Breaking Belief.

Breaking the summer silence. For those of you who take time to read and follow my work have been so supportive. Even the reality that you’re reading this post shows how dedicated you are to sharing life with me to some extent. Other than the occasional Instagram post I have hardly written anything. Part of me thinks that I need to be older and gain more experience to justify writing, however, there are perspectives I want to share that I don’t really hear in the circles I’m part of. I’m primarily referring to a centre ground. Our desire to be correct in our beliefs or hold onto our beliefs so tightly inevitably results in division, war, conflict, and disruption of shalom. We need to hold specific beliefs in order to navigate the numerous ways of functioning in our world. This is unavoidable. The problem is that people insert their identity into these beliefs. We are not what we believe but what we believe forms who we are. This discrete differentiation does not permit us to have insane beliefs or function in reality in chaotic forms. It seems that we should believe things that enable us to function in harmony with the people around us but how do we orient ourselves if the beliefs others hold are paramountly destructive or exploitive to people or planet? This is where internal conflict erupts. My desire for bringing peace to earth directly contrasts other desire for living within the world however they want. I desire to communicate and love others in a way reflecting the Christ, which is what I think maybe the only concept that could enable us to form harmony that overflows from a community.

A Christocentric love not only calls for inclusivity of all people but also permits unity as a result of radical reform in our lives. The tradition of prophets in the old testament held this position throughout history and in a time where we may not have a formal acknowledgement of prophets, it seems that ideology shifters occupy that space for our modern context. I want to avoid bastardizing that role to people who are simply popular due to social media, podcasts or book sale and emphasize that the people within small communities doing their best to live out the role of reformers may be creating more change. You will often never hear of these people. Their fundamental role in society is overshadowed by the eccentric egos of the people around them who are still striving for self-fulfilment. It’s these unknown people who are doing the radical, uncomfortable, Christocentric work that creates the unbearable paradox of actually living what you claim to believe.

This week I hope you take a long look at what you claim to believe and attempt to begin the journey of removing the superfluous in order to make room for the essential essence of reality. The photo below are from multiple trips with my film camera earlier this year. If you guess the location of them I’ll send you a free print. Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Local Landscape Photography.

Innumerable mornings or evenings I find myself driving along the rural backroads of the Lakeland region. My only hope during this search is that something will intrigue me enough to slow down, descend the ambiguous ditch only to immediately ascend again and look towards an undiscovered subject. This oversimplified explanation of my yearning to uncover hidden beauty in my home county could be an insight into my idealism. Regardless, I’m perpetually hopeful that the light and conditions will come together perfectly to highlight the optimal subject in the location I happen to be driving towards. The reality is a majority of the time I go out to shoot I come back with either nothing or something underwhelming such as the first image below. There is this romanticism with photography, especially when it comes to making mages in your own backyard. I look at the legendary Ansel Adams and he made it seem so effortless. I realize he considered a good year to be getting twelve ‘keepers’ but the quality he produced is still magical. I suppose he was somewhat aided by the grandeur of Yosemite and one could say that the Lakeland region is a far cry from such an iconic location.

People often drive through or visit this area without thinking about its history or what makes this region unique from many others. To a certain extent, I’m still learning much of that myself and the cliche could be said that it all comes down to the people. However, there is something about this landscape that I am perplexed by. No other place have I travelled and had more difficulty to make photographs that I think are interesting, complicated, or beautifully simple. My home is where I have the greatest difficulty. It could be due to familiarity, yet I don't want to take the easy excuses, which leads me to just having to embrace that if I want to document the landscape of this region it’s going to take a lot of work, patience, and vision for the kind of legacy that can be established.

With all this said, if you’re interested in learning from me, I now offer solo lessons where we do an hour of lessons, and then another hour of actual shooting during golden hour. You can have never turned on your camera and by the end of it, people walk away much more knowledgeable and excited for figuring out how to see from a photographers perspective. I’d love for you to join me in this unrelenting pursuit of uncovering the unique geography in the Lakeland.

5 Environmental Tips for Photographers.

1. Buy Used Gear


2. Use Equipment Extensively then Repair or Recycle


3. Print with Eco-Friendly Material


4. Don’t Geotag


5. Shoot Local



5 Questions of Life.

I just thought I’d share a few questions I’ve been mulling over the past months, If you have answers, opinions, insight, or maybe even wisdom you’d like to share, feel free to let me know:

  1. What can we do in life that is actually significant?

  2. How do we continually motivate ourselves to pursue what is good?

  3. Why does there seem to be a correlation or balance between externally inflicted suffering and self inflicted sabotage?

  4. How can we bring about peace in the most viral way possible?

  5. What can we do to bring love to those around us even if our world views are drastically different?

Below are some of the nature details I’ve shot this winter season while the mushrooms are hiding. Enjoy!

The Concept of 'Fun.'



