Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart

The title is an old European witticism, a Dutch one I believe, but no matter it is true, true enough at least, as it relates to my career as a photojournalist.From the beginning, I was captured by the lives of those often referred to, as the concerned photographers and by many of their early contemporaries. I had visions of becoming a social documentarian and scouring the world in search of meaningful images,that would speak to the masses and the leaders of that world.I did not see wealth and fame,at least not while I was alive,at any rate, but I did see purpose and dedication and a degree of self satisfaction. Alas,reality intervened, in the form of a wife and later a son,both now long gone and somehow I took a less fulfilling, but more profitable, road. I still worked as a photojournalist, but never a renowned chronicler of my times. Not even as an unknown one for that matter. I covered elections and sports and the occasional riot, or visiting Royalty. But I never did get around to social change. Not, mind you, that I regret my choices or my career path,both were rewarding,if not quite what I had envisioned. Nevertheless,as I am now,once again,faced with the task of rebuilding my career, something I have encountered before,courtesy of adversity,divorces and catastrophic economic town turns,I am drawn back to my beginnings.

I am older now,much older and I am seeing with the eyes of one I would never have recognized all those years ago. A man who has witnessed his chosen field morph into something akin to a fantasy world,where photography has become so dependent upon computer sciences that it bares little resemblance to what I embraced so passionately, so many decades ago. Personally,I think it tragic and wasteful,but it is what it is and I must find a way to come to grips with this new beast. And so it is, that I am once again drawn to social documentation. This time, however, I am not dreaming of changing the world,only my little corner of it. This time around,I can see clearly,what I could not see at all before, that change happens in tiny increments, that together form a greater good So, I will look no further than around the corner for my inspiration and my subjects. Oh they could, eventually, take me the world over, but they may also just take me next door and that is alright. There are so many things to see and expose in this world,that do not command the world stage,but that matter to that world and more importantly to the people involved. Will this new vision make me riches,no, but it will make me an instrument of change and change is good.