“Photography takes an instant out of time. altering life by holding it still.”
~ Dorothea Lang ~
St. Augustine Beach, FL (two images sandwiched together).
Ahhh… nostalgia. The joyful bliss of accepting the fact you’re getting older. In days of old, the night before Thanksgiving was a big bar night for college kids coming home for the holiday. A night to reconnect with friends, walk down memory lane and conveniently hoist a pint or two… or ten.
If we think of life as ages & stages, I remember all of the ages, but not all of the stages. I’ll chalk this up to selective memory. The chapter pertaining to pre-gaming the holiday at the local watering hole is a blur at this point. Not sure if selective memory comes into play or a few brain cells dissipating at the stroke of midnight? I honestly can’t remember. I do fondly remember Turkey Bowl football though on Thanksgiving Day and only succumbing to a few bumps & bruises - maybe one trip to the ER.
Time stops for nobody and similar to a river navigating the diversity of the landscape, we as humans ebb & flow with the changes in life. Only when we hit the pause button do we reflect and view the mosaics of our life. Vivid memories cascade to the frontal lobe and are remembered with fondness while others are fade like the $25 fine art painting hanging in my office.
When it comes to the arts, finding your photographic voice is a similar process. It’s a journey of self-discovery and artistic expression. Some people are inherently gifted and know their ‘True North’ at a young age. No connecting the dots for these folks, they had a beacon in the night and avoided the rocky coastline. For everyone else; finding your style, technique, and and true passion takes time. Two examples that come to mind are sports photographers, Walter Iooss, Jr. and Neil Leifer. These two Sports Illustrated legends were on assignment as teenagers resulting in Neil Leifer landing his first cover at the tender age of 19. For all of us mortals, this is mind boggling.
