Let the drums roll and the kazoos blow!!! Yes, despite my boyish good looks I am in fact now officially 70 years old today. That’s right baby, the big Seven O! And why not celebrate it here! Ok, I know this isn’t world peace, but why not!  I tell you this because let’s face it, it’s an age that many might consider a little vintage and I’ll admit as I got closer to the big day I felt somewhat age ambivalent, but now I’ve decided that’s just nonsense. Afterall, earlier this year my grandchildren agreed I was only 53 and I feel better than that! In any case I don’t intend to coast along and eat bon bons, or slow down one bit!  I have too much I want to do! In fact I feel like I have hit a real creative phase that has been going on for some time but now it seems to be intensifying.  And I’m having more fun!

I know that many involved with the arts and music seem to have their most productive period in their younger years but don’t understand why that has to be the case at all. Perhaps it comes down to how one looks at their life.  You can say “this is what I’m supposed to be doing now” or “I’ve done this before and don’t have anything else to say”.

Well, surprise … I’m more excited about the photographic life I am living now than I have ever been before!

And why do I say that?  Here’s what I think. Mostly because I’ve given up caring about what others think about my pictures. I also don’t care all that much about the need to exhibit my work. I have done a lot of it over the last few years with Monalog, but I’m not driven by it. Another contributor has been to stay near nearby … my so called “2 Hour Rule”. It really helps focus my work and keeps me from unnecessary travel for something “new and different”. But if something important comes up that’s not around the corner I’ll make time for it. I just don’t have a need to travel far distances to do my work. Another thing that helps with focus and continues to excite me is working on projects, and I have a number I continue to work on.

Unencumbered by what others think or what I don’t care about I’m making photographs of what I want, when I want and how I want to. I post them on my galleries here, and if people want to see them that’s fine; if not, no harm no foul. What I really want to explore at some point in the not too the distant future is creating photographic books … but more for me than for anyone else. I still love gear and the gear is so much of what our photography is all about, I don’t lust for it anymore. I’ve tried out a bunch of interchangeable lens medium format cameras in the past several years because of a project requirement (nothing finalized so nothing to write about), but I’m not obsessed about it like I would have been in the past. No lying awake at night with a brochure ready to read on my night table.

I also love writing about what I love and haven’t missed a week in the almost nine years since I first published this thing. That’s a lot of entries! But you know what, I’ve communicated and made friends with a lot of great people as a result, and I have no intention of slacking off on this either!

Yes, I am 70 today and I’m doing everything I can to stay physically and mentally in shape because this photography thing is the bomb!

I have a lot to do and say and intend on doing it all for a long time!

Som happy birthday to me!

Stay well,

Michael