Another friend of mine recently announced his retirement. He had spent nearly fifty years in the creative world yet when asked what his plans were for the future he could only answer he had a lot of reading to catch up on. Beyond that, he confessed not to know what would come next. As someone who tries to capture every spare moment creatively, working on my photography or writing, I found the answer to be both surprising and disheartening. We are all creative beings. Yet, often, life gets in the way of our creativity. We yearn for time to travel, read books, enjoy our family. Many people yearn for time to paint, write, draw, take photographs, knit, sew, or explore a new art form. Many times I’ve heard friends say, I’ll do that when I retire. That may never happen. Retirement may never come. Life is what happens when you’re planning something else. The message is clear: there is no time like the present. Pull out that pencil and sketch pad. Find your old camera at the bottom of a closet where you last saw it. Sign up for a class at your local arts center, college or museum. Don’t wait. The creative spirit within is struggling to emerge. Find it and enjoy every day as a creative being. You’ll fall in love with the act of creating again, or for the first time, and you’ll be glad you did.

On a trip to Russia recently, as I was capturing a street scene in downtown St. Petersburg, I was asked about my photography. The first question was simple: where can I see your work? Do you have a website? As someone who takes great pride in their work, the external world has only recently come into focus (pun intended!) Several years ago, at the urging of my wife, an accomplished painter in her own right, I began submitting my work to galleries and museums for exhibitions and competitions. To my delight, I have been quite successful. Not surprisingly, sales of my work picked up. The missing link has been, in our web faced world, a web presence for my work. I intend this to be a gallery of my work for people to enjoy. I encourage commentary, including pointed criticism. Don’t be shy. I create these photographs because I am driven to be creative. Creativity is in our genes - all of us. For me, it is an irrepressible passion. It’s a part of every day. Now, thanks to the miracles of the modern web (and easy to create web site managers such as format.com - a shout out to a brilliant photographer friend and colleague - Travis Fullerton, the chief photographer at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and a fabulous artist! - for pointing me in the right direction.) I hope you enjoy my effort to capture images that highlight the beauty that surrounds us everywhere.
[image-: 21556]