Sunday Morning Reflections: Photography, Friendships and Anticipation

Grab-shots from ShutterFest 2015/2016

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."
Albert Schweitzer

It's Easter Sunday morning, and whether your religious beliefs involve Easter, Passover or for that matter any holiday, there's something that happens today more than any other - there's a beautiful silence in the air. It takes me back to days when I was a kid and businesses were simply not open on Sundays. Traffic in Sarasota is almost non-existent, and most stores are closed except an occasional gas station or convenience mart. It truly is a quiet Sunday morning.

I woke up this morning and as usual went bounding out of bed because I knew exactly what I wanted to write about, "anticipation."  We're headed to St. Louis this week for ShutterFest and my excitement has little to with photography, but EVERYTHING to do with the Albert Schweitzer quote above.

Over the last three years, the event has brought together an extensive list of old friends and new ones. With each year new people have come into my life and become wonderful friends. From my perspective, the growth of ShutterFest has just as much to do with the building of a community as it does photography.

So, today will be filled with totally random thoughts about friendships. I'll rack my brain trying to remember names of people I've met over the years. Photographs of past ShutterFest moments will be projected in my head almost like watching my Dad's 35mm slide shows when I was a kid with slide after slide, always separated by the darkness of the room as his old Bell & Howell projector moved to the next image.

All of this is accompanied by incredible appreciation and gratitude for so many of you. Why? Because just like Albert Schweitzer's thoughts, your friendship has become the spark that "rekindles" my love for this industry so often. It's your passion for the craft that's contagious. And, it's that mutual love for imaging that's been the foundation for so many incredible friendships making this industry habit-forming!

Wishing all of you a beautiful Sunday and time with people who inspire you, even in the smallest of ways. They keep our "lights" burning and remind me of a sign Sheila has hanging in our home:

Angels exist but sometimes they don't have wings and are called friends."