When one door closes...

Breathe in, breathe out and repeat as needed. This is one of those mantras that fits almost every situation and never gets old. However, as easy as it is to say sometimes it is not always as easy to do. Lately I find my life (personally and professionally) happening in steady cycles. Sometimes I am cranking; go go go and then breathe. Other times it is a slow and steady pace to the finish. At first it scared me a little that I was noticing such patterns, considering a good portion of my life and career is organized traveling and chaos. Neither way is better than the other just different and it is that difference that is my comfort right now.

I used to think that people from a young age depending on their background and upbringing had an internal wiring that was hard to change and would stay pretty steady throughout their lives. Yet, the older I get the more I realize that is not completely true. For me, growing up in and around cities I have felt a certain comfort amongst the every day hustle and bustle. It has shaped a lot of my career choices and given me a certain calm peace to overcome many stressful situations. Then I moved and started working and spending more time in the woods and have found a piece of me is just as content here too. This recent balance of the familiar and the unknown has made me more aware of the connections I have to the people and places around me. It has given me a better appreciation and stronger curiosity to explore new things that before may have scared me away or given me anxiety.

This new found excitement for alternative adventures I feel as been creeping up on me for some time now, but only in the last few weeks or so have I actually acknowledged that it is there. I have always been a very inquisitive person by nature wanting to learn more and more about everything not just one or two things in particular. To be honest, I feel like it has helped to shape me and my career as more of a well rounded person and company. At the same time there has always been a lingering envy of people who pick one or maybe two things and put their whole lives and then some into it with no holding back. When it comes down to it I like variety and new challenges to keep things interesting and to keep the stoke alive. Even if it is an activity, sport or board game I have played/done forever if I can put it aside and come back to it with fresh eyes then it pushes my creativity to the next level.

Now is the time to take all the things, people and places I already know and love and see if I can flip them on their heads. In addition, letting myself branch off from familiarity to a deeper understanding of my surroundings without loosing the love and passion I have what is right in front of me.

A great example of this is that recently (last week) I was offered a solo gallery show at a local spot in my town called the Tannery Pond. I took a walk over to the check out the place and see the space to size up my options for material to present. Originally going into it in my mind I had decided I was going to promote my already published book and art pieces from 2015. After hanging out with one of the curators, seeing the space and reevaluating my position as an artist in this small town in the Adirondacks, I began to second guess my decision.

So instead of rushing home to fill out the paper work, I decided to roll out my yoga mat, lie down, meditate and breathe. 3,2,1 and a few minutes later life came back to me a little more focused. Thus, resulting in a preemptive phone call to my mom for an hour (mom knows best). At last instead of rushing through what could have been an easy no thinking just rebranding show about a past experience I had captured, suddenly turned into me deciding to start from scratch. I looked around at my studio, ( again breaa=thing deeply) and thought long and hard about what this town and its people mean to me. How can i show my appreciation and love for them through my art for this show. Now all of a sudden this show became something more; more about my connections between traveling as a photographer and my home in New York. It became an eye opener on something that was there all along. Thus, "The Adventure Continues..." a photography show about my life and travels, connections and adventures across the country from home in Colorado to home in New York is born. Obviously the details are vague and my mind is racing; i just submitted my application but in the last few hours I feel as if I have accomplished something bigger and more meaningful than I Have in in a long time.

People always warned me don't get caught up in all the little details sometimes you need to step back take a look at the bigger picture. It's so true and not just in relation to this upcoming show. I am starting to see that fast or slow the intertwining of my lives personal/professional, East Coast/West Coast, Mountains/City they are interconnected on a deeper level. It doesn't have to be a this or that. It doesn't have to feel like an uphill battle. I can and will weave all parts of my life together and they will fall where they are made to fit. So I started off with a great mantra and I leave you with a beauty quote from Alexander Graham Bell “When one door closes another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” Let the adventures continue!