A Whole New Light

Gabriella's passion for horses continues to grow. Yesterday, we spent most of the afternoon visiting the stables at The Forest History Center. It was quite amazing to see these 2,000 pound working horses up close and, despite their size and the forty foot trees they slid across the grounds, the teams of horses moved with the grace and elegance of ballet dancers. When you see the serene and natural beauty of man and beast logging the old-fashioned way, one could almost lament the arrival of the highly efficient but massive diesel machines that now populate our forests.

I have to tell you I was shocked by the fact that my last post (the water droplet blip) seemed to please you as much as it did. The hearts and stars it received humbled me greatly. I did it out of blip desperation and it was a bit of a photographic lark for me. Had an animal or person been in my house that evening, the water would have never dropped. But, the truth be known, that image caused me to reassess my blip life. I took that image after arriving home at 10:30pm from a very long and tiring day at the office. Before I knew it, it was 3am and I found myself still editing it and, then, commenting on the images of others. A few hours later, I awoke for another grueling day at the office and I was angry with myself that I let the night drag on far too long simply in the name of blip. So, I decided to give myself a badly overdue "timeout."

I feel badly that I have not been here at all to explain my sudden disappearance. However, after weeks of personal discovery and many conversations with my wife and children, I realize now that I took my blip life too far and my obsession began to erode the quality of my family life and my focus on my businesses. I had been kidding myself that I could keep my ever-accelerating blip commitment up without sacrificing the things that meant more to me than anything on earth. I was, in fact, living an unsustainable mistruth and I now see my past blip life in a whole new light.

But leaving suddenly and without explanation has not felt right either. Photography and writing are still passions of mine and I have still carried my camera and my notebook with me on my daily travels. So, I will try this again but I will do it differently this time or I will do it not at all. I am not quite sure what that means though I can promise you that I will be here far less often than I have been in the past as I strive to find a healthy balance this time.

And to those of you who reached out to me about turning my comments back on and being away from blip, I am thankful for your thoughts and your heartfelt words. I missed your friendship and inspiration and I continue to believe that blip is perhaps the kindest community which exists on the web. Thank you.

Finally, this is the first time I have downloaded any images from my camera to my computer in the last three weeks despite shooting daily. There are some images that I wish to back-blip over the course of time. But, for now, I am posting this and running back to my family and my wonderful in-laws who are visiting us from California.

Please have a wonderful week.