“I have been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I have never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” – Georgia O’Keeffe

Above: Vasto, Italy photographed on my Canon 5DMK111 and 24-105mm lens ISO 100,F8 @1/1000th sec You’ve heard the saying “location, location” right? Well, did you know the place you spend the most time in is going to impact how successful you will become as a photographer? I believe the place you spend the majority of your time will have more of an impact on your ability to succeed than your technical ability. You can be the most technically gifted photographer in the world but if you spend the majority of your time living in this place then it’s highly likely your work will continue to suffer and will struggle to improve or evolve. I know this because I’ve lived in this place and getting out wasn’t easy. It’s difficult to leave a place that feels so familiar. Life here is predictable and comfortable. In fact, the place is called Comfort...

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” – Marc Chagall

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent van Gogh

“You don’t have to be good to start … you just have to start to be good!” ― Joe Sabah “Once you’ve mastered starting and stopping, the rest is easy.” ― Marty Rubin “The beginning is always NOW.” ― Roy Bennett “If I must start somewhere, right here and now is the best place imaginable.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich “I had as many doubts as anyone else. Standing on the starting line, we’re all cowards.” ― Alberto Salazar

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.”– Robert Frank

  “Jobs fill your pocket, adventures fill your soul” – Jaime Lyn Beatty

“The one thing you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can. The moment that you feel that just possibly you are walking down the street naked… that’s the moment you may be starting to get it right.” ― Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art

I once knew a photographer, Richard Barrett (not his real name) whose work was absolutely perfect. Every single image was perfectly composed and sharp as a tack. Every pixel was exposed precisely and the post production was flawless. Technically, I could not fault his work. He was also a nice guy and yet his photography struggled to get noticed. Why? I believe it had to do with the way he ordered his wine… An Artist and a Scientist walk into a bar. The Scientist carefully studies the wine list and chooses a wine based on all the data he is given, including the region the grapes are grown in, the history of the wineries and the reviews of each bottle. The Artist orders the same bottle the people on a nearby table are drinking because that’s exactly what he feels like. I believe the way a photographer orders wine, or...