I would once float through my environment each day, in a cloud, looking at but not truly seeing objects and beings as they occupied their respective places in space-time.  As the world spun by, its details would become lost in a washed-out blur and I would sometimes whirl into it without actually becoming one with it. Blinded by and vanishing in the mist, how quickly the world would pass, how mundane it all seemed. 

However, with a camera around my neck, in my hands and aligned with my eye, it becomes easy to break through the dark veil obscuring the aesthetics inherent in life.  The viewfinder and lens, just by proximity, put me in a state of mind that allows me to filter out the clutter that gets in the way of the worlds beauty.

With a pictorial outlook, dull colors appear effervescent, minute details become complex and striking, plain scenery is filled with elaborate geometry and patterns, and the uninspiring everyday things in life suddenly become intriguing.  This is the driving force behind my cameras acting as an extra set of optical organs, attached to me almost as often as my eyes. If there is potential for photography I become far more attuned to the splendor hiding right in front of me, using our surroundings as its shroud.

When locked in the photographic zone the world seems to slow down and speed up all at the same time.  Unhurried because of an increased awareness of everything and a need to halt time and take it all in.  This awareness is not simply limited to vision, but all senses are activated.  The smell of flowers are more pervasive in spring, the taste of the first snowflake in winter is that much more satisfying, the feeling of a cool breeze in summer is more soothing and the sounds of a crackling autumn camp fire evokes even sweeter dreams.

        At times universe seems more transient because of the many fleeting moments that seem to appear and vanish like so much dust in the wind.  A higher level of awareness and speed is necessary to keep these moments from slipping away forever.  When taking up the business of rescuing passing moments from oblivion one cannot help but develop "spidey senses."

In a way photography is the most demanding of all the art forms because to a photographer everything in our surroundings is part of a grand work art.  It can be extremely frustrating because a missed millisecond instant could have been a masterpiece lost forever in time.  It can be daunting because that longed for moment may never come.  It is often dangerous because of the hazardous locations, precarious ledges, and lofty branches the more adventurous often find themselves. Needless to say I have had lots of close calls in such situations but it has always been worth the shot.