So here is the my own personal forecast for myself in 2009: More Adventure.
Pike Place Market - Seattle Five seconds after NYE marriage proposal - Seattle Astoria Bridge (Over Four Miles Long) - Astoria, OregonFoggy Woods - North Plains, OregonRoad - Lewis and Clark State Park, WashingtonBurnt Paper - Cannon Beach, OregonDog Walker - Cannon Beach, OregonSmall Dog vs. RC Car - Cannon Beach, OregonVictoria & Tristan - Cannon Beach, OregonMan & Dog - Cannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonCannon Beach, OregonOcean Ave. - Cannon Beach, OregonTristan - Cannon Beach, Oregon

And here is the great video Tristan did on our trip:

There is a lot more, but I seem to have run out of time. An update to this post will come soon.

Scrabble with Angie at Locus on Main Street. I lost miserably.  It was still great.

Last but not least, thanks has to go out to Cynthia Leong, who catered the event (great food!) Bob Fierant from Grolsh, and especially
Erin Slobogian, events co-coordinator at Chapel Arts, who also printed the photos and volunteered to tend bar at the event.

I don’t the answer to this question, but I think through some of the reading of blogs lately, as well as the book I am currently reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” I found some great insight.  The quality of what you do always has to be the best it possibly can.  Some people get lucky and have doors opened for them, call it being in the “right place at the right time” or what have you.  But if you are undeniably good, over a matter of time, those doors will present themselves.

Here are some quotes I lifted from Chase Jarvis’s blog:

1. Be Undeniably Good. Last year, in an interview with Charlie Rose, the famous comedian Steve Martin gave this advice to anyone trying to make it in any field:

Be undeniably good. When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them and nobody ever takes note of it ‘cuz it’s not the answer they wanted to hear — what they want to hear is here’s how you get an agent, here’s how you write a script, here’s how you do this — but I always say, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” If somebody’s thinking, “How can I be really good?”, people are going to come to you. It’s much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties.

2. Dedicate at least 10,000 hours to whatever it is you’re looking to master. In his enlightening talk at the 2008 AIGA Business Design Conference, about innovation and misconceptions regarding what it takes to become a success, Gladwell discussed this concept from his new book Outliers: The Story of Success. “Genius and creativity don’t necessarily spring forth unbidden, they require time and support to experiment, try and even fail.” I found his talk really entertaining, and I’d imagine you might too.

What’s fun about photography, of course, is that anyone can pick up a camera these days and make great pictures, straight outta the gate. No brainer, really accessible, relatively little effort, nice pictures. I love that about photography - it’s why everyone has a camera these days. The technology is really wonderful.

But, if you want to “make it”, whatever that means, I think you need to start by being undeniably good. And if you can’t intuit how to be undeniably good, then start by dedicating 10,000 hours to it. That will get you where you want to be.

Obviously, for me, I interpret this into my work as a photographer.  But it can relate to anything. To anyone.

I love this quote from Tim Gruber’s blog as well:

“Any douche with a camera can shoot a technically sound photograph. Technique and technology are no substitute for passion. A technically sound photo lacks two of the most ingredients in making a great photo; your eye and heart.”

and this one, which he lifted from Seth Godin’s blog:

“Some bosses don’t want to hire people who have a vision, a personality and a shtick. That’s okay. You don’t want to work for them anyway.”

In summary, at least I think, success comes to those who excel in their craft, who spend an massive amount of time developing their craft, and who stay true to their own personal vision.

Hundreds of people came out to protest the hate-filled message of the Westboro Baptist Churh despite the cold and rain to listen to live music, sing, dance, and speeches from local MLA’s and others. The Westboro group never came, word was they didn’t make it through at the border, but nonetheless and despite the weather, the night ended up being a warm and beautiful evening with a great feeling of togetherness. For a great documentary about the Westboro crew, I recommend seeing Louis Theroux’s “Most Hated Family in America”

Also, I think I am going to start shooting a lot more on my Hasselblad for my personal work. I really enjoy working in the square format, I find it really frees your mind up to just try to take pictures and compositionally pictures seem to just “come together” better. Also, that sharpness and the look of film just can’t be recreated on my digital.