The Writer

A friend of mine asked me today if I still had my blog. I do. I have this one and several others in the ether, all gathering dust from inactivity.

The trouble is that I am writing more now than ever before, only I'm writing for other people and much less for myself. Last year I published 34 articles, book reviews, and personality profiles for various publications such as Digital Photo Pro, Rangefinder, After Capture, Photographer's Forum, as well as several uncredited Pro Talk interviews for Nik Software. I also spent a great deal of time working as a co-author on my first book, Capture:Digital Photography Essentials, and working on my second book, which is currently titled 10 Assignments for Avid Photographers.

So I am writing. In some senses, in this past year, I have been more of a writer than a photographer. My roots are very solidly grounded in photography, but my writing has taken off in a very published direction. Which is wonderful. I'm happy about all of the connections that I have made with other photographers and aficionados of the photographic medium.

Yet I also realized that I need to write for me. At least a little. Because it is in writing for myself that I rediscovered my path nearly six years ago and applied to Brooks Institute. It was through my writing that I realized that I was a photographer, whether or not anyone in the world knew it but me. It was the writing that gave me the courage to pursue my dreams and awoke the tenacious, hard-working, Taurus side of my personality.

I can't guarantee that I will write here as much as I should, or write in journals or sketchbooks, or all the other places I write, but at least I am putting this out into the world. I am going to write more for me.

And, of course, meet all my other deadlines.

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