Why I Take Pictures

I wrote this in 2014 when I first started blogging. It's still the truest thing I can say about why I do what I do. I'm reposting it as the start of a new chapter for this blog.

I grew up in the sleepy town of Monterey, California, which is two hours south of San Francisco and six hours north of Los Angeles. At the age of 21, I arrived to the chaos of New York City. Here in America, people from California are known to be more relaxed and laid-back than people who live in New York City. In fact, I often get asked, "You're not from here, are you?"

From almost the first day, I found that I really loved the insanity of New York City and embraced it. I also realized that I would simultaneously need to find a way to maintain the Zen qualities of my California existence. I thrive on being surrounded by frenetic energy but, internally, I prefer the emotional waters to be calm.

Three years into living in New York City, I was working as a waiter and I had completely lost all traces of my relaxed self. In such a short time, I had turned into a jaded and cynical urbanite. I hadn't lost hope that I would rediscover my balance but who who had time for that in this crazy rat race? I tried therapy but realized I wasn't the only person who found my "problems" boring when my therapist starting falling asleep during our sessions. I tried meditation but my mind raced and raced with anxious thoughts. I even left New York City for six months to live in San Francisco but, if you can believe this, I found it to be too small town for my tastes. I was hooked on big city life and, after a number of years, I gave up on the idea of being completely serene in the city I loved.

Then I found photography.

It actually surprised me when I realized that, for the first time in a long time, I was completely in the present and in the moment. I was walking around town with my first DSLR (a Canon 40D) and, without even intending to be, I was completely engrossed in my surroundings, taking it all in. My brain wasn't doing the crazy loop-de-loops it always did. I was so engaged with the visual world around me, my brain experienced a long overdue break from the choppy existence it had become accustomed to.

I chose to pursue photography as my career at the age of 27. I'm now 36. Photography is my access to sanity, serenity and contentment. Taking a picture of anything is, inherently, a way of showing your gratitude for that scene being presented to you. To create images is to repetitively give thanks for the obscene abundance of visual riches that you encounter on a daily basis. Feeling gratitude must surely be the first step in creating a worthwhile life.

Being a photographer slows you down and has you proactively looking for beauty and opportunities for capturing that beauty. Photography has you become intimate with the world around you. Through the lens, you become related. Through the lens, you become connected. Through the lens, you find yourself in the world.