Memories...

It's hard to understand the mind of a photographer. We're always searching for that perfect angle and the best lighting. Always be ready, it means more than you know. That moment when you're driving down the road and it's a beautiful sunset, but you weren't ready and you can't turn back the clock and make it perfect again.

When I was a child I spent hours looking through boxes of family photos. Mostly people I had never met, old black and white photos. Smiling children, happy families, and hard working men documented through out my family history. My imagination would run wild looking through those old photos.

In the boxes were also newspaper clippings. Most were announcing engagements, births, and weddings, but some were obituaries. Often a they had a photo and an explaination of how a loved one lived and was lost, sometimes it was just a name. Some lived long full lives but many were taken too young, from sickness or war. Someone always documenting the good and the bad.

Even when I was a teenager I almost always had a disposable camera. They're definatly not the best pictures, but they are my memories. In this digital age of photography the true art is being lost. Photos are being stored on hard drives and disks. What's going to happen when your going through the attic with your grandchildren and they ask "What is this shiny thing?" It could be a disk of your wedding photos, a day full of memories, and there's no way to share them with your grandchildren.

So what is the point in all my ramblings you ask? Take a moment to think about someone you've lost. Someone who means so much, someone you wish you could hug right now. Now think about the present, the future, good times, smiling, laughing, and glowing with happieness! It can last forever. I promise when you hold that photo it will trigger a memory so strong you can almost feel the breeze!

This is why I do what I do. I know, I wear my heart on my sleeve. I feel so lucky to have been given the gift of sight, and the ability to capture the true soul of a moment through the art of photography. There's so much I can not change, but maybe others will slow down and open their eyes. You never know what the future holds my friends!