Your personal statement about your photography...

I thought I found a dead-thread. Thanks David for bringing it back to life so that I may

express a paradigm shift in my life outlook since last night.

I watched a History Channel 4-hour show on the birth of the universe and our planet. It

included The Big Bang Theory where a satellite showed what the universe looked like at

130,000 years old. It all started with the entire universe smaller than one atom in size --

then bang --

It is not an infinite universe.

Then we get to Earth. 4.5 Billion years of history in that show. Complete with extinction of

life a few times.

Then 10,000 years ago -- ICE AGE. A blink ago. I somehow had missed the context of the

ice age in the big picture. Then the coming NEXT Ice Age between now and 15,000 years

from now. More extinction, including ours.

Extinction is part of this planet's history. We live in the space of time when we can live.

Then all will be gone again. Until last night I thought of photography and art as something

important for future generations. I never put a ceiling on how long into the future. I

thought about saving endangered species for the future. I thought about healing our

planet through photographically expressing the wounds. I thought about the invasion of

the wilderness by development and profiteering. I thought about making a difference with

my art, my life.

As this is all still a shock to my system, and I am in deep thought, I am reading the

"meaning of photography" threads here now. And I am allowing my reason for creating

fine art photography to alter.

It HAD something to do with affecting change in the world. But, now that all is lost -- and

sooner than I thought -- my art is now for me. Capturing pictures of beauty so that I may

enjoy them, and relive the experience of my encounters. Trees, landscape, animals,

abandoned buildings, irony, et al. Things I love, things I now want to bring into my living

room for me to enjoy in this short lifetime.

If my art survives, so be it. If it doesn't, if only myself, some friends, and my kids enjoy it,

then so be it too.

I love looking at the photograpy of others, and experiencing what they might have felt at

being there. And sometimes I really LOVE the experience thay had. Now I will focus on

creating images that take me back to that special time and place, the nostalgia of my own

experiences.

And David -- when I see a photo as in your PS, I don't get mad. In fact, tears well up -- a

longing to be there where that guy was.