I have a great many interests. I enjoy skiing. I love cycling, even though I never do it any more. I love I.T., and am a major nerd. I enjoy writing the code for my business web site, and I am enjoying trying to get my small business off the ground. But I have one hobby that I have loved my entire life. Ever since I held my first Kodak camera, and clicked that little roll of 110 film into it, I have loved photography.
When I say love, I mean that if I could make a living doing anything else in this world, it would be behind my camera. It is one of the things in this world that brings me the most joy and at which I feel the most free. Because even when there are 100 photographers all standing around the same subject, each is capturing their own perspective of it, so it never gets old.
Because of this love, I have a photo blog, also. I have paid much more attention to it, lately, then I have to this blog. Partly because it is so much easier to throw up a photo a day then it is to find the time to pound out a thousand words on a topic that is bouncing around in my head. It would be easier if I could be more succinct, but I don't anticipate my writing style changing any time soon, so I'll make do.
Anyway, the fun thing about the photo site I belong to is that people from all over the world post on this site. This brings us to the part where you are not going to believe is true. On that site, I am completely apolitical. There are a few out there that use their sites to talk about their pet causes, but I use mine strictly to share my passion for photography.
Here is the second part you aren't going to believe. Some of you may think that because of my support for the war on terror that I hate Muslims or want to see them wiped out. I hope I've not given that impression, but I know it's an easy assumption to make. The truth is that I want to see terrorism wiped out, but there is nothing I would love more than to be able to travel to the mid east and see the wonders and history of that area for myself.
Through my photo blog, I have made "friends" with people from all over the world, including a few from Iran. Through their posts, I have been privileged to see the beautiful architecture of that country, as well as some of its most famous historical artifacts. And let me just say, it has some amazing history. It is fast moving up on my list of places I would love to visit in my lifetime. I would bet that most of you would never have expected to hear that from me.
The single greatest compliment I have received through my photo site so far has been this. A guy from Mongolia who checks my site every day said, "I am learning a lot about your country through your posts."
The truth is, I wish world diplomacy was as easy as making friends through sharing photos. On there, I regularly interact with people from North America, Europe, Asia and the Mid East, and we are all linked by our love of photography. I have seen very few negative comments about anyone because of where they come from or their country's politics, and I like that. As much as I am a politic junkie and love arguing about so many things, I am just as passionate about seeing the world get along.
If I could end war tomorrow by passing out cameras to everyone in the world, I would gladly send mine to Ahmadinejad tomorrow. In the mean time, I'll work on a little one-on-one diplomacy through sharing a love of photography.
Labels: all about me