Monday Morning Musings: A reflection on the journey

There are many kinds of journeys. We can start and end a journey in a day. Or a moment. Or a minute. Sometimes it takes a lifetime to complete the journey. Sometimes the journey never ends.... or never begins. My journey is probably all of those. To be a photographer - that is the unexpected journey I never dreamed of, and one I hope will never end. The journey as it relates to travel - my small journeys that I anticipate and that end too soon. Or the journey of life - the adventures of places and people, lived out through the air force. Sometimes the journey ends with saying goodbye, sometimes forever, to the old...people, places, memories. A sad but necessary truth.

But the journey I want to talk about today is the journey of a child. One of the best things about being a photographer is having the ability to visually trace the life of a child as he or she grows. The child is not mine, but for one year (or more) I can interpret the miracle of growth, see the subtle changes in face and personality, and really get to know the families who I can then call friends. This is a challenging thing to do when I move around so much, but it's worthwhile. Above is my very first "year in the life": Cameron.

Cameron's parents came to me on the suggestion of our mutual friend Julie. And I was able to photograph the miracle that is their son at 3 months, 6, 9 and finally a year. Over the course of this journey I have gotten to know the family well enough to call them friends. I have done couples photos for them on a date night. And Rich, Cameron's dad, is interested in photography and has become a valued assistant to me at weddings.

So the moral of the story is - no matter how long you're in one place, the journey is worth taking for the lessons you learn, for the chance to grow, for the opportunity to see change happen and for the blessing of the friends met along the way.