dave.gt
Well-known member
Medium Format Photography. How did I get here?
While I was listening to a favorite recording artist of mine, I realized the lyrics at the bottom of the video pretty much summarized my mood lately. The music, the rhythms, the emotions, are all beautiful and inspiring in a different way than I am used to being inspired.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XQbk2C4ZmsE
I find inspiration in Life in many places. But I can only be patient and wait for it to find me.
Photography, and other forms of visual art, inspire me. People inspire me. And I am here on this forum because of those people who inspire me. My bride of 49 years now, who has always been a mentor for me, and who continues to suffer and survive devastating health problems, inspires me the most. She is profoundly inspiring. But how did our journey bring us here to this day, in this community of talented photographers and genuine, good human beings (as my good friend Steve Hendrix might describe those we appreciate)?
In 2004, our journey into a Strange Land began with medical complications from a blood clot while I was working professionally and teaching graduate students simultaneously. The outpouring of love and compassion from dozens of my students was the beginning of my enlightenment of the goodness in humanity.
After years of caregiving, in 2015, I had become a changed person, humbled in every way. Beaten and thankful for our survival after dozens of hospital stays, surgeries, and hundreds of therapy sessions, we noticed that we were not alone and many patients we met inspired us with their own stories. We were brought from the depths of despair by amazing healthcare professionals and we were awed by the many survivors we met along the way.
My passion for photography, a lifetime affliction, had been put on hold for years. But I still carried my Leica camera in my Billingham bag to use as a pillow and a mobile storage solution while living in wooden chairs in hospital rooms.
We met a dear soul who had suffered a massive brain stem stroke and Lockdown Syndrome just a year after she married her high school crush and while climbing the ladder of her professional career. From Wall Street to wheelchair. We became friends and adopted her as our own mentors as she flourished and shared her story of survival and continuing rehabilitation.
She became our first pro bono client in our quest for inspiration. We sold everything we had left to start a mobile Studio for inspiring others. I had never done anything like it before. But I knew my 35mm and full frame digital gear was not what we needed. Through a friend, I was led to CI and met Steve Hendrix who became a business resource foundation, setting us up with a CPO Medium Format camera and lens, plus rentals, professional advice, training, and, amazingly, personal assistance in accomplishing our goals. We could not possibly have produced our Portraits of Healing and stories of inspiration without Steve's help, care and empathy.
We met a scientist, who fell while on vacation and broke his neck. He became an instant quadriplegic six years ago. At the time we were introduced to him and his family, he had progressed from a sip and puff wheelchair to a manual wheelchair and was able to stand and hug his wife for the first time since his traumatic accident. Using the H5, we were able to present his story of inspiration as a fighter. He went back to work and with the help of his loving family, he flourished.
Images will follow.
These are just two people who helped us to be inspired along the way. From our own lowest depths of despair, we followed the light. That light was the human spirit and love they shared with all those people around them.
Medium Format was our chosen medium of expression and we remain committed to that form of presentation. Sure, there are other means of expression, and music is one of them. Perhaps, when the dark days of Covid 19, political and social problems are behind us, we will be able to return to those angels of survival and share more stories of inspiration.
For now, we are in the interlude of our life's symphony. Patience and continued work with photography, no matter how banal our motifs are lately, are important and we look forward to sharing more stories of inspiration. Those who inspire us deserve more than I can possibly do, but sharing their stories is what we are called to do.
May the rest of the way be even more enlightening than we have experienced thus far.:thumbup:
While I was listening to a favorite recording artist of mine, I realized the lyrics at the bottom of the video pretty much summarized my mood lately. The music, the rhythms, the emotions, are all beautiful and inspiring in a different way than I am used to being inspired.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XQbk2C4ZmsE
I find inspiration in Life in many places. But I can only be patient and wait for it to find me.
Photography, and other forms of visual art, inspire me. People inspire me. And I am here on this forum because of those people who inspire me. My bride of 49 years now, who has always been a mentor for me, and who continues to suffer and survive devastating health problems, inspires me the most. She is profoundly inspiring. But how did our journey bring us here to this day, in this community of talented photographers and genuine, good human beings (as my good friend Steve Hendrix might describe those we appreciate)?
In 2004, our journey into a Strange Land began with medical complications from a blood clot while I was working professionally and teaching graduate students simultaneously. The outpouring of love and compassion from dozens of my students was the beginning of my enlightenment of the goodness in humanity.
After years of caregiving, in 2015, I had become a changed person, humbled in every way. Beaten and thankful for our survival after dozens of hospital stays, surgeries, and hundreds of therapy sessions, we noticed that we were not alone and many patients we met inspired us with their own stories. We were brought from the depths of despair by amazing healthcare professionals and we were awed by the many survivors we met along the way.
My passion for photography, a lifetime affliction, had been put on hold for years. But I still carried my Leica camera in my Billingham bag to use as a pillow and a mobile storage solution while living in wooden chairs in hospital rooms.
We met a dear soul who had suffered a massive brain stem stroke and Lockdown Syndrome just a year after she married her high school crush and while climbing the ladder of her professional career. From Wall Street to wheelchair. We became friends and adopted her as our own mentors as she flourished and shared her story of survival and continuing rehabilitation.
She became our first pro bono client in our quest for inspiration. We sold everything we had left to start a mobile Studio for inspiring others. I had never done anything like it before. But I knew my 35mm and full frame digital gear was not what we needed. Through a friend, I was led to CI and met Steve Hendrix who became a business resource foundation, setting us up with a CPO Medium Format camera and lens, plus rentals, professional advice, training, and, amazingly, personal assistance in accomplishing our goals. We could not possibly have produced our Portraits of Healing and stories of inspiration without Steve's help, care and empathy.
We met a scientist, who fell while on vacation and broke his neck. He became an instant quadriplegic six years ago. At the time we were introduced to him and his family, he had progressed from a sip and puff wheelchair to a manual wheelchair and was able to stand and hug his wife for the first time since his traumatic accident. Using the H5, we were able to present his story of inspiration as a fighter. He went back to work and with the help of his loving family, he flourished.
Images will follow.
These are just two people who helped us to be inspired along the way. From our own lowest depths of despair, we followed the light. That light was the human spirit and love they shared with all those people around them.
Medium Format was our chosen medium of expression and we remain committed to that form of presentation. Sure, there are other means of expression, and music is one of them. Perhaps, when the dark days of Covid 19, political and social problems are behind us, we will be able to return to those angels of survival and share more stories of inspiration.
For now, we are in the interlude of our life's symphony. Patience and continued work with photography, no matter how banal our motifs are lately, are important and we look forward to sharing more stories of inspiration. Those who inspire us deserve more than I can possibly do, but sharing their stories is what we are called to do.
May the rest of the way be even more enlightening than we have experienced thus far.:thumbup: