November 5, 2005 - Information, Inspiration, and Realization

I met the legendary photographer, Sam Abell this morning. He is now retired from National Geographic but still does contribute on the editing side. I went to the writer/photographer submission workshop to get a feel for the field and I learned a few things. One quote from Mr. Abell has stuck in my head. He stated that talent often lies in the ability to make an amazing photograph from an ordinary scene rather than making an ordinary photograph from an amazing scene. Well, I should have lots of practice with that since my day-to-day surrounds are quite ordinary. He also left me with an understanding of the incredibly high standards that exist for a publication such as National Geographic and the fierce competition even amongst the best-of-the-best in the field.

I received much technical information about how the process works. I was inspired by the words of the experts who have been working in the field for decades. And, I had a realization of my “mortality” as an artist and how incredibly small my chances are of making it in the field of adventure photography.

But, hey, I’ve got a feeling that I’ll give it a try. A boy can dream, can’t he?