Ever since putting the first camera in my hands back in 1975, in some shape or form, I always dreamed of being a photographer.
The heartfelt goal and drive was not so much owning and operating a photographic business, as I successfully did, several times over, even in different parts of the world, but living a photographic life.
Living a photographic life was always the drive, determination, resolve.
I wanted not just to capture life through my lens but experience life.
When you become a professional photographer, like many others here would chime in and attest to, you shoot way more for client briefs than personal projects: more science than art, more photographic business than photographic life.
Good or bad, like it or not, you end up shooting for the wallet and not the wall. It’s inevitable.
I remember the day, so clearly and vividly, back in February 2011, when I took my first iPhone photo.
It was truly love at first sight and a blissful, unforgettable “aha! moment” for me.
The simple but powerful first experience felt like I was returning to my beginning roots of living a photographic life. Something felt eerily familiar and intimate.
After all, as I quickly discovered, having an iPhone camera by my side and in my hand, 24/7 and 365, was the equivalent of having a fully-stocked retail camera store, a tricked-out darkroom, and my own branded publishing company. Click.
It was glorious design within reach. I could finally live a photographic life, and not just the stuff of dreams and whispers but the stuff of life, in the moment.
Click again,
Jack
