Commentary # 11 ~ Thanksgiving 2007
Previous Commentaries
back to the main page



Photography and the Season of Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving 2007


- by Craig Wassel

Every year at this time, I marvel at how fast the days fly by once the kids have come home with their Halloween treats. The busiest travel times of the year are but a few fast weeks away, the last of fall's pagentry is waning from the trees. Soon we will be eating leftover turkey from our grand feasts, and the dash to the New Year will commence. The season of giving thanks is upon us. This time of year means something different and hopefully special for each of us, but maybe even a little more so for photographers.

Photographers wait and watch all through the cycle of seasons, and even the most subtle or small bit of beauty before us re-affirms an appreciation of our world and rekindels the desire to point the lens. Those feelings are heightened in Autumn, as we hope to be in just the right place with the right light to capture colors in the trees that only this time of year can remind us are possible. Yet even with most of the year gone, excitement remains in us about what photographs await as we enter the Holiday season. Many we take in November and December we may not count worthy of our portfolio's, but they will mean more to us because they are of loved ones, family, and friends.

We become even more keenly aware of the passing of time and of the present year, and we think about the places its months have taken us. We treasure the better photographs we have made on those journeys, and hopefully ones we count worthy number at least a handful. At times, though, our subjects may have been something less than beautiful; we have been someplace and photographed something that was not necessarily so appealing to the eye and perhaps even difficult to look at. Or, we have looked on in humbled silence at the work of a fellow photographer who showed us some too-common dispair of the human condition. Whether it is one or both of these, those images we can't get out of our heads are reminders of how truly fortunate we are and for how much we have to be thankful.

Several friends have noted the growth of this website over the past year or so, and I am frequently asked if it is generating business. It is, but it exists for more than just business purposes. This site and my work found on it is also a daily reminder of the countless blessings in my life. When I look at it, I think of more than just photography. I think about the people who have taught and inspired me, and about when I have been the teacher. I think about the gifts of friendship, family, precious children, and the legacies we hope to pass on. I think about how lucky I am to be able to do this site on my own. I think about fathers and sons, and those who have passed on.

Whether we earn our full living from making photographs, are passionate hobbyists, or are somewhere in between, we photographers have a great deal for which to be thankful. I believe most of us truly are; but if you are reading this and have not thought about your art in this way, I encourage you to do so. I believe it can make a tremendous difference in the power of our work.

If you are not a photographer and just happened to have stumbled across this commentary, maybe fate is trying to provide a New Year's resolution. Pick up a camera and start seeing your world instead of just glancing at it, and begin making photographs. You don't need an expensive or impressive one, because the best camera in the world is the one you have with you when you are moved to release the shutter. What you create can become not just a legacy you pass on, but something that adds meaning to your life you never imagined.

It certainly does for me.

"We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us."

~ Ralph Hattersley ~








To Subscribe to These Commentaries, Click Below:

Subscribe







Quiet Places





" . . . Several friends have noted the growth of this website over the past year or so, and I am frequently asked if it is generating business. It is, but it exists for more than just business purposes. This site and my work found on it is also a daily reminder of the countless blessings in my life. When I look at it, I think of more than just photography . . . "





© All content Copyright 1978-2012 Craig Wassel Photography ©