The conversation continues……

I promise I will let this go after today, but I got one more email I think is relevant to the subject, and I want to take one more stab at this.  The email contained this;

“I am not wanting to disagree with you on this issue of fame…..but, here is my story; I win a lot at my camera club competition, I’ve self published one book, and I have hopes of getting better known as a photographer, which seems to be happening, are you suggesting I am wrong to want that to happen??”   “I honesty like that my hard working is paying of, but I also see the points you’ve made, I admire you, your work, and your advice.   Any thoughts!!!”

Let me start by saying congratulations, your hard work is paying off, and you should feel good about that, and I feel good for you.  Recognition and how we handle it are two completely different things.  To receive, well deserved, recognition is a good thing, as long as we don’t let it affect us negatively.  I’m a big believer in working hard to accomplish a goal.  I’m also a big believer that when we succeed, recognition is in order.  The problem starts when we take recognition and start to believe it makes us better than others in every way.  Let me use an illustration.  Let’s say you win a photo competition run by a major magazine and are named the grand prize winner for the year 2011.  You win a camera, a tripod and a nice check.   What are the proper responses to such an event in your life.  You should feel great to have won.  You should feel excited that you have a new camera, tripod and some spending money for that lens you’ve been saving for!  You should feel that your hard work is paying off and be thankful that some others judged work as worthy of that kind of recognition!  What you shouldn’t do is; think this makes you the greatest photographer that ever lived.  You shouldn’t think it means that on any given day you can probably out shoot anyone  out there.  It shouldn’t make you feel you are a better person than the person that came in in third place.   Now very few people would react in these negative ways, unfortunately some have.

I’m not saying that success shouldn’t be enjoyed.  I’ve had several best selling books, but after the initial thrill of the accomplishment, you have to set it aside, and go back to being who you really are, someone that loves photography and has success many times, failures others.  Success is a good thing, I think we should strive to be the best we can be, just not let it define us.

Let me give you the only example I have, my self concept.  This is dangerous, but if a person is going to suggest what is a healthy way to see ones self, they should be willing to step up and lay it on the line, so this is how I see myself.

Hi my name is Bill Fortney, I live in Kentucky with my wife of 43 years, Sherelene.  I’m madly in love with her, my three children, their three spouses, and my six grandchildren.  The number one thing in my life is my love for, and relationship with Jesus Christ, His Father, my Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.  My goal is to serve them every moment of every day of my life. I have failed often in that pursuit.  Everything good in my life is because of that relationship.  I’ve been a photographer for over 42 years.  I’ve had a wonderful career filled with many great experiences, lots of wonderful friends, and some very nice high points, and an equal number of low points.  I’ve worked very hard and continue to do so, and thus I’ve become a very accomplished photographer.  In spite of the fact that my work is often exceptional, I see the work of others everyday that well exceed mine.  When I was young it killed me to see someone who made better photographs that I did, now I feel great joy in seeing their work, and I’m proud of them and their accomplishments.  My feelings of self worth are not based on how I compare to all the other photographers out there, my self worth was stated in the first five sentences of this paragraph.  Period, end of point!

Hope that helps my friend, I’m proud of you, and you certainly do good work, as I’m familiar with your images, having visited your website.  I wish you all the best and pray for a life filled with the most important things, faith, family, service, and fun!  This really isn’t that difficult;  work hard, feel pride and joy when you win, get up and dust yourself off when you loose, have faith in God, love your family, have lots of fun, laugh a lot, share your joy for life with all you meet, and spend eternity with Him!  If I say so myself, that’s a good plan…………..

the pilgrim

* Photo Note:  Peeling paint, simple point and shoot camera.  Simple is good!

You may have noticed that all the last few post images have been texture shots, since these posts have dealt with a point that determine the texture of our  lives, I thought it was appropriate…..