Finding Deeper Meaning

When I started this website, I contemplated how I wanted to organize my photos. Was I just going to follow the norm? I’d have different galleries labeled sunsets, sunrises, landscapes, waves, etc. In each of these galleries there would be a mix of shots of the same subject but from different locations and different times. I wanted to create a different experience. 

While reflecting back at why I take photos in the first place, the questions I asked myself were what are my images about? Is there a theme? What is the main subject? Does the compilation of all my photographs tell a story? What does my art mean to me? 

I noticed whenever I traveled to somewhere far from home, either out of California or outside of the country, the photos I brought back seemed incongruous with the rest of my imagery. They were nice photos, but just that, nice photos. It didn’t have much meaning to me. I never really felt any significance from those images. 

Between a photo of crystal clear waters on an atoll that required thousands of dollars in travel and a crystal clear tide pool 30 minutes from home, I’d pick the latter any day.

The photos from home has meaning. They have meaning because this is where I’m from. This is where I grew up. This place is what made me what I am today.

To get the most amazing photos here involves much more effort than paying a travel agent for an itinerary. It often requires years of persistence and just plain luck. And yet  it costs nothing. On the other hand, you cannot pay to experience it at its prime. You are at the whim of nature.

Part of finding meaning in photography it is to realize and appreciate the beauty of one’s local area. You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to travel somewhere exotic for a masterpiece. The photos that I found to have the most meaning were just locations I discovered unexpectedly, locations that not many have gone due to its remoteness or secretive nature. 

The more I find meaning in the photos I make here, the I become less interested traveling outside the country, or even my own state. I no longer feel a need to travel far or across the world to find meaning. It’s found right here.

December 25, 2019 | Photography & Art