You know it’s funny how fast time goes by. You start one project never knowing just how far it will go or how long you keep it going and before you know it, a few years have gone by and you’re left wondering where all that time went. Back in 2008 when I first started this blog I didn’t know what I was getting into except that it would be a good thing to boost my photography skills. I can honestly say that it has been a lot of hard work, even to the point where I didn’t want to even think about this site. But it did exactly what it was supposed to. It might made me better.
My Dad was the one who got me started with this whole blogging thing believing that it would be so critical of a business tool in years to come…. I hate it when he’s right. That’s what kids are for though. Spending time in my own backyard photographing whatever local subjects I could helped tremendously to improve and to force myself to blog. Like this Sage Thrasher at Mono Lake in the Spring. Dad and I spent a lot of time chasing those guys around the tufa’s. But local wasn’t enough.
The greatest part of photography has always been the freedom to go where you want to and capture the world when you do go. I have spent a lot of time around Grizzly Bears. With over 10,000 images of Grizzlies alone they are by far one of my favorite critters. Their behavior is so fascinating and yet so simple that one trip is never enough. After spending five days at McNeil River watching a dozen bears at once fish for salmon, I still want to go back for more. Once the trip was over however, the stories ended up here, where they could be relived over and over.
Everyday we are stuck in an office at one point or another and often the best escape is just a short drive away. Having an outlet where you can vent your thoughts and tell your stories from these excursions is probably the greatest mental test when it comes to this game. Having to constantly come up with new content is always a challenge as life inevitably gets busier. However, if it were not for that challenge then we wouldn’t be photographers.
And yet it still amazes me the path that we end up down in life, never knowing where that path would lead. It wasn’t long after I started this blog that I started in aviation and the joys that have come from that venture have been endless. Not to mention the amount of blog posts that have come out of all that. Every plane has a story and there are never enough pages to cover them all.
In the end though it all comes down to the people. The people that help make every trip possible. The people that need the images for their business to continue. The people who fought for our freedom and the people who fight to honor those men and women. The people who are touched just to have their picture taken and that moment of their lives remembered forever. And of course, the people who read this blog. We all strive to capture more than just a moment in time. We strive to create something with those captures that tells a story that needs to be to told. A blog can achieve that goal for everyone.