“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time.” LEONARD BERNSTEIN

I tried to watch Maestro, last year’s biopic on the great Leonard Bernstein, but after about twenty minutes or so I turned to my wife. Almost fifty years being together we know each other’s looks and what to do with them. Off went the movie. So Leonard, you will have to live on for me when I turn on my stereo and listen to one of your great recordings.

Then there’s your brilliant statement of what should be the obvious, quoted above.

As I get closer to my seventieth birthday I have been thinking more and more about what Bernstein said. Actually, I’d been thinking about this for a long time, but not in these exact terms. When I stumbled across this somewhere on the Internet things became clearer to me than ever before. I/we all want to achieve great things, in life and in our photography … but how?

Let’s focus on the photography part. NOTE: In the case of my non photographic life my plan has been not to have a plan and it’s worked out remarkably well! I’ve worked very hard at doing only the things I’ve wanted to do as they presented themselves. I’m not wealthy but I’ve lived a life full of great meaning and purpose.

In my photographic life I’ve established and worked towards plans to meet specific projects/objectives, and to achieve success in completely ad hoc ways … always cognizant of the time I have to accomplish my goals.

The problem is that there will never be enough time, and I’ll admit to thinking about this often. As we reach a certain age it becomes clear that all we want to accomplish may not be possible.  Think about it … in photography you often need to travel some kind of distance to get to where you want to go. You need to be able to walk around the area you wish to photograph, and be able to see well enough to find and properly frame and focus your subject. Of course you also have to be able to see well enough to produce the final realization of your vision in the darkroom. Yah, I know, there are some work arounds but don’t kid yourself …  in reality, everything has an expiration date.

What to do? Make the most of it. Most of what? Everything! Get your plan(s) together and use your time wisely to achieve your goals. Of course we can’t be photographing all the time, but we can be thinking, learning, and preparing, so that when we do photograph and make prints in the darkroom we make the most of our time and achieve the great things Bernstein spoke of. For me there’s even more. The great things go beyond the pictures themselves. That’s the icing on the cake. It’s all the other meaningful stuff that surrounds the work and happens because of it … the people I meet … the experiences I have.

So little time.  Cherish it and use it well.

Stay well,

Michael