I spent a week out west. It was a break I needed and loved. It may have been a breakthrough too. Let me explain.

For the last year, I have really been struggling with my photography. I don’t really know how to describe or explain what was occurring. I simply wasn’t feeling it. More importantly, I wasn’t “seeing” it.

One of the things I have always been proud of in my personal photography and journey has been my ability to “see” an image. In photography, I define “seeing” an image as a visualization of a final image before it happens. I think there is a difference between seeing and taking a photograph and simply taking a snapshot of a scene or documenting an environment.

For the first time in about a year, I feel like I was seeing again on this trip. It brought me such joy. It is addictive when it happens. One caveat is that this feeling is personal. By no means am I saying these photographs are great or anything. I am simply saying I was seeing the images before I took them and the output met or exceeded my personal expectations. Photography, for me, is simply a creative muse.

But I felt it again. I was seeing. It brought me such joy. Here are just a few of the pics.

As you can probably tell by now, the trip was also a personal family trip. This, too, brought joy to my life and to my photography.

Whatever the motivation, I am pleased and also encouraged. I am once again eager to pick up my camera and go out to seek and create images.

The EDC packed with my beloved Ricoh GRIII and ready to go!

And for my camera geek friends, for this personal trip I carried only my beloved and abused Ricoh GRIII that somehow keeps working! I carried it all in a small bag I designed and sewed myself. All images except the bag picture were shot RAW, sent to my phone and processed with a custom “film” preset of mine in Snapseed.

A Break & Breakthrough

Ride for Jacob