A Look Back at 2012

2012 was no easy year – it was a complicated one. For years I had dreamed and talked about being a full-time photographer but just couldn’t get around to pulling the trigger. Lots of things kept stopping me but mostly it was doubt. Doubt that I could ever really do it or “make it” and doubt that I would be able to provide through those means for my growing family. And to a large degree I still suffer from those doubts today. I think about them every day when I wake up and every night when I go to bed.

The transition came like a mighty hurricane – one I couldn’t stop and one I wasn’t ready for. In July I was laid-off from my full-time job. It was a messy lay-off that resulted in a lot of internal emotional and professional struggles, but in the end, it was the best possible thing for me. That job, not the work I was doing, but the company culture and poor leadership was like a cancer eating away at me. I needed to be set free. God knew I wasn’t going to break the shackles; so He did.

Since July I picked up the pieces and began the balancing act with my time, focus, and energies – working to find that comfortable rhythm of life – not only with photography, but also with our music and freelance print and web design. I’m not there yet and I dont know when I will be. It’s the best thing and the most difficult thing all at the same time. Every day is filled with it’s own set of challenges and joys and I’m constantly learning, failing, and fortunately – succeeding.

In all of it, I couldn’t have made it through such a difficult transition without the support and encouragement of my incredible wife, parents, siblings, friends, and especially – my clients. I made this video more for me than for anyone else. I wanted to stare back into the eyes of a year that presented me with a terrifying and stressful life-changing challenge…and I wanted to smile right back in it’s face.

I am blessed in so many ways – This video is for all of those blessings – it features every one of them.