Being
Paul Butzi writes this about my blog:
It’s a personal preference thing, and lately it’s been ranging much wider than just photography, but I’ve been completely enchanted by Paul Lester’s Paul Lester Photo lately. What I’ve enjoyed most is his openness in sharing how his photography integrates into his (very interesting) life. If it’s not a blog you read regularly, then I’d suggest starting with the July 11 post, and reading forward through time to the present.
Firstly, thanks Paul. I appreciate your continued readership. It means a lot.
This past year I have seen so many changes in my life. Let us call it being born again. Not in the religious sense, but in a sense of awakening to what is around me. At times it has been downright scary and unsettling. It can troubling to awaken and find out that you really have no control in what life brings your way. Surely, you only have free will to make choices to either accept or wrestle with the hands that you are dealt. I’ve chosen to accept most things. For those times when I don’t accept them, turmoil ensues in some form.
Now, what does this have to do with what Paul says about my blog? When I first started this blog, my intention was that this would be a nature photography blog, or at least a blog about photography! It hasn’t turned out to be that way. Instead, it has turned out to be an exploration of my life. I’m learning, growing, digging, and exploring.
In some ways, this blog helps to heal me. It is cheap therapy. It helps me to become more aware of who I am, not the label that I place upon “Self”, but that true “Self”. I’m still excavating and, for the most part, enjoying the project. I think that I have finally shed the label that I placed upon myself: “Landscape Photographer”. I still love landscapes, but I really like to just shoot life.
You know, you never know how something will affect you. I love to read Stephen King books. He, IMHO, has such a great command of the language. He can convey images better than most authors that I have read. His characters come to life and are so vibrant, you feel as if you know them. In reading his book, On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft, he spends a bit of time talking about his life and then gets down to the business of what works.
One of my favorite series of King books was The Gunslinger series. I read this series over the 20 years. I believe that it took him 33 years to write it! In the foreword to the 3rd book, he said that he expected the book to be finished after 3 volumes, but that that wasn’t going to happen. He said that the characters weren’t leading him in that direction. Eventually, it ended up taking 33 years and 7 volumes! I could not understand how he couldn’t know where the characters were going! Didn’t he have a plot?! The short answer is no, he didn’t have a plot. He just wrote and let the characters develop on their own and go their own way. He says that he doesn’t write books, he just dictates them. The stories are already out there, written. The main theme that I took away from his “On Writing” book was to, above all else, be truthful. Would a character behave like that, for example.
Oblivious
That is what this blog has become. I’m being truthful to myself. I go with the camera leads me. I take pictures that call me. I write about whatever comes to me. This is called relinquishing control. Lately, it’s been a lot of personal exploration with pictures merely serving as “eye candy” to go with the text. I don’t know what I’ll write about tomorrow, but neither do I worry about it. What comes, comes. It’s a great feeling to give up control. At first, it’s scary, later it’s pleasurable. There’s a lot of freedom there in just ‘being’.
About the pictures: Both were taken today during a stroll around downtown after I finished working.
Thanks for reading!!!
I guess that I’ll participate! 
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