I've never comfortably embraced worldviews, philosophies, or theologies that provide simple answers to life's most difficult questions. I live in a world of gray, where ambiguity, complexity, discrepancy, tension, contradiction, even hypocrisy, are all part of the game. I'm sure I drive certain family members crazy as a result.
That said, I've rediscovered my fascination with black and white photography. The photograph above has a clarity and simplicity and richness to it that I really like. It's one frame from a roll of film I shot and processed myself, something I haven't done in 30 years. I'm pleased with this result. [Some of you are thinking, "Ha, big accomplishment, he took a black and white picture of a dog that really is black and white!" I concede that point...]
And my pursuit of B&W as an art form is a nice metaphor for how I am approaching my 50th year. I like the tension of taking a B&W view of a world loaded with beautiful and confusing colors. I like finding simplicity in an otherwise complex world. I like the risk-reward aspect of shooting film and processing it myself, not knowing until the end whether I did it right, and if it was worth the effort. The professional risks I could have taken when I was young I didn't have the nerve to take then. I'm willing to take them now, highly calculated though they be. The successes and failures will be my own. My artist and musician friends understand this very well, I'm sure, every time they put their art and music out there for others to experience.
Here's to simplicity, here's to complexity, here's to risk and reward.
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