Sometimes, as a photographer you need to step back and ask yourself what the hell you're doing--why you're a photographer. I got into photography because I love making photographs. Well, duh. That's obvious--who goes into photography if they don't like taking photos. I know, I know, but bear with me. The thing is this: sometimes I forget why I do this. Sometimes I get so bogged down in the business end of things--the booking, the marketing, the equipment budget--that I lose sight of why I started doing this in the first place. Pretty soon I'm only hauling the camera out when I've got a paying shoot, otherwise it sits in it's case waiting for the next client to call. That was never the kind of photographer I set out to be. I want to be a photographer that shoots for the love of shooting. I want to be so excited about creating good work that I do it whether there's any promise of money on the other end or not. I don't want photography to be just another job, I want it to be my passion. And sometimes that means I need to take some time to reset my focus. Step back to see the forest instead of the trees.

That was yesterday. For the first time in a long time I hauled out the cameras and went on an old fashioned photo safari. A Photo Safari is this: you put on your boots, some grubby pants, and head into the woods to photogrpahy anything you find. You take every side trail, you crawl around on your hands and knees, you peek under big rocks and into hollow trees looking for anything and everything. At the end of it your sweaty and tired and utterly filthy, but you have a camera full of the most amazing things you've ever seen. That's kind of day that made me fall in love with photography to begin with, and now I need to have one every once in a while to remind myself why I'm doing this.

Yesterday got me so inspired again that I got up before dawn this morning and went out to catch the sunrise. It feels good. Stay tuned for more...