Purpose, Karma & Respect

As our nation is evolving with unprecedented change, especially in how we do business, I couldn’t help but ponder these three elements. The experience of surviving in a craft of my Purpose, witnessing the positive sides of my Karma in my life and business, and the many lessons of empathy and respect for others.

Mystic Beach - shot in 1988, entered in my first competition in 1997. Won Kodak’s Gallery Award, Fuji Masterpiece, and a few others… (hung at the Epcott Center in Orlando too)

If you’ve ever ready the data-packed book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell, (or even just heard about Chapter 3’s “10,000 Hour Rule), you may have a new perspective on gifted or talented professionals.

Much like the Michael Jordan example, I missed a LOT of shots, before I mastered the illusion that I had a gift.

To my professional peers and clients, I appeared to be an overnight success just after hanging the proverbial shingle, then called Prints Charming Photography.

I quit my day job, hung my sign and nabbed some huge accolades during my professional competition debut.

Photographically, I had WAY more than my 10,000 hours in, before I braved self-employment. (Though I did study a great deal AFTER I had received all the awards.) Still, I felt out-of-my-league, when surrounded by so many seasoned professionals, with far more “professional” experience, that were now looking at me with an expectation.

I worried that I may not be able to keep that pace, so I studied and practiced my @$$ off to make sure that I could repeat those results on purpose. Six years in a row, I “competed”, while I studied conflicting teachings from Dr. Abraham Maslow, about becoming Self-Actualized. One rule in particular that vexed me, was that “Self Actualized people are independent, of the good opinion of other people.” How could I be creating, if I was competing for the praises, or “good-opinion” of an award?

My now-23-yr-old daughter, and the boy (Adrian) who would become her HS prom date, in my LAST print entered in competition. #selfactualization

By the time I really “got” that, it was 2002. I had just won “The People’s Choice Award” from the Oregon affiliate of Professional Photographers of America. I walked across the stage, for the third time that night, feeling like I was in the wrong place.

I didn’t join for peer recognition, I just wanted to make sure that my work was “good enough” to be asking money for it.

As long as my clients were happy, I would feel okay about charging my prices for our trade. Using my Purpose, to help them achieve theirs.

Pushing through the Great Recession, I was anchored by fear and desperation. I just wanted to pay my bills, avoid bankr*ptcy, and thrive in a brand new marriage, but money became a huge factor. My dignity was trashed by having to spend all creativity on the phone, (mostly proactive) keeping my financial obligations at bay. My FICO took a beating, (though I did avoid the seven-year coma of the “B-word”). I KNEW that I could not throw my vendor accounts under the bus, by shaking the sh*t out of my financial Etch-a-Sketch for a clean slate/do-over.

Three different debt-consolidation counselors looked at all of my options, and agreed that it would make the most sense for me to file. Despite those odds, and the dignity-loss I felt at food pantries, my incredible wife respected my decision. We both rolled up our sleeves and leaned in to defy the odds stacked against us.

I’m now feeling the weight of all decisions I’ve made as a photo-entrepreneur. My FICO is climbing during the worst economic downturn of my 24 years. My clients have become increasingly diverse, despite living in a not-so-diverse pocket of Oregon, and when I tried to give away my time, I received nearly as much in donations, as if I would have by charging. I couldn’t even bring myself to blog it here on my biz page, because I didn’t want it to look like I was tooting my own horn. (blogged it on my personal page, which I’ll share for sake of context)

Donated my time to shoot a graduation, made nearly as much in donations, but then met this masked 2021 senior (mask off for most photos) as a result. Karma, you ask?..

As I was creating this ad for the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce (given to me for shooting a magazine cover), those three words struck me. Purpose, Karma and Respect.

The mother of the girl seen in the ad, had heard about what I had done for those Wilson High School grads, so she put me on her radar for senior portraits.

By this point, my “mask or no mask” pendulum had swung fully to both sides of the “science v. politics” more than once. I began to feel invincibly comfortable about my immunity (never had a flu shot, never get the flu, almost forgetting about my empathy and respect.

Despite my believing that I have the immune system of a robot, I knew that I have vulnerable friends. People in the age and health statistics that are not interested in testing COVID-19. One in particular, my dear friend, writing mentor AND client - Graham (Sandy) Salisbury.

Sandy stopped coming by the studio, only distance-dating his girlfriend (who’s exposed to classroom full of kids) and our accountability meetings have become Zoom calls, or distanced meetings at his cabana. Having out-lived both his parents by considerable margins, living not far from Oregon’s first COVID case, and being of-the-age most susceptible to this pandemic, he has invested a tremendous effort into his mental contact tracing.

Upon hearing that my daughters participated in the #peacefulprotests for #blm , they were not allowed back into our home for over two weeks. (happened on “mom’s house” time, so no, I didn’t kick them out) “I respect your laying face-down on the Burnside Bridge for this cause, but your exposure to an infinite, untraceable reach, will not be passed to me… I am not going to be the unwitting carrier to Graham Salisbury!..” #toughlove

Class of 21 - Izzie’s favorites VIEW HERE (because she gave permission)

As I wrapped up this Wilson High School, Class of 2021 girl’s unmasked session (distanced, with a long lens), she went to the changing room to #maskup and gather her clothes. Her mom and I talked. She thanked me for what I did for Wilson High School, and for how respectful I was with their COVID concerns. She went on to explain that she too, led a very healthy life, “no flu shots, no flu" “Backpacking nature-lover” etc. That was until a dis-ease struck her immune system.

I sat there, INSTANTLY Knowing, that this client was there to remind me to stay the course. Yes, I need to earn money. Yes, I am healthy, and spend little time really worrying about COVID-19. (always germ-aware, even noting what way the wind is blowing) But to hear from someone that understood and shared my perspective, putting her trust in me to adhere to the science-proven safeguards, all while being vulnerable to the “underlying conditions” statistics… I felt the call of duty.

Sure, it was easy to do for someone that I knew, but it woke me up to maintaining #mutualrespect for even those I have yet to meet.

The sudden NEED for me to respect the science as I do my best to avoid using my EIDL loan money to pay rent. My aunt tied of/with it. My oldest child spent MONTHS overcoming it, now confined to a VERY tight pod of four friends - KNOWING that this thing should be respected.

We cannot see our heart beating, but we know it is there.

We cannot see our maker, but most of us believe that there is One.

We cannot see electricity, but we have ways of proving that it is there, real, and can shock the life out of us when not respected.

We cannot SEE this virus, as we cough, sneeze or shout, but just like electricity, it can ZAP the life out of a person, that might otherwise have lived longer.

I am blessed to do what I feel is my Purpose.

I am fortunate to see my business experience it’s own Karma, for the services I have given or discounted.

More than this, I am grateful to have been raised and/or wired, to do unto others, as I would have done unto me. To RESPECT the unseen, and the many humans I might save by doing so.

Thank you for considering this, as you too may be wavering with your “freedom” vs. the right to live that your respect is providing to them.

Be well!
Your visual historian,