Hey, this is a photography blog!

The name of this site is 'Williams Photography.' It has dawned on me rather slowly, that I haven't blogged much about what this site is supposed to be about. I think calling the blog 'Williams Photography' limits a bit what it is I do. Yes, I'm a photographer, but I also write. Of late the emphasis has been on writing, but I'm always working on my craft as a photographer.

At the suggestion of my editor at The Nugget, I picked up some books to help me with my writing. I spent the better part of the last couple of weeks reading 'On Writing' by Stephen King, 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield, and 'The Elements of Style' by E.B. White. In addition to the reading I was also writing articles for the paper, and of course taking pictures.


Last week, to celebrate my anniversary and St. Patricks Day, my wife and I took a four day trip to Portland. As discussed previously I love Portland, and contemplate a move back there someday. I won't delve back into that today. What I will say about Portland, is that it has a lot going on, and it's a very interesting city to shoot. I wish that I had had more time but there were things to do and I couldn't make Katie follow me around town for four days while I took pictures of nearly everything that caught my eye.

Anyway, as I really have nothing much to say, other than that I must do this per the books I've read. If you want to write, you must write. You must also read, which I've been doing. But as I'm also a photographer, well, I have to shoot.

So, for your viewing pleasure here are just a few of the shots I took while up in Portland, and most recently at the Tom Grant show in Bend on Saturday. No, you won't see a shot of Tom Grant as I found the shot of the bass player far more interesting than anything I got of Tom.

The first shot you see was taken in downtown Portland during a brief five minutes when the sun came out. Taken with a fish-eye, it creates a circular effect of the high rises which makes me dizzy if I look at it too long.

The second is of Mister Bass Player in the Tom Grant Band. My apologies for not knowing his name. Typical of a bass player, he kind of stood in the wings motionless, other than to pluck the strings and move his hands up and down the neck. Bill Wyman would have been proud.

The shot to the left was taken at the Kells St. Patricks Day celebration. The band was a U2 tribute band called U277, and each member bore a resemblance to each member of U2. This shot of course would be of The Edge, also know as Adam.

Last, but not least, may be my favorite of the bunch. This was taken in The Pearl District. This is a hand held taken at 1/15 of a second. I caught the motion of the the light rail train as it made a sweeping turn past a Starbucks Coffee. If you notice a reflection of a guy leaning up against a light post, that would be me.

Well, so ends a rather mundane blog about what I did on my spring break. Portland as usual was very hospitable despite the mostly inclement weather.

I hope you enjoy the photos as after all, this is a photography blog.

When in doubt, take it out

Those six words of wisdom were given to me by a friend of mine we'll call "Bob," because, well, that's his name.

It was at my 50th birthday celebration that the topic of "road safety" came up. Bob, being a 25 year veteran of delivering packages for one our national overnight delivery services, was describing the many near misses he had had making his appointed rounds each day.

In addition to always driving with one's headlights always on, Bob said that anytime a deer, squirrel or any other misguided varmint decided to cross the road and endanger your safe passage to destinations unknown, to not try and worry about what to do. He said that when that deer is looking you straight in the eyes wondering if it's going to live to see another meal, do not swerve, do not brake; when in doubt, take it out.

Now, the logic behind this is rock solid. Swerving to avoid Bambi, or Rocket J. Squirrel could get you or some other unsuspecting driver killed, or worse, stuck in a ditch with no hope of extraction, only to find the cute little critter you just avoided hitting, merrily traipsing it's way through the woods, giving you that, "Dude, you shoulda took me out," look.

Why I'm blogging about this is because yesterday while sitting in the hot tub with my wife  Katie, enjoying a stogie and a cold beer, memory of my birthday and Bob's famous advice popped into my head. Initially it made me chuckle, and the more I thought about it, it made me laugh.

For some reason, all I could think about was Robert Stack's character from the movie "Airplane," Rex Kramer. Kramer, a retired Air Force officer, was summoned to the airport to see if he could help talk down a plane piloted by a former member of his squad, Ted Stryker. The crew had fallen ill, and Stryker was pressed into service. Only problem was, Ted had post traumatic stress and wasn't sure he could land the plane.

On the way to the airport, a stern faced Kramer was speeding down the highway when he apparently came across a bicyclist. We don't know for sure at first as all we see is the determined Kramer and then the horrified face of his passenger. In rapid succession we hear a loud "THUNK!", and a split second later in the back window the visual of a bicyclist either having been run over, or flipped over the top of the car. His mangled body and bike still somewhat intact he manages to "flip off" the speeding Kramer and shout "fuck you asshole," while Kramer seemingly unaware drives away.

I find that scene extremely hilarious even after seeing the film a million times. Kramer, in his effort to help save dozens of innocent lives, did the only thing he could when that poor bastard on the bike got in his way, he took it out. No flinching, no thought of braking, or swerving, never a doubt, he took it out.

Good thing too. Kramer of course, made it to the airport and helped Stryker land the plane safely. Everyone lived to see another day, and appear in "Airplane II."

So just remember. Whether it be a trip to the store, the restaurant, or the bowling alley, let nothing stand in your way. When in doubt, take it out.

Lookin Out My Back Door

I was turned on to a book recently, Steven Pressfield's  "The War of Art." The gist of the book is that in all of us, lurks something we were meant to be. It could be a writer, photographer, butcher, or baker. It examines why in our lives we perhaps end up doing things that are at heart, not our true talent; and once you face up to the fact that deep inside you lurks your talent, then you must fight the challenge of resistance. Yes, our partner resistance, and his buddy procrastination. Between these two, we face our biggest challenge to pursue everyday what it is we're supposed to be doing.

Why is it we find ourselves slogging away our lives in a factory, digging ditches, flipping burgers, or any number of worthy vocations that still leave us less than satisfied?

It seems that from a very early age we are told, "You must go to school and get good grades if you ever want to get a good job." That is true to some extent. It is especially true if you want to get a job doing something you don't want to do. In most households exploring or encouraging one to find out what ones true talent is suffers.

Most of us muddle through our early years asking the age old question, "What do I want to do when I grow up?" I've been asking myself that question most of my adult life, and I would guess most of you have too.

Doing what you want to do, or more importantly doing something that utilizes your God given talent is not always an easy thing. Figuring out what that talent could be is sometimes a long, arduous process. Often we find ourselves in a career doing things we may be good at, but not what would truly satisfy our inner selves.

I've had plenty of jobs in my lifetime that I actually enjoyed, and maybe thought that it was what I was supposed to be doing. Funny thing is, none of those jobs lasted very long and I always found myself asking, "OK what now?"

I've also had the reality, and in my opinion, the blessing of being a two-time cancer survivor. You tend to re-evaluate your life when you get a diagnosis of the "Big C" in your life. It's what you do with the diagnosis that counts. I had to get cancer twice to kind of figure things out. The first time I decided it was time to stop and smell the roses so to speak. I took things slow, wanted to savor everything. Problem was I stopped being me.

The second time there was much more a sense of urgency about it. I knew that I had to get off my ass and live the rest of my life and not wait for the Grim Reaper to show up at my door saying, "Next."

This is not to say that I somehow discovered my inner child at that point, but I did decide that I was going to live until I die, instead of hanging out waiting for it to happen. During this time I completed a certification program for a career that I thought would be long and fruitful. That didn't quite work out.

It's been almost two years since I lost that gig and I've had to do a lot of soul searching once again. As I've mentioned in other posts, sometimes having it all taken away leaves you with nothing but what you think your good at, really good at, and really want to do. Question is, does anybody else think you're good at it.

Resistance plants that seed in your head everyday. Procrastination tells you it's ok to go ride your bike, or hit a tennis ball, anything but doing what is your gift.

That being said, why is that when you're sitting in the doctors office and he gives you the 'long face' and says you only have six months to live, that on the spot, you re-evaluate everything in your life and question why you didn't do this or that. When time is short, that is when you decide to travel, volunteer, write your novel, ride your bike across the  country. All the things you thought you'd always have time to do but never did, come rushing into your being like water being released from a dams flood gates.

I don't want that to happen to me. I hope it doesn't happen to you.

I have a 13 year old daughter and I want to encourage her to do whatever she wants to do. To explore her talent to the fullest and never find herself looking back, asking "If only...." To not encourage her to explore her talents would make me a horrible dad. All I can do is guide her and help her make what ultimately will be her decision.

As for me, it's time to do something that has always been there, but I was never encouraged to explore. Being a shy kid it was assumed I was dumb. I never asked for help and pretended I understood something when I didn't. In the aptitude tests I took, it was apparent that I had a keen eye, and my strengths were in the arts. Trust me, I would like to be good at math, but I'm tired of trying to fit that square peg into the round hole.

Some would dismiss the arts as a relic of another time. Technology is where it's at baby. Crunching numbers, manipulating statistics, writing software programs, that's where the jobs are. Critical thinking and the ability to think outside the box now seem to be products of a by-gone era. Let's hope not.

Bob Dylan said a long time ago, "When you ain't got nothin, you got nothing to lose." That is true to a point, but I prefer what Robert McKee said in the foreword to Pressfield's book, "When inspiration touches talent, she gives birth to truth and beauty."

So yeah, maybe you have nothing to lose, but you sure have everything to gain.

I haven't written anything in awhile

Last week I started a blog about Charlie Sheen. About half-way through I asked myself, "Why am I blogging about Charlie Sheen? Fuck that asshole." It was at that time I saved the blog as a draft and left it there. Until this morning when I deleted it.

The reason it was deleted was because I don't want to glorify the actions of a celebrity drug addict. There are plenty of normal, run of the mill drug addicts who don't get the notoriety of a Charlie Sheen so I decided to put the Charlie blog where Charlie belongs, the round file.

For all of you average, run of the mill, drug addicts out there, sorry, there won't be a blog about you either. The fact that I've mentioned you, I guess means I've blogged about you, but I'm about to stop. I hope you enjoyed your 15 seconds of fame. Which is about 15 more than either you or Charlie deserve.

Other than that, I haven't had much to say of late. I've been writing some articles for The Nugget which takes a bit of time away from this. And as no one reads this anyway, this is just an exercise in obscurity. It is fun though, and if no one chooses to read, at least I  was able to put some things into words that I ordinarily wouldn't have.

You won't find me talking about the details of my rather ordinary life and what it is I do each day. No Facebook type blogs where I share with the world where I went shopping, what I bought, and about the asshat who cut me off driving to Bend. No stories of the neighbor and his barking dog that I'd like to send to the big kennel in the sky. Nope, no sirree, not me.

What you will read is my thoughts about music, photography, bikes, stuff I know a little about. I won't pretend to write about stuff I know nothing about, but make you think I do. The bullshit quotient here will be low as I don't tolerate it well in real life. What you see is what you get, and what you get, is well, what you see.

I wish I could write about something deep and meaningful about the motivations of our politicians, both in Washington DC, and here locally. But to be honest it is beyond my realm of understanding, and when I do try to understand it only makes my head hurt. It's much easier to watch Bourdain travel to places I never want to go or eat food I never intend to try. Greg House a my newfound friend that I find easier to digest than anything Andrew Zimmern eats on a weekly basis. House's dysfunctional genius is something I can only hope to be.

I was always told to aim high, because if you miss, at least you went for it. Seems to me if you aim high and miss, somebody gets it between the eyes.

Oh well, just the view from my world today.

It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock N Roll

I'm not sure if truer words have ever been spoken. Well actually yes there have been, but just for today lets pretend that there hasn't.

It doesn't matter what field of endeavor you decide to pursue, there is always someone or something already at the top, challenging you to kick down the doors and start the climb.

Whether you're a rock n roller, photographer, writer, ditch digger, or an Anthony Bourdain wannabe, your journey starts at the bottom. Unless you know someone, you do not get a head start or a free pass. Nope, it's all about paying your dues, learning your craft, and in some cases staying one step ahead of others who do not have your best interests at heart.

In my case it's about photography, and to some extent writing. In my previous careers I'd always reached about where I'd strived to, no more no less. Bear in mind these were always business organizations with a well established hierarchy. You moved up or down based on your job performance, and occasionally kissing a little ass. Yes folks, I said it. You know you do it too, everyone does at one time or another. Other times somebody would move on down the road, or some poor bastard would die, opening doors perhaps a little quicker than expected. Attrition probably has as much to do with you reaching the top once you get started as much as anything.

So in the career path I find myself in now, anybody with a camera or a keyboard is my competition. Now that is all fine and good, everybody has to make a living, and in these hard times where people find themselves without a job, people look around and try to figure out what it is they can do to make a little bank. That too, would be me.

I'm sure a lot of professional photographers have looked at my entry into the field with some disdain, another guy with a camera who can click a shutter. Well, I would argue that you have to start somewhere, but looking back I can see where that kind of attitude may come from. Everybody is trying to eat, and make their mortgage payment, and here comes another guy with his new camera, some neato lenses and proclaims "I'm a photographer", uh huh.

One thing I learned a long time ago when I used to golf and play tennis. You can't improve your game or become a pro off the shelf. I bought a $200 tennis racket once and still couldn't hit a fucking backhand to save my life. Perhaps a lesson or two would have been in order.

I'm rambling now, but the essence of todays blog entry is to acknowledge that there are no easy ways to the top, whatever the top is. There will be challenges getting your name out there. Giving away your work is time honored tradition of self promotion. I can tell you it sucks, but it's part of the game. The difficulty is deciding when you can put your foot down and say "it's time to pay" without someone moving on to the next photographer who is willing to give their work away just to make a name for themselves.

Choosing another profession is not an option at this point. As I stated earlier, it doesn't matter what you do, the rules are pretty much the same. The key is to believe in yourself, believe in your talent. Work hard, meet people, learn whatever it is you do to the best of your ability. Stick with it, if you are good you'll get noticed. And no, I don't mean your Facebook friends who tell you your shot of your puppy taking a dump on the lawn is a great shot. Or your out of focus, grainy shot of a concert with your iPhone "rocks dude!"

No, I mean people who work in the business. People who do this for a living and compliment you on your interpretation of what you took. How you used lighting, composition, subject matter, and emotion, into making a great shot; not that you spent $5000 on equipment and shoot in the auto modes.

There is such a long way to go for anybody who finds themselves in unfamiliar ground, but with a belief in the direction they're going. Sometimes losing everything you knew or were familiar with, leaves you with nothing but what you're good at. And if you're lucky, maybe for the first time in your life you can take this opportunity to try and do something you really want to do. Strive to be the best you can be at what you're good at, not just going through the motions just to put food on your table.

Life is too damn short folks, and if you wanna get to the top, you gotta rock n roll.