Paul Lester Photo

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon

I have many fears to work on, but sharing my fears with you is not a fear that I have. Ted Orland wrote a fantastic book about Art & Fear. I can relate. In particular, I can really relate when he says: When you come up with something good, you think that it’s a fluke. When you come up with something bad, you think that it’s an omen. Been there. Done that! If you’ve not read this book, I highly suggest that you read it.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been reading things like The Power of Now, The Tao Te Ching, and various self-help books having to do with understanding fear and the ego’s role in it. I’ve changed quite a bit, but there remains lots of work to be done.

When Paul Butzi announced the Solo Photo Book Month, I was very interested; however, immediately, the fears started to set in:

• What do you know about writing a book?
• You’ll never be able to finish it
• Who are you kidding? You’re not good enough to do a book!
• 35 pictures in a month?! Do you take that many in a year?
• It’s better not to do it than to do it and get laughed at

These are just a few of the things that went though my mind. I’m not kidding. My inner critic, who seems to be working overtime sometimes, allegedly trying to protect me from harm, was chattering away! Now, I don’t put these fears out here to elicit pity, commiseration, or empathy, but just to list them and have a look. I know that most of these fears, indirectly, came from well meaning parents, teachers, and even friends, who had a lot of fears of their own, whether they realized it or not. Most don’t realize it. They call it being practical.

Fear has it’s place. If you see a snarling dog barreling at you, it’s good to have fear. It will prepare you for fight or flight; however, irrational fears, such as those associated with doing something that you’ve never done before can be debilitating. The ego doesn’t know the difference. It’s job is to protect you from harm, or as it perceives everything, death.

So, I look at this ‘assignment’ as a personal challenge as well as a learning opportunity. I’ve already learned a whole lot about book design that I never knew. It’s a chance for me to face and overcome some of my fears. No, not redemption, but simply a chance for growth.

If you are participating in this SoFoBoMo, congratulations to you. If you have fear, like I do, take a step toward it, realize that you will not die. Be productive. Go out and shoot, shoot, shoot, and enjoy yourself. Enjoy yourself.

Give the inner critic some days off. It needs a rest and you need peace to do your artistic work. You don’t need some voice yammering in your ear telling you not to try!

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow. ~Mary Anne Radmacher

If you don’t get any shots that you like, go out again tomorrow, and the next day. You’ve got 30 days of fun! If by some chance this post has encouraged you, please come back and read it again. I know that I will.

About the photo: This photo has significance with regards to fear. I took this Saturday morning on the corner of Providence and Sharon Amity, a very busy corner here in Charlotte. I was lying on my back, in the front lawn of the church, for all to see as it was no more than 10 feet away from the street. A year ago, maybe a bit more, I would have had too much fear to do this. I simply would have not taken the shot.

It seems as the Solo Photo Book Month ‘project’ is picking up quite a bit of interest and also a bit of blog space as far as posts are concerned. When it first started, one could search Google for SoFoBoMo and find nothing, which in itself is amazing, as there are usually some hits to most anything you search for.

Today’s search has yielded dozens of pages to sites referencing this challenge. Paul Butzi, you’ve created a monster! If you don’t yet know about it, read Paul’s post here.

So, since I signed up for the challenge to create a book in 31 days from start to finish, I figured that I’d better get to thinking about a theme, or at least if not actively thinking, then letting it percolate in my brain a bit. At one point, I wished that it started in February, as I’m going to White Sands National Monument, but it doesn’t start until April.

Yesterday evening, I was sitting down and talking to my wife and, as usual, recognized all of the beautiful light that streams through the windows from about 1.5 hours before sunset until it goes behind the trees and thought: “Why not?!”.

So, I have the theme of the book, tentatively: Around The House. These will be shots that are constrained strictly to my property, or perhaps even more so, to the inside of my house. I won’t have to go far to exotic locations. It falls right in line with my philosophy that there is beauty, mystery, and interest all around … all we have to do is open our eyes.

I had thought of doing one that had to do with shots taken while walking the dog, but then I read Paul’s post from yesterday, I changed my mind. That’s what he’s doing.

There’s so much to learn, but it’s fun. I plan to read a book or two on book design and layout so that I can make it a look like a real book. I’ll have to swing it in M$ Word, though, as I don’t have an extra $680 to spend on InDesign to make a professional looking book … but then again, I don’t need to.

Now, all I have to do is hope that it doesn’t rain for 60 consecutive days, or the theme will be a whole lot different and may involve fast water rescues, helicopters, and lots of boats! !