“A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.” — Frank Herbert
I am starting this blog as I begin a new chapter in my life. Newly retired, writing these thoughts out will help to define the remainder of my life journey.
This blog is primarily about my photographic journey, but I hope it will be about more than just taking pictures. The directions I take reveal what is important to me and how I perceive the world. It is also a transition from having a job where expectations were defined by others or my understanding of those expectations, to having sole and complete responsibility for how I spend my time. Thus it is also a case study on retirement. Not least, with a Ph.D. in ecology and more than 20 years with a state environmental agency, I hope that through my photography and more directly, I can continue to make a contribution to conservation of natural areas, wildlife habitat and species diversity.
In a little more than a week I will be heading to Colorado to begin the first of four artist residencies I have been awarded by the National Park Service. The “journey” will be quite literal for the next six months as I travel to Rocky Mountain and Petrified Forest National Parks, Homestead National Monument and Big Cypress National Preserve in Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska and Florida, respectively. A private residency in Moab, Utah between Petrified Forest and Homestead also seems likely.
During this time, I hope to better define my photographic vision and style, and set the stage for a second career that combines artistic perceptions with technical skill and ecological knowledge. I will not always have web access, but hope to post at least three times per week.
I hope my family, friends and colleagues will follow my journey, and what follows, and share their thoughts with me as I go down a new road. If my photography is at all successful, perhaps they will vicariously share the beauty of sunrise on the mountains or desert, the marvel of diverse animals, and the wondrous complexity of natural systems across the country.