There are a number of photographers I follow on the Net. One of my real favorites is Daniel Milnor. I first discovered him when I stumbled across his old Smogranch website. That morphed into Shifter, which focuses not only on photography but other things that are important in Milnor’s life. Milnor a great photographer, but he’s also a gifted writer and communicator … check out his terrific videos embedded in his site or on his YouTube channel!

Awhile back I found something Milnor wrote and captured it because what he said resonated with much of what I feel and have written about. Its been sitting around on a Microsoft Word file for longer than I can remember, but the other day I rediscovered it. I have to apologize … I neglected to capture which of Milnor’s sites I found this on, or whether it was from an interview he might have given that resides elsewhere on the web. I know … %$^&*!

“What did I do with this work? Nothing. Where was it published? Nowhere. For those of you who don’t know me you need to understand how selfish I am. My primary reason for making pictures is to live the experience of making them. This is a greedy, solitary pursuit. My second reason is to record. Data. Visual data. Record it, preserve it, move on, and hopefully have it utilized for historical purposes sometime long after I’m dead. Lastly, I don’t care about being known as a photographer, or building an audience, or selling shit. I’m in heaven simply by being there, talking with people, attempting to understand their course through the obstacle course of life, and from time to time, hearing the occasional thump of the Blad’s shutter.”

– Daniel Milnor

Damn! Milnor really nailed it … for me, and I’ll bet for those that photograph for the love of the work … and the experience to be lived.

Stay safe,

Michael