It probably goes without saying, but I love photographs. Like, *really* love photographs. I think it’s safe to say I love them much more than your average bear, or at least your average Iphone + Instagram + Facebook social junkie. Maybe it’s a problem; the people I often climb with think it is, as they pose and repose, shiver and tire, and generally grow more impatient and angry at me, especially when the lighting is good and I just can’t be satisfied with 1 (or 100) clicks of the camera. But it’s what I love to do. Always have and hopefully always will.
Why? I have some theories…
Maybe it’s because it runs in my blood – my grandma and my mother both were photographers, not by profession but in spirit. My grandma would often go on-and-on about her (film) Leica camera, a soliloquy that was a bit lost on me as a digital photographer. Wow, she really loved that camera. My mother would enter her images in the County Fair, and would be extremely pleased with herself if she took home the $5 first-place prize. Or maybe I should say, more pleased with herself than usual. A first-place photograph was guaranteed a prominent place
on our living room wall and she would happily recite the words of judges to those that inquired: “they said it had ‘great composition!’”
Maybe it’s because I have a bad memory and need photographs to remember the events, places, things, and people of my past. I am a glutton for experience, and I frequently need help to distinguish between one summit or the other, or one month’s excursion or the next. Then again, even with their assistance I tend to draw a mental blank and instead look stupidly at the person talking to me about some moment we supposedly shared together years ago. God help me with remembering names. Or, even worse, birthdays.
It could be to balance my chosen career path as an attorney. Why did I choose that profession again? Damn my first-child tendency to overachieve! (Remember kids, overachieving comes with a lot of student loan debt; law school gave me an invisible house that I get to pay for!). I joke; I enjoy my work as an attorney, but I definitely get neurotic if my many hours spent in front of a computer and dealing with other peoples’ problems are not balanced with frequent adventure in the mountains, camera in hand and artistic vision running on full cylinders.
More than anything, perhaps, I love photography because it opens the door to the deeply gratifying experience of exploring and expressing my own spirituality – my source of inspiration and passion. For me, it’s the grandeur of the natural world and the smallness of the person; the transcendence and contentment that come with a true sense of place, far beyond the concrete of our cities and the temptation of our blaring TVs; the ever-changing face of our world, spoken loudly with passing storms and quietly with shifting rays of sunlight. It’s something that words cannot accurately describe; a purely emotional experience, best captured and expressed with a simple photograph.
Your spirituality or passion might be different. Maybe you get excited about the colors, smells, and bustling activity of cities. Or the camaraderie of people and the various manifestations of culture. Or, to pick a random example, horticulture. Or something else entirely. Whatever it is, photographs are a great way to elevate the conversation and share your passion with others.
Whatever the reason, this website depicts some of my own favorite photographs. For backstories and new material, please “like” my Facebook page at MK Wild Photo. I will try to keep an active blog, the purpose of which will be to generally celebrate the natural world. Stay tuned!!