in their way in choosing a career or life’s passion.  I had so many “blocks” on my brain when I was younger and wish to let folks know that there are no rules when it comes to your development and pursuing what you want out of life.  Regrets benefit NO ONE!!   

Is There A Point To This

I have also found that people like to read short blogs (I do too).  So, yes the point.  Just one of the many thoughts I have had, or maybe more of a justification.  I know too many pros that have stopped shooting because the joy has gone out of it and it becomes work.  I don’t want that to happen.  I have too much time, energy and money wrapped up in this for me to stop being interested in it.  Oh and yes even my Dad lost his fascination with photography but he did move on to another science he loves, computers and at the age of 70 some he built the very computer I write this post on!  Very cool.  So there it is more pieces thrown on to the blank page; little pieces as they may be, it’s all life!

  

   

Coffee's for Closers

It has been a while since I posted anything.  This will be short.  I just signed up for Twitter.  Largely because Dad did and I was curious.  Well they suspended for an unknown reason so maybe I will just delete it.  I will see what their Support says.  Life is weird sometimes.  After being not so busy in the winter to a sudden upturn in activities for which it seems I have no time.  Time is my personal nemesis.  It has caused anxiety and lack of clarity in thoughts.  Just some more of those pieces of life, I guess.

Humor

I was blessed with a certain degree of humor.  My brother-in-law Joe was in town for a visit recently.  He and I have an interesting relationship; we dont know what to make of each other.  Anyway, he was saying good bye the the group one night, I could have sworn he said, "I'll be annoyed by you all tomorrow..." That struck me as a very funny salutation, so out of character for me I actually laughed loudly.  Getting strange glances by most that were in the group, I regained my composure.  I then realized he had some something completely normal like I'll see you all later...  Ooops joke's on me... LOL!

A B C: Always Be Closing -

A great line from Glengary Glenross by Alec Baldwin.  Great in that it became the moto of every bad sales manager in the world and also good as it describes the current spot in this blog where I end.  So my question to those that subscribe to the ABC method,  when was the last time you actually sold anything?   And as I close this short imageless post.   Just another piece to add to the enormous puzzle that is life!

Successful People

Success Should Be Measured in More Than Material Wealth

I am amazed by successful people and I like to associate with as many as I can.  I found out late in life that surrounding yourself with them makes for great conversation and positive uplift.   I am very fortunate to be able to meet so many successful people and be a part of their lives.  I find that most of them are very similar in their approach to life.  I have also found that some of them don’t realize they are among those I refer to as successful. 

 

“Get Out Of Line…” – John Pinette

 When I was growing up it was important for me to be liked, to be noticed and most of all be taken seriously.  I am the youngest of three so the noticed thing was sometimes difficult because I was “just the annoying little brother”.  I really had no method to my madness but just to be me (and maybe emulate those I found funny).  Two schools of thought prevail in child family order: #1) The first child gets privileges as he grows up and consequently (being a child) they betray the trust of parents causing more strictness to follow for the next child and then growing in exponents as the birth order continues; and #2) Parents strictness lessens and lessens till the last child “gets away” with “murder”.  It depends on your birth order as a child which school of thought you adhere to.  One challenge to this thought is the “middle child syndrome”.  This “syndrome” where it is mostly given “rolled eyes” is felt by all who lug it around.  I don’t profess to understand it but I do know that a side effect of this “syndrome” is instigation!  That’s right, you middle children are all instigators of trouble!   You only children, well you never where in line so, whatever!   

 

I find though, that success has no real birth order.  Those successful people are all over the board.   Now I have met my share of celebrities.  I have met all types’ national, regional and local celebrities alike.  I will say that the vast majority of them have been disappointing to me; not that it matters to them they are successful whether I like them or not and whether they are jackasses or not.  They may be celebrities because of this, but more over I think they have reached that pinnacle of success because of drive, luck and a really, really thick skin.  I recently saw a picture of Bryan Cranston “in disguise” walking the streets in New York.  He was wearing a ball cap and sunglasses.  A funny disguise but, hey I wouldn’t have recognized him.  They all have their public, outward face and then their “I’m just walking to somewhere important” face.   I am writing though, about successful people and not only celebrities.

 

That being said let’s talk about a commercial

 

While I am referring to success on all levels I will exemplify my point of this blog by recalling parts of a commercial.  I don’t remember what the commercial was for or even the particulars of the commercial.  I was just taken by one part.  This commercial had Justin Timberlake in it as himself; he was knocking on a person’s door to surprise her.  She was very surprised and made the obligatory hand over mouth gesture because she very definitely recognized him.  She really didn’t know what to do at that point.  He offered his hand for shaking and said, “Hi, I’m Justin.”  What?  Well of course you are, you are Justin Timberlake.  Anyone of an age will know that.  You are a superstar performer and actor.  “Hi, I’m Justin”?  Really?  Yes, really!  These two people had never met,  he didn’t know her from a certain pet donkey;  and she had never met him, that’s right; she stood there recognizing maybe an idol of her's and fawning over the fact he was at her door but she had never met him.  What a great kid, he took control of a situation with a simple introduction.  I really respect that.  Now it might have been scripted, or set up but man did it look like a real interaction. 

 

Let’s Bring it Back to the Point

 

Now it is not uncommon to meet local celebrities out and about in the Omaha area and I have met Governors and Senators.  I have booed Congressmen and I have exchanged niceties with Mayors.   All manner of local celebrities I have met.  On a recent viewing of a play at the Omaha Community Playhouse, I got a chance to meet another.  Dave Wingert has been a local Radio Personality of decades in Omaha.  He can’t be that much older than I am because he doesn’t look it.  Being that I can’t resist the urge to meet these folks, I very immaturely hollered out in his direction as he was making salutations to a friend, “Aren’t you Dave Wigert?”  He may have heard me but he didn’t make it evident.  He turned away from his friend and started walking.  I repeated my boorish question a little louder as I approached him.  Suddenly I realized this might be a bit unsettling in a poorly lit parking lot, I smiled and held out my hand.  He accepted my hand shake as he spun to meet my smile.  I said some filler words about being a fan.  He replied by saying, “And your name?” still shaking my hand.  I finished my ridiculous rhetoric, trying not to seem like I was a threat.  He again repeated, “And your name?”.  I replied with the appropriate response and he replied, “oh, thank you.”   This exchange struck me as a parallel to the above JT story.  I assumed it to be unimportant to him to introduce myself; he deemed it important for us both to know each other’s names.  It was rude of me to assume what I did, and it was so very appropriate for him to react the way he did.   He was gracious and engaged in the conversation and I walked away feeling better about my evening because of it.  Now, I am not a follower of his nor would I say I am even an avid listener but I am aware of him and his career.  I have a new respect for him.  I count him as a successful person I have met and I liked that he wasn’t a jerk to me, as I feel I may have been one to him.

Success can be measured in a broad way.  Some choose to beleaguer it narrowly, though.  That is a mistake.   Success is fun, happy and it should be celebrated.  Those folks I have met that are successful (I count myself in that category too) have two sides.  One that is an expression of their station and confidence in life and the other is when relating how they came to the success.  Hard work, perseverance and pushing themselves are always among those attributes.  They also have a straight forward idea of, “If you’re not willing to work for it, don’t bother even trying it”.  I love this side, this candor that I have benefited from hearing.  I realized it after seeing this side of success for the first time, from a young male model when I asked him if he worked out.  He obviously saw this sexy fat man as being unprepared for the work involved in acquiring a physique like his and addressed my question with a bit of disdain.  I was naturally a bit offended by his answer but realized I had asked the question and should have been prepared for the answer however it was given; plus he might have thought I was hitting on him.  Just another few little pieces of life.    

Hear That Train a Comin’

Hear That Train a Comin’

In a previous post I recommended not vacationing with your parents or parents-in-law in the same motor home!  I stand by that; what that leaves is the availability to vacation with parents and parents-in-law by any other way then in the same motor home.  Ok, so now that we have the logic out of the way we can delve into the story.

Joan Anderson

Bob Anderson

A few years ago (2008) my mother had a great idea; since they live in Colorado and we hardly ever see their home and yard in the spring and summer, why don’t we come visit and then we will go traveling in Colorado.  Not a long trip but maybe 4 days or so.  She would check into some travel destinations and we would check for hotel rooms since we had an “in” at our favorite accommodator (Marriott).   In passing amusement we considered separate vehicles, but put that aside as we were sure us driving our rental car would suffice.   We humorously refer to this trip as the Train Vacation because we were on a lot of trains (Ok, 2 trains but that can seem like a lot if you rarely take trains).  It was fun and exciting and we saw some amazing scenery and had some great laughs!  I would do it again.

Mary Anderson

David Anderson

 

 

 

 

It’s all a matter of scale

 

You can’t imagine the scale of things from any vantage point in the gorge and I was amazed at how beautiful it was as we rode along the rails.  A viewing car was part of the experience; it was a converted flatbed car with railings.  It was a Wow experience riding that car during the trip.



*The Royal Gorge (also Grand Canyon of the Arkansas) is a canyon on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado. With a width of 50 feet (15 m) at its base and a few hundred feet at its top, and a depth of 1,250 feet (380 m) in places, the 10-mile-long canyon is a narrow, steep gorge through the granite of Fremont Peak. It is one of the deepest canyons in Colorado.

The train started with a jolt and we began our adventure.  In the beginning it is like a beautiful prairie, long and short grasses, flowers and various plants.  Some old implements were strewn along the side of the track.  Remnants of buildings could be seen.  Then more rocks started to appear, then sheer cliffs rising to the beautiful blue sky.  awesome multicolored granite said to be 1.5 billion years old streams past you and blurs as it whizzes by even at sightseeing speeds.   

 

 

 

This gorge has an interesting and deep history, it has been an attraction for more than a century and this train line was installed in the mid to late 19^th century.   On this day though, in the middle of August, the weather was perfect for this trip.

The train winds parallel to the Arkansas river.  It is wild and beautiful.  As part of this grand sight's history is the  that the gorge was being cut as the mountains that surround it were being pushed skyward.  The river reportedly cuts a foot every 2500 years.  
As written above, it is a matter of scale. 

This trip was a wonderful experience and we speak of it often.  The Colorado Springs and Canon City areas are clearly my favorite spots in Colorado.  My mother is from Canon City, originally being born in Trinidad, CO.  We visited this area many times when I was growing up but I had never rode the Royal Gorge train.  I recommend visiting this sight to everyone.  Unfortunately, this was one of the areas devastated by wild fires recently so the Royal Gorge Bridge Park was very nearly  destroyed. 

*On June 12, 2013, the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park was devastated by a wildfire. While the bridge suffered only minimal damage (some wooden deck planks burned), all but four of the park's 52 buildings were destroyed.  The Incline Railway was severely damaged and the Aerial Tram was destroyed.   Park executives announced on June 13 that the bridge will be repaired and the park rebuilt, but there was no timeline for reopening the bridge and/or park.

 (* information from Wikipedia)

 

 

Wrap it up!

 

I don’t intend this blog to be a vacation blog so let me not lose you.  This trip included other wonderful sights such as the Pikes Peak Cog Rail, Red Rocks ampa-theater, Garden of the Gods and then topped off with a trip to Cripple Creek and casinos.  It was an amazing journey.  I will write more about the trip in later blogs.  We were able to get some fantastic images.  The idea I walk away with from this excerpt of this trip is that our time here on earth is short and seemingly unremarkable in the grand scheme of things.  50 years out of billions of years might mean nothing from the perspective of time.  It takes a river 25 centuries to make only a foot of headway against rock.   Every pebble though, meant progress and changed the landscape.  That is truly Life in Little Pieces. 

 

 

Thanks Mom!

 

 

  

Where Pieces Collide

I was watching a very interesting documentary this evening.  First of all though, let me explain that this week marks our first week without cable TV.  We are getting used to it and still discovering how life after cable really works.  We have maybe realized, at least partially, that our schedule is very different now and that our viewing habits will change.  It is a little scary to think of the change but I am sure we will be fine with the challenge.  Who knows if we will keep this way of watching TV or if we will get cable again, once we hold out long enough for the cable company to offer us what we think is reasonable.  

 

After much research into this new world of off air digital TV and internet streaming.  I have discovered some new programming of which I was not aware.   One such channel is the Smithsonian Channel, no doubt it exists in some line ups, it was not included in ours.  I like documentaries and have seen quite a few of them.  Mary, my brother David and I created one for my folk’s 50^th wedding anniversary party, “That’s Their Story…” in 2007.  It was fun and really good, if I do say so myself.  That brings me, not quite so expeditiously, to tonight.  I was looking for something to watch, and found the Smithsonian Channel.  I reviewed its offerings and found some episodes of interest.  One was part of an ongoing series, The Real Story: Apollo 13.  Since I am a big fan of the Ron Howard movie, I wanted to see this real life history narrative.

 

Let me provide a little background for some readers that might be too young or might have lived under a rock in 1995 when the movie came out.  In 1970, NASA sent up what hopeful would be the seventh manned mission in the Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon.  The lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the Service Module upon which the Command Module depended. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17.

In April 1970, I was 6 years old.  I remember only one event that year because it affected me so profoundly, so deeply that I never will forget how it felt.
 

Yes, I had my first encounter with death.  Unfortunately I was not close to my grandfather, after all I was a child and he, like me, never did understand children.  He was a grumpy old man that grouched around and so uncouthly removed his teeth sometimes, when he ate (after chewing his food with them, of course).  I would find out, later in life, what a kind and witty man he was and that he and I are so similar.  Although, in September of 1970,  I peered over the edge of the casket where he was lying; his glasses skewed high on his head and perched so oddly on his nose as he always wore them.  He wore a grey sport coat, the only one he owned.  Around his waist was the unfamiliar Mason apron, one he wore proudly at meetings.  There he was, lifeless.  My Dad said, “There boys, see, he looks like he is just sleeping.”   My Dad is a rock in times of stress and he always is my example of how to act in situations like these. 

 

As a child I had no concept that Dad was looking upon his Dad.  The man he grew up around, the man, perhaps, he had idolized; the man that no doubt had shaped my father into that rock in stressful situations; now, lain in a box at the end of his very tough journey.  I imagine that is a time of reflection on personal mortality, I do not look forward to that day and loath its inevitable coming.  Ah, but then, for a 6 year old this event took on legs. Not a lesson learned and not one of a positive spin motivating me to take on the world.  This experience left me with a very sobering thought, even for an adult; but as a little boy the notion occurred to me that life was a one way ticket and one eventual day I too would be in a sealed box in the ground.  This was one of the most terrifying ideas that could have entered into my head.  I ran into my folks bed room in tears, proclaiming my epiphany to which my Mother hugged me close and said, “Oh honey yes, but not for a long long long time.”  This helped and was a bit assuring. 

  

 

 

 

So, here I am years later watching this documentary about an event that was nationally significant and happened well within my cognitive development but of which I have no memory.  Many things of historical consequence happened in the late 60’s and 70’s that I don’t remember.  Martin Luther King, Jr.’s  assassination, church bombings, casualty lists in the paper and on the news ( I do remember though, the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, oddly enough).  I encourage the watching of this documentary it is really interesting.  In doing my research tonight, I was hoping to find that we had been distracted from the national news that April which would explain my void in memory and maybe we were distracted by Grampa’s grave illness at the time, but I certainly can’t positively pin it on him. 

 

Another one of life’s little pieces and as the years pile higher one of life’s little mysteries too.  I have matured a bit since then and have experienced a few more passings of people in my life.  Every funeral reminds me of that first one though, and as I try to emulate my Dad, I remember that feeling of hopelessness and dread.  No one truly looks ahead and welcomes the end.  As a matter of fact I try not to think of it at all.  Life is for the living, so I quote Stephen King’s Andy DuPree in the Shawshank Redemption, “Get busy livin’, or get busy dyin’”.  Our pieces collide with one another’s every minute of every day, every piece is part of your and my story, make it a good one!

 



The Best Ideas Are Sometimes Mistakes

 

 

This logo, I designed in 1998.  I was so comfortable with my job at Continental General Insurance Company, that most of the time I sat at the phone was consumed by "line drawings".  Those are drawings using a right angel and then drawing sloping lines from each axis eventually making, what appears to be an isosceles triangle except there is a slight dip in the "hypotenuse".  So, my new AI logo was born from a doodle!  Later, I would color it in add a two-tone treatment to it and the above logo is how it was created so many years ago.  This one is called Logo3, so I know when I go to look for it that I am looking for Logo3. It was actually the 6th generation of a logo for Anderson Images. 

Seems like an odd subject to bring up but I though I would repeat the notion of a major event with other events before and after.  Logo's are really important to me as I am a graphic freak, I love any kind of a printing process and I just have been fascinated with designing my own logos.  As a kid I would come up with ideas for business logos for myself as I matured I have designed well over 50 logos for ideas of businesses I have had.  Mind you I have drawn very few of them and have only Logo3 to show for them.  Logos and printed material are fun to create. 

Who Cares! -

Enjoyment of logos and design and printing is really a yawner to most folks.  I share this interest with so few.  I also share my enjoyment of dinosaur photo processes with so few people too.  The fact that I have a professional darkroom in my basement demonstrates my interest.  The fact I have used it once, demonstrates my lack of commitment.   These are points of conversation that anyone can strike with me and I love to discuss them.

Often I am asked how I can, so easily converse with people.  I am also asked by a few, why I find it important to converse with others that I can receive nothing from or have no need to speak to them.  The later question really bothers me.  I advise the same thing in both cases though.  People are interesting.  I find it enriching to talk to people.  I was always shy, I admire my Dad's ability to strike up a conversation with anyone about any thing.  I emulate this "gift" in my interactions and have been able to hide my shyness as a result of it.  I have found that if I lead a conversation it will go the way it should.  I am also able to learn from these interactions.  Most of the time I am able then to use what I learn in other conversations or other pertinent situations, this also helps me to be versed in a multitude of subjects; and embody the idea of "knowing a little about a lot".  Being able to bring up and hold my own in a discussion about almost any subject is invigorating.

Alfred was right -

A favorite teacher of mine, Mr. Dimauro, informed me and the rest of the group that education made for great conversation starters.  Much of what I learned from him have been great conversation starters and I am amazed at how much I remember directly from his class.  I have benefited from many great educators but have also been the victim of some very poor educators as well.  I would like to think that the good ones have influenced me more then the bad but when it comes down to it they all had an influence on my life.

Learning Never Stops -

I have always heard that you should always be learning.  It keeps you fresh and expands your world.  I have been photographing people for a while now.  It always amazes me how each shoot is different and produces new challenges.  We try new things and also use some of the same stuff we have for years.  We know that poses that work for girls wont for boys.  I must say girls are the most fun.  So many more poses will work for girls.  

 
This young man was a challenge and we knew he would be.  He was a great kid to work with and even though it takes a bit to get Devon to smile he gave me some good ones.  In my work you have to like the subject you are shooting.  I have never tried hating the subject, I might though have interesting experiences and images.  I will always continue to be enriched by those I converse with and expand my knowledge base.  My Dad will remain a champion of conversation and small talk and I will continue to emulate his ways.  Just more little pieces to add to the pile.  

Not All Adventures are Joyful.

 

My wife, Mary and I traveled with my parents to Washington DC in October of 2004. My folks had never been there and neither had we. I had watched Mike Leonard's story on the Today Show which was followed up by his book later, The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family. My parents had an RV, a nice '97 Winnebago Adventurer. This 32ft "cheese box" (so named because it felt like driving a giant Velveeta box down the road) was the right size for the trip and it would be an adventure, evidently, as far as Mike Leonard was concerned, a must experience kind of adventure.



My Folks picked us up and got us loaded and with a few instructions about RV living, we set out on, what I was sure would be, the best vacation of our lives. Well, I need not beleaguer the point since I have foreshadowed the outcome of this trip in the heading. Yes, not all adventures are joyful. What Mr. Leonard had failed to mention in the story on The Today Show was we should have taken two RVs (in hind sight I must have missed that point as reviewing the series it clearly states they had two RVs).



The generation gap is a perception thing, what is important to a couple in their forties is not important to a couple in their seventies and vice versa. I will say though we saw many wonderful things and had many laughs and for the most part had that memorable vacation I was thinking of, just not in the same way I had envisioned it. The end of the trip I have now transmogrified into a cartoon in my head; without slowing the RV down we see Mary and my luggage fly from the window of the RV followed by us, rolling in the grass up to our house. We look at each other and in unison say, "Whew, that's over" shrug and go into our house. I do believe it was a month or more till I spoke to my folks and other then the high points we didn't discuss the trip. We do now though, and because time is the great editor, we all agree it was the trip of a lifetime (We just should have taken separate RVs)



Perfection Obscures the View



Anyone who has been there or lives there, understand that one week is not long enough to see everything DC has to offer. You just aren't going to see everything you want to in that time frame. You can however get a great overview of the area. We took advantage of the tourist mass transit made available and made every effort to visit the high points.



I have been taking pictures now for thirty-five plus years. I am mostly self taught and have been shooting professionally for twenty-four of those years. I love shooting pictures and have many images that have been kept hidden for years on film and in digital form. As a photog, I have a vision of what I want to shoot when I see a subject and in an instant I can compose, crop and set an image. I am not being overly confidant or conceited, I am just confidant in my artistry. There are certain instances though, that require multiple shots and, yes I even second guess myself especially if I think I am staring at a potential once in a life-time scene.



I found myself in one of these situations one evening. We had been racing to get the shots I needed all day. We lagged in some museums and in some areas till the sun was just right. This time of day in October is about four o'clock in the evening. The sun has to be the right color and position. The subjects are the premiere monument and memorial on the National Mall, The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. They oppose each other across the reflecting pool. We were exhausted, but made it with just minutes before the light was gone. You can see in the image below:

 



The reflecting pool was still and perfect, the color was ideal. Here it was the most ideal spot (top of the Lincoln Memorial steps). Here was the shot I had envisioned, right in front of me. My friend Steve Thelen had coined the phrase "Big Red X" to describe that perfect spot where you are intended to take the perfect shot. In my head though, it would be straight on. The reflection of it and the monument itself would make one continuous line, the shadows would narrow the viewers attention to the centered subject. I know of the rule of thirds and revised it to work with my perfect image. Just me, my "brush", and the perfect canvas. BAM went the shutter, Bam again, Bam, Bam the familiar "Schlock" sound of my focal plane giving way and the mirror slapping the camera interior. Something just wasn't right though. Bam, Smack, Schlock; image after image I captured but didn't feel as if I was capturing my vision properly.



I was frustrated and kept shooting, moving slightly left or right. Once, I braced myself against a column and continued. My frustration grew with every snap. I was loosing the light, I was missing my opportunity. This once in a life-time shot was slipping away, my blood pressure rose, my breathing became erratic as I held my breath before and after each shutter fire. "I can't get it", I thought to myself, "I know it's there but where, why can't I get this!" Suddenly, I realized my arm was being tugged on. I heard an annoying voice busting into my concentration. "Doesn't she know this is the shot I was wanting, right here! Can't she see I am in the zone?" I thought, annoyed.



Suddenly, she took my arm, looked into my eyes and said something to me that would become an epiphany to me. "Hey, do you know where you are? I know that shot is important but look at where you are!" She said it with such a soothing, calming and reasonable urgency. It made my mind stop reeling. I glanced at where she nodded to see an amazing scene. There, through the columns and the beautiful shimmering pink marble, was the giant and impressive seated Lincoln. I was amazed at it's impressive nature. The sun was narrowing on the statue but still good and strong enough to capture it. I took a breath, smiled at my beautiful wife and reverently approached the figure. I looked briefly into his eyes and marveled at the detail, took aim and BAM! One shot, not perfect, but well composed, interesting, good light.


Lincoln Memorial National Mall Washington DC 10/2004



I think that Mary's words are poignant and timely. I think they are further reaching then she intended. They are now kind of a mantra for me, when I find myself in similar situations. When my attention gets narrow and my anxiety gets the best of me I will stop, look up, hear those words and refocus. Mary is a strong wonderful woman. She has given me, myself, and continues to center me.



Forest and Trees Things



The point I make, if not by clubbing us over the head, is concentrating on the narrow goal helps us to lose sight of the moments in life that are equally important. Don't get me wrong setting goals and achieving them is important and essential to success. An important rule for photographers is similar to a line in Money Ball, "Once you get what you want, hang up", except it is more like, "You got the shot move on." Trying to engineer the situation so it fits into your ideal of perfection or most ideally for you, is futile. A friend of mine quoted, quite often, Robert Heinlein, "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." I believe this line can mean a number of things under the futility category. Don't lose focus, but also don't allow your idea of self importance, make you miss the fact you are living life. Again, life happens between the peaks and valleys.