![[Group 0]-_DSC1259__DSC1264-6 imagesADJ](http://tonysweet.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Group-0-_DSC1259__DSC1264-6-imagesADJ.jpg)
NANPA continues on with Pro day tomorrow, but we’ll be heading south to visit Dr. Singh on Monday. This evening we saw the James Balog movie, “Chasing Ice,” where he positioned cameras on 30 or so glaciers in Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, and Montana and took time lapse imagery of the melting glaciers. Sobering to say the least.
Art Wolfe received a lifetime achievement award and his retrospective and body of work was amazing! When one sees the environmental work of Balog and the documentation of the world’s natural history by Wolf, it’s natural to begin to question the purpose of one’s own work.
So, right when I’m in the throes of questioning if what I do matters at all, an interesting thing happened. A man came up to me and said that he had my books, and wanted to meet me. What made this unusual was the seriousness of his tone. He continued on to say that he read through my books and found them comforting while he was at the hospital with his wife during a serious illness. Of course, I expressed my concern. He continued on to say that reading them helped him through the experience. After a short pause, I asked if she was still with us. He said that she died a short while ago.
He said, “Thank you.” We shook hands and parted.
I’m not sure if there’s a moral here or not, but perhaps it’s that by creating beauty in our imagery, we do more good than we know.
Thanks for visiting and we’ll see you online…
Tony
Thanks very much for the kind feedback, everyone. I am certainly humbled by the nature of the replies.
Thank you Tony for sharing about questioning “if what I do matters at all.” I’ve had similar experiences, and no sooner am I asking it, then the answer comes from where least expected. And like your story, it may be just one person, but it is profoundly meaningful. Glad to have met you over the weekend Tony, thank you for your kindness. Kymri
Thank you for sharing this story. I’ve wondered the same sort of things, and your candor in sharing your thoughts surrounding what place works of beauty might have in our world is encouraging. Your vision is wondrous and I am grateful you continue to publish, teach, and share. Thank you.
The relevance of your work and artistic vision has not only helped to increase our awareness of the environment and our place in it, but has also provided valuable instruction for many of us to “speak” through our vision. Carry on Sir! And, thank you.
Image, imagine….. When viewing some of your imagery I’m being drawn into the world you present to me. It’s crazy how, when one lets himself go and wishes to be immersed into a photograph, can be overflown with calmness and peace and can almost wonder around in the sub-reality you created. I like to believe that this man was taken to another place, away from his daily heartaches and sorrows. It’s what the powerful medium of photography can do. This is what your work did for this man and likely does for many others.
From one of your books; “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to be able to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures. -Don McCullen”
You make people feel. It’s a gift Tony, keep doing what you’re doing, don’t change a thing! Thank you.
Tony,
You have the correct interpretation of the meeting with the man. You have a lot of good karma built up young man.