I believe that we as photographers should be thankful.  I’m not telling you what to believe or how to feel, however, this is something I try to feel regularly in relation to photography.  I totally get how the gear is fun, the technology can be fun, taking pictures is an enjoyable way to spend time and having the finished images to share, or relieve the trip, is wonderful.  I think everything about photography is great!  What I’m asking you to do is maybe look a little bit deeper in to what we do and the things we get from it and perhaps be thankful that we found photography, or it found us.

 

Patterns of wheat fields in the Palouse during harvest

You might be asking yourself what in the heck am I talking about being “thankful” for photography.   Maybe I’m thinking a bit too hard about this, but what I’m finding as I shoot longer, teach more, travel to different locations and collect thousands of images in my photo library is that when I look at this as a whole, I am so thankful, grateful, and humbled by the experiences I’ve had, the sights I’ve seen and the people I’ve met along the way.  Those are the true, meaningful gifts that I’ve gotten from photography.  Not awards, calendar sales, likes or any external gratification…it’s the feelings and experiences I’ve received as a result of photography.

How many of your friends get up before sunrise and are standing out at some beautiful vista waiting for the sun to come up?  (probably the sane ones are still in bed lol).  But we as photographers are out there. Yes, we are there to “capture images”, but at a deeper level, we are there to experience a sunrise, to see a new day dawn across a beautiful landscape and to witness natures immense beauty.  These things far outweigh a mere photograph in my opinion, but having a photo is nice too to remember the occasion.

I am thankful that I found photography and thankful for all that it has given to me over the years.  I have always wanted a way to express myself, some creative outlet and it wasn’t until I found and got someone decent at photography that I finally found that outlet.  I’ve always wanted to see the “big ice” of Antarctica or the Polar regions, not specifically for photography but because I felt pulled to see it.   Photography gave me the opportunity to travel to Greenland and fulfill a lifelong dream.  I have dozens of great friends and hundreds of casual friendships all based around photography, with each person adding their energy and wisdom to my collective life experience.  And most of all, I’ve been able to be out in nature, closer to where we humans came from and where we are more at home, and experience natural events, wonder at the amazing sights and enrich my life through each and every experience outdoors.

Having pursued photography for years, I have collected thousands of images, as I’m sure you have as well.   Is it the actual images that make us feel good or is it more a recollection of the experience we had when we captured them?  I contend it’s about the experience, not the photograph.  After all, how many images of the Moulton Barn does one photographer need?  Only a few.  But, standing out on the high plain before sunrise, feeling the breeze blow across the landscape, watching the gradually lightening sky and then when the majestic color floods the sky….THAT is an experience!  Yes, I will have a photograph, but the richness of my life just became that much sweeter because of that experience.  THAT is why I am thankful for photograph.

If you’ve taken a workshop from me, or heard me give a presentation, one of the points I make repeatedly is to “slow down”.  This helps us get in touch with our surroundings and ourselves which I hope will help us create better photographs.  Slowing down also pertains to the experience while we are on location.  I encourage you to take a breath, put aside the camera for a moment, forget about technical settings or compositional rules, and recognize and appreciate the location you are at and the wondrous beauty you are seeing, be aware and attuned to it, be thankful for the opportunity, then lock that feeling away in your memory bank…like a mental photograph that you can pull out and relive all over again.

As I do this more and more, photography is less about images, or trophy hunting or technical challenges….and it is more about experiences, friendships and enriching my memory bank!   To me the actual photographs themselves are becoming less important and the actual experience of photography, expressing myself, creating art, etc. AND the experience of being on location, is what truly matters to me and what I am ultimately thankful for.