Photographers and Other Such Animals

I went to a lecture tonight by Nick Vedros, sponsored by Canon, and held at the Southeastern College of Photography in Daytona.

Gotta tell you, I hadn't heard of him before. Just didn't run in those circles.

But he had a really good message, underneath all the thinly disguised humility of a great big ego fed by corporate-based hundreds of thousands of dollars. The message?

Build a life around the things you love to do and make it work. Period. Make no excuses, stop whining about how you don't have time, can't afford to or have no emotional or physical support in seeking your dreams.

And, do it as early as humanly possible, so that you can realize these dreams before you have to use a walker to get around.

It's a good message, and I intend to carve it in my brain. I do a particularly time-consuming kind of art which doesn't gain me a lot of return in the financial area, but, you know what? Not too many other folk are doing it. It's my style. It's the way I do things. I like it and I like doing it. I may evolve it into something else which may be more financially rewarding, but if I don't, it's my choice.

So, google Nick Vedros. He's got some cool stuff, and most of it was done way before Photoshop. And, if you ever get the chance, attend a lecture. Overlook the references to all of his six-figure jobs, and how he rents machinery at $5,000 a day and try not to get physically ill when you see his million-dollar studio and home. Absorb the message he sends out to the Universe and apply it to your own world.