As I woke up this morning and saw some of my photos featured in a Facebook catalog titled New Beginnings, I couldn't help but feel a little giddy about it. I mean, everyone needs new beginnings now and then in their lives. I couldn't help but wonder what's next for the young lady featured in those pics. I hope it's grand things. I hope she dreams big and realizes her dreams. As I looked at the youthful exuberance on her face in the pictures I captured, she had such uncertain promise in her eyes. It reminded me a little of myself at that age. I was once full of promise. I still am, I guess, but back then life hadn't happened yet. I hadn't found my place in the world. I was still searching. Now, I have my little piece of the American pie. I've had some success, some failure; and still I yearn for those new beginnings that will fill my life with more.
I had another birthday come and go. My 37th to be exact. And I spent it taking pictures all day at a local MMA event in Deming. I wasn't particularly happy with the pictures I captured that day. I never REALLY am at the end of a shoot, but there were still a few moments that made me happy. A few moments in life is all we can really ask for, right?
I recently talked with a friend about celebrating birthdays. I told her that in Europe birthdays seem more important and that my mom, being of Dutch decent, writes down all her friend's birthdays on a calendar and never forgets them. My friend told me she always puts on a white dress and goes out with whoever are her closest friends at that time. She wears white as a symbol of purity to wash away all the impurity that has burdened her life in the past year so she can start fresh with a new beginning for those who are no longer with us and unable to celebrate. Okay, I may have embellished that a bit, but you get the point. I thought that was a refreshing way to look at birthdays. Hell, maybe I'll even buy myself a nice white shirt and go out with my friends next year. If only I could make a few this year...:)
This year the musical hit of the summer is undoubtedly Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, Pharell and T.I. That song has got my brain thinking again about relationships. One of my Facebook friends recently wrote a post to choose love over lust. In theory, sure that seems like the logical choice. But love is everywhere and those blurred lines often leave a guy confused and unsure about what to do about lust. In life, everything is not black and white. There are lots of gray areas. I suppose that's what Robin was writing about. Of course, it doesn't help when T.I. bursts into the song and asks "One thing I ask of you, let me be the one you back that ass to." Ya, TIP always has a way of getting right to the point.
Blurred Lines may be the hit of the summer, but the concept is nothing new to me. I can remember having countless conversations with my old college roommate about those gray areas we encounter in life. At the time, he was openly gay, but still coming to terms with how his relationships would end up and how his family would materialize. I'm happy to say he's married now and recently adopted a baby girl, so apparently he figured it out. Not that I ever doubted he wouldn't. In the end, we usually figure things out.
One great thing about Facebook is that with close to 3,000 friends, I get to see a lot of relationships come and go. There are weddings to be celebrated. There are unfortunate deaths that are mourned. And there are always an abundance of births to be celebrated. Of course the one thing all of it has in common is it's celebrated through pictures. As I focus on my portrait work this summer, I realize the importance of what I'm doing. In the last few years, my portraits have been used on Match.Com to find a friend of mine a new man. She's now married to that man. They've been shown on ModelMayhem.com to help start modeling careers and, of course, they've been shown on Facebook to start countless new beginnings. Photography for me is still a hobby and I don't get paid often for it, but I enjoy all of these little success stories.
In photography, I've learned the best photos captured are of what happens between the action. I guess the same can be said of life. In life, it's not always about those big events. The birthdays, weddings, births and deaths. Life is about celebrating the little events that happen everyday between those big events. So to that young lady celebrating her new beginnings this morning. I thank you for letting me be a small part of it and I wish you nothing but the best.
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