The year was 1998, the boy band movement was sweeping the globe, and I was entering 7th grade. My hair gleamed with an orange tint, the result of the misconception, the magical spray in substance “Sun In,” could make your dark-brown-hair blonde. Nobody had digital cameras, no phone cameras, no facebook. The best way to take photos? A disposable film camera.

I met her in choir, she was as beautiful as her voice. When we started dating it was magic. Like drinking star dust from a disney cup, the thoughts and feelings for her exploded in my mind, leaving trails of sparks through the night sky. But like all young love, after 8 or so months, it was gone. Nothing left, except the sweet scent of Clinique Happy, that will forever remind me of her. I don’t even remember who broke up with who. But just to cover my bases, in the case she broke up with me, I would have said, “you made a big mistake you’ll never regret it. I’m going to be a famous photographer someday!” If I broke up with her back then, I would have said,”sorry, I just don’t see how we can work things out, given i’m on the 7th grade football team and you are a cheerleader. I mean…we ride the same bus to games. Things are getting too serious. We’ve got a championship to worry about.”

At this point you’re wondering where i’m going with this. Well, before digital camera technology, the visual traces of relationships were fleeting. They were glossy 4×6 prints, easily disposable via scissors, fire, or the good old fashioned shredding by hand. My relationship back then, was analog. No status changes, no endless photo tags on a timeline. Only small moments recorded on a glossy double print. You could fit a relationship into a shoebox.

Compare that to today, where anything and everything about relationships is out there. Hundreds even thousands of photos, tags, comments, and status updates. It’s never-ending. No longer are the traces fleeting, they are endless. With the advent of digital camera technology, our personal lives have become yearbooks, instead of small pieces of paper in a box. Is it good or bad? I’m not sure, but it’s something to think about. There is, however, one thing I know for sure. It’s easier to throw away a shoebox than to tackle the endless web called the internet.

Do you wish relationships were still analog (film based), or is digital better for keeping the love alive?

“Twenty five thousand mornings, give or take, is all we humans get. We spend them on treadmills, we spend them in traffic. And if we get lucky. Real lucky. It dawns on us to go spend them in a world where a simple sunrise can be magic. Twenty five thousand mornings” (Pure Michigan).

I find myself wanting to write less about technical knowledge, relating to photography. More often, I have inclinations to share stories about my real life and my career.

A lot of you may know, I rarely sleep at night. It’s a quiet time to get work done, to think and really get things in perspective. So early this morning, I was sorting through the nearly 300,000 photographs, i’ve collected during my career. The point being, to pick the best of the best, for the launch of my new website. So I came across a photo and it reminded me of a story.

My friends and I went to Cancun, MX for Spring Break 2004, my senior year of high school. It was a lackluster trip, sketchy to say the least. But I remember one particular morning, while the girls were setting up their chairs for the day, I took a walk on the beach. I ventured an hour one way, as far as I could possibly go, then walked back. Upon my return, it was noon, and one of the girls said rather curiously “what were you doing?” She frowned as if I had just ripped the legs off a frog and ate it alive. “I went for a walk on the beach” I responded. She then asked “Why?” I rebutted, “Because it’s beautiful.” Her next words are golden in my memory, burnt deep into my mind. “You’re weird.”

Looking back, I guess she was spot on. I was watching the sun move over the water, rather than taking watered down tequila shots. Totally weird right?  So I guess i’ve become the guy from “American Beauty,” videotaping the plastic bag fluttering in the wind. But I love what I do, and it rocks. So don’t fear weird.