Like a Rockstar

No matter how busy and bogged down, no matter how neglected or sad, no matter when things don’t turn out like hoped, no matter whether I haven’t been out side in days or I don’t see friends for a while, no matter if I’m hungry or tired, no matter if people cancel on me and I feel that my life becomes one demensional…

These things don’t come into play when I have a camera in my hand and I’m making people smile.
When I’m instilling confidence and bringing out the best in them.

Those other things disapear when I’m taking pictures and it all clicks (like so often it does) … the other cares are long away.

When they’re loving it and I’m loving it and I can show them a few pictures and tell them there are one hundred (or 4) just like it and they are happy… well I feel like a rockstar.

• I feel like a rockstar when they say they hate getting their picture taken and after they say they had the best time.
• I feel like a rockstar when they say they hate pictures of themselves and then they say they love these pictures.
• I feel like a rockstar when they worry about something (anything) and within minutes they forget the worries.
• I feel like a rockstar when they don’t think it’s gonna work out and I tell them there’s no way it can’t work out, and then make it happen.
• I feel like a rockstar when I look for some thing most would say is ugly and then say watch this… and see their expression when they see the wonderful picture.

I’m not saying I idolize or even want to be a rockstar, i’m not saying they’re role models most of the time… what I am saying is I am happy to see others happy and happy to do my job well.

I’m happy to create art, to bring out the best in others… yeah sure there’s some ego involved. I hope I make up for that with the amount I give back in the paying it forward to others venturing down this road. I hope I play a role in making their life better… but not just them, but the clients they’ll come in contact with, paying it down generation after another.

So while I was sitting here my office and worried about the future, while I made plans and they failed, while I worried a ton about how to help my students become their best selves, while I pulled 12-15hr days for days on end…
…I went out today and I was amongst people that truly appreciated having the best, wanted the best, and when I offered them that… well I said to myself: “so what about that other stuff, this is what it’s about and how could things end up bad when things are this good.”

When you do a good enough job and you make an impact big enough it’s not just you up to bat alone anymore, but you’ll have people at bat for you! Besides… when was it ever just you? It’s not in question: God Lives and loves us and it’s never him that seperated from our side.

So you know what? screw it, those that appreciate you will do so and there are just some people that just don’t understand how to appreciate or show it. Sometimes they just don’t know… try to educate and share, but don’t be bummed when people are just people and that’s how it goes. You’ll find your true friends, you’ll find the people that love what you do and you. And in the end you won’t get enough of giving back and forth to eachother.

Live life passionately and live it purely, don’t be fooled by crappy philosophies… give more than you get… when you start thinking about how to suck money out of your clients pockets is the moment you’re setting out for a crashing burning failure in not just photography but anything and everything. Maybe the checkbook will look alright for now, but look out any moment just behind you… failure is just around the bend, lurking, at any moment… why live that way? Give it all, without worries of what you get back… it’s the letting go we search for and it’s that letting go after we know we put it all in. Of course learning to give all your potential is per’darn important. But search, find and then do.

We just got to say sometimes: giving is it’s own reward and sometimes we get back from the widow with her mite… and that gift to us is of greater worth because of the sacrifice made in the giving.

So thanks for listening… but it didn’t matter. I don’t care if you did. (at least i’m trying not to) As a photographer an improved you is what will make your photography and the experience better.

Buttons change, technology improves but the heart and the mind (eye) make art.

Go out there and make it happen you probably already have tasted it… and many feel it every day like me (in many areas of life). Many people feel like the rockstar and they get to experience one of the ways that photography is the best job there is… even with the long hours before, during and after you learn it.

Even with the simple shoots like this mid-week engagement.