Whenever I’m feeling down, I remember this one very important rule that I hold myself accountable to: The world owes you nothing. You owe yourself everything. If ever I begin feeling sorry for myself because of how unfair life can be, I remind myself of how untrue that is. Life can be harsh, but the way we handle those situations can light our life for years to come. We have truly unlimited power to give ourselves the nourishment we need…
Anytime we start a new project, we look to the horizon to see a time when things will be easier. We look for that moment, sometimes so far away, when everything will settle and our project won’t just be a small baby in the grand scheme of life. We wait for a time when we won’t have to work as hard, worry as much, or put as much blood, sweat, and tears into our ideas. Ideas come and go. They…
“Don’t let what you don’t have stop you from what you could create.” How often are we plagued with the repetitive thought that we cannot create unless we have something more to create with. A better camera, a new tripod, that awesome speed-light, or just a bigger budget entirely? There are amazing photographers out there who are able to spend a lot of cash for every photo they create, and that is a really wonderful thing to have at your…
I wanted the last class I would ever teach at After Dark to be a big one, so I decided to end it with a set design class. I went out that morning with the very kind man behind Sweetlight John and gathered sticks, leaves, debris of all kinds, soil, cobweb, and a lantern. When it came time to do the class, I nearly forgot that it was nighttime! I was envisioning everything being lit by a window. So instead…
I went hiking the other day, and as I was merrily walking along a trail and commenting on how beautiful the dirt looked (seriously though) I whacked my head into a tree branch and fell on the ground. I do dumb things all the time. Like that time I thought it would be a good idea to buy 300 copies of my own book, only to realize that it is very difficult to travel with so many books. Thus, I have…