Summary

My wife and I traveled to the Dominican Republic to participate in the remembrances for my father who passed away unexpectedly the year before. My stepmother was planning for a mass to be held in his name, and it would provide a time for each of us to be together as a family.

Just as I had 20 years before when I came to Monte Cristi for the first time as an adult, I had my camera in tow. I made photographs as a way to keep my mind busy because the loss of my father was still a palpable experience for me. As I wandered around the house and the streets of the small town where he grew up, I was constantly aware of him. Ironically, I found myself feeling his presence not when tending to the modest crypt in which he was buried, but in the streets of the first place he had ever called home.

As I walked through the streets making photographs, I imagined how he might have experienced these same locations when he was a boy and when he was a young man. It was easy to imagine because much of the town was made of houses and buildings that looked as they likely had for decades, except for maybe a few coats of new paint.

As if part of a meditative practice, I wandered the streets paying attention to the visual draws of light and shadow, line and shape, color, and gesture. Doing so gave me a way of immersing myself in my surroundings, rather than getting distracted by the many thoughts and feelings that danced around my head. I really wanted to be present and in the moment while here, and this was the means for me to do it.

Later that day my sister took me to a neighbor of my father’s who had a pet chicken that she had told me about. She told me that my father had picked up a particular affinity for this bird and had given it to his neighbor as a gift, with the understanding that it was never to be butchered and used for food.

When I arrived at the man’s modest home, he gently showed me the bird. He explained that the bird slept with him inside to avoid thieves or stray dogs from claiming him. He told me the story of how he acquired the bird and I could hear in his voice how proud he was to be able to care for this chicken as a way of honoring my father. As I heard from him and from so many others who I would encounter throughout town, my father was not only well respected, but well loved.

I asked permission to make the man’s portrait with the bird, which he gladly picked up and took into his arms.

Though I made many images during that particular visit, I am happiest with this simple portrait of this man and his bird. It was a beautiful image to me, and it served as a reminder of the kind man that my father was and the gentleness that he brought into the world, which touched the lives of not only people, but also this very lucky bird.

I was grateful for the moment and for my father who had helped make it possible by allowing me to handle his camera when I was a young boy.

Now as a grown man making a simple photograph, I felt a wave of gratitude sweep over me. In this moment, things both present and past were brought together and I was conscious enough of it all to see and experience it. I recognized it all for the true gift that it was.

Enjoy the Journey

As I write this book, I have been behind a camera for over 40 years. As much as photography is a passion for me, I cannot say that all that time was dedicated to becoming a better photographer. Rather, much of the time involved me just taking pleasure in the act of making photographs.

However, there came a time when I knew that making the occasional good photograph was not enough for me. I wanted to not only make wonderful photographs, but to possess the skill, talent, and experience that allowed me to be more thoughtful about the process than I had been. It was a more difficult task than I had imagined.

Though there were moments of frustration and disappointment, I have come to believe that it was this journey itself that provided me the greatest joy and satisfaction. The conscious choice to become a better photographer has led me on a path where I have learned about who I am and how I see the world. The discovery of the unique way that I experience and capture the world with my camera has led to amazing moments of discovery, joy, and gratitude.

Though publishing magazine articles and books, having exhibits, and speaking in front of hundreds of people have each brought me levels of satisfaction, it is the path that I have traveled to become a better photographer that has made so much of my life so fulfilling.

It may surprise many people that it is not the career achievements that mean the most to me, but rather those quiet and solitary moments when I have walked down a street and seen something marvelous happening in front of me and managed to capture it with my camera. It is those moments that are not only forever etched in my memory, but if I am lucky, are also seen in a finished photograph.

This my hope for you. I hope this book serves to not only make you a better photographer, but that you grow in a way that you see the world and appreciate it and memorialize it. We are among the lucky few who share the passion and have the potential to reveal the world’s beauty at both its most epic and its most mundane. Through our photographs, we have the opportunity to reveal what everyone is missing and often takes for granted.

Whether the viewers of your photographs are members of your family or strangers thousands of miles away browsing through your images on a smartphone, there is something special being shared. You are giving voice to the way you, and only you, witness and experience this all-too-brief time on Earth.

Use it well.