A Change of Scenery

Follow your heart, I read recently, But take your brain with you.  I laughed outloud.  I imagine our hearts have all taken us places we shouldn't have gone at one time or another - mine certainly has - but as long as you don't get lost, a wrong turn here and there is just a detour, a small change of scenery.   Even with the very best intentions, none of us lead perfect lives and we ought to be grateful - forgiveness wouldn't have much meaning without a little sin.


Life, art, love and mistakes are all largely a matter of perspective.  I'm not always alone when I'm taking photographs and it never fails to intrigue me how two people can look at the same thing and see it so differently.  Some of us see only pieces of a picture while others see a vista and still others miss the magic entirely.  My best photographs evoke, capture, reflect emotion and mood - if I'm lucky, they speak in their own visual language - each dog or cat, each dancer, each musician is unique to me, a single figure in a single moment of a singular story.  I love photography and I love the effort of finding the essence of a subject.  If I can make you see what I see and make you feel what I feel even in only one of a hundred shots, then I'm more than satisfied.  Amid the smoke and noise and mood lighting, there is beauty.  The suggestion of a little sin, a little wildness or a little passion only makes it more interesting - most likely why I'm so partial to musicians.


Before his life was cut short, my friend Scotty tried his hand at having his own photography business.  As he was far more artist than business man, it failed catastrophically but he never regretted trying.


Every musician I know dreams of a breakthrough to stardom - none have made it but they keep on playing and keep on dreaming.


I've watched restaurants, modeling agencies, specialty shops, and art galleries struggle to survive.  Not a one regrets the effort or would not try again.


Fame and fortune are just not in the cards for most of us - it's enough to be known and appreciated in our own small towns, to live peacefully and work at something we love.  So if your heart leads you, follow - if you don't know where the road leads, that's all the more reason to take it.  You may not reach happily ever after but you'll be glad you tried.  And you might even be a step closer.