I have written a number of times about doing what really matters to you when it comes to your photography … no matter what others think or what is currently in vogue. I’ve also talked about passion a few times. In an entry concerning a successful photographic life, I mentioned that while listening to an interview of several very successful people, I learned that it’s essential to discover what you are passionate about doing, find out what you need to do in order to make it happen, and never settle for something less.

After an outing with my photo class the other day I started to think about this a little more. It’s incredibly exciting when you make a photograph you really care about. Believe me … when it happens you will know the feeling! Sure you can get lucky and stumble into an unplanned opportunity and come up with a keeper, but I think in order to make more photographs that move you – both when you trip the shutter and when your first see the image emerge in the developer – you need to really determine once and for all what you care about. What is it that truly excites you? What compels you? And what are you truly passionate about? Landscape, architecture, nature, portraits or the street – it doesn’t matter! Figure out what it is sooner rather than latter! Then search for it. If you’re driven and really care, you will soon discover very compelling subject matter right where you live … and more often! Great … now do the best job you can to capture its essence and make pictures that are truly yours!