I have written a book, sort of… It is a published version of my photo blog from 2015. You can review it here, or if you like, you can purchase the pdf version and if money is no object, feel free to purchase the printed book. Have a peek here: https://www.blurb.com/books/12700614-a-year-in-pictures.
I had a web site containing my photos for years, you can look, it may still be up, www.robertmckayjones.net. but wanted to create something a bit more lasting. This book is my answer to the Internet. I enjoyed the process, taking photos every day, going through sometimes hundreds of pictures in a day to find the one image that spoke to me and trying to come up with the words why. I
enjoyed editing the photos, sometimes changing them completely or making something out of nothing (see March 6). I especially revered taking a picture so memorable and moving that looking at it again takes me back to that moment in time instantly (see July 23). I also found it impossible on some days to find the will or the optimism or the passion to see a shot (see February 23) that I took a very mundane scene and added hope for my own sanity. Winters in New England often drove m ee over that edge. And then there were the pictures of things I loved, like my fiat (see August 7).
All in all, I took more than 40,000 photos that year and selected under 370 of them for this book. I spent hundreds of man-hours traveling, shooting, editing and writing. It made be a better photographer because it made me see things I would not have seen. It made me appreciate the little things more than ever. My granddaughter jumping in the air just because she could, It’s a memory I will always have and will always treasure. My grandson, passing me a loving scowl. I will cherish it always. In the end, it may be my own elixir and for my own sanity, but I just like any creator hope you behold the beauty of my efforts.
If you get nothing from this book, I pray you get these three things.
Appreciate. No matter your age or your condition, learn to appreciate the moments in your life because it is those moments when woven together that become your life! When you get to the gates, whatever gates those are at the end of your life, it is all those moments that will pour through your mind like a wondrous river of color and smell and sound. It will be your symphony!
Create. Learn to be creative. Write, paint, shape, draw, carve, turn, shoot, talk, teach, stuff, bake, travel, speak, share, whatever makes you happy, create something. Everyone needs to create something. It doesn’t need to be great. It doesn’t even need to be good. It needs to be yours!
See. Catch the detail, the nuance, the nature, the beauty, the edge, the color, and the ugliness. Observe the perfection or the imperfection. Things are not as you see them until you look long and hard. Magnify them in your mind. Be inquisitive. Ask yourself, why is it like this? How did this become like this? Answer the question, “I wouldn’t have noticed this if I hadn’t…”