Stepping out on a Journey of a Lifetime

Friday, July 19, 2013 – United Airlines 

I’m off to Africa for 17 days!  I found the preparation for this trip to be quite stressful.  It wasn’t the shots (about 7), or the cost (I used frequent flyer miles), or the fear of…it was the fear of failure.  Preparing for this trip took me back to my days at Indiana University when I was a music major.  I was quite proficient at playing the viola, but the transition from playing music to making music, from proficient to creative, from good to great always eluded me, and I quit. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough or didn’t understand the nature of that transition, but it was not for lack of opportunity!  I was at Indiana University, in the best orchestra, with the top Viola instructor in the world…It was me, I gave up on myself. 

I fear that I am in that same situation right now with photography.  I’m quite proficient and have wonderful mentors and colleagues (Heward Jue, Bob Sadler, Jamie Douglas).  I have a great camera and a set of great lenses. I know how they work and I’m capable of getting any shot I want.  But, do I know what I want?  The transition is in front of me:  Can I move from taking pictures to making pictures? Can I move from proficient to creative, from good to great?

This trip to Africa is my test.  I will have 10 days in the field with Heward Jue and Elley Ho, with plenty of cooperative targets (people, villages, animals and landscapes). This is a hands-on chance of a lifetime!  I might be scared but I will not quit this time.

 So, here I am sitting in First class on a 747 flying over Hudson Bay.  That alone is a study in contrast.  I’m on my way to a third world country to see how half of the people on the planet live.  And I am traveling there in style. Maybe that’s part of the transition, making the contrast obvious.  Step out of the portal; leave my world, my job, my Ipad, my cell phone, my texting addictions, all my distractions behind, and dive right in!

This time – there is no George Janzer to tell me I can’t make it.  It’s time to step up and succeed!

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