Lessons Learned from Photography.

Over the years, I've realized how close the parallels between my personal life and my artful life are. It's not just that I'm creating art based on my experiences, it's also that my approach to art is the same as my approach to life.

There's an old joke:

“Why don’t you and I go into a dark room and see what develops?”

But jokes aside, I find that the way I think about film photography is a great way to go through life.

When I shoot film, I'm hopeful for the best, but understanding if it doesn't work out. Maybe it's disappointing, but it happens every once in a while and I can move past it pretty quickly. In life, things don't always work out either. We have to try to let go of the things that don’t go as planned, just as we should let go of the photos we miss.

When I shoot film, I don't know what the results will be. There's no instant gratification. I have to wait and see what develops, and I'm patient while doing so. In life, we also don't know how things will play out. It’s a game of patience sometimes to get through life. Don’t assume the worst or the best. Just wait and see.

When I shoot film, even though I know what I'm doing, sometimes there are mistakes. And sometimes, these mistakes end up making the photo better. Bob Ross called that a happy accident. Life has plenty of those. Keep yourself open to the good that can come of a misstep.

When I shoot film, those mistakes can also ruin a shot. When that happens, I don't get upset. I try to learn from it. Embracing mistakes and learning from them is part of life, too. I think there’s really no such thing as failure as long as you learn something. Failure is really how we can come to excel at things!

I could continue. But the point is, things are largely out of our control, and that's okay. If we approach life like a photograph or a painting or a piece of pottery, maybe it would be easier to navigate.

What do you think?