Around 2002 I started out with one camera, one lens & a vision to do only what I was passionate about every day. "Do what you love & you'll never work a day in your life" was my mantra. At moments of exhaustion along the journey it changed to "The harder I try the luckier I get". That lifted me from my bed many many mornings when all I wanted to do was rest after three or four hours sleep. When people around me doubted me & my passion, when well intend people sent me job advisements, when no one could see what I could see, I kept going, I kept following the momentum. I turned up and gave my very best. My very best. A couple of times I decided to give up, but momentum is momentum and reminded of my own advise to my Daughter, "At low points moments in you're life, there will be signs that you are on the right road, look for them, they are always there. Momentum and Expectation are not the same. Always go with Momentum", and in a very short time I'd see the path again. That one camera got upgraded and a second added. Between them they have over seven hundred thousand photos clocked up on them today and have travelled to hundreds of locations in Ireland and beyond. Now I haven't made millions, and my house isn't decked in gold & diamonds but 15 years later I'm as passionate about connecting with people though photography as I was on day one. At the end of another days work, as I sit here in Cariveo on the cost of Portugal, the sun shining and a gentle breeze keeping me at just the perfect temperature, I'm reminded how truly blessed I am, how things are always working out even when sometimes it can feel like the opposite seems to be the case. Reading my emails I discover I've received confirmation of my second award for 2017. I am filled with gratitude for getting to do what I love, every day. Grateful for the thousands of people I have met and in the main smiled with over the past 15 years. On this journey I have had the honour of taking the first photo in someone's life, the last photo in another's and many very special moments in between, witnessing the human spirit on all levels. Sometimes being so captured by whats happening in front of me, I've had to put the camera down, the same camera that put me in front of the experience. It is a peculiar relationship on occasion. Sometimes I do feel like a passenger in some greater orchestral masterpiece of life where some genius creator has, for some unknown reason, chosen me to play a part with or without my camera. I grateful for those who have been so supportive, who have been the buoyancy aids in my career journey and my life. I am so excited for what lies ahead and what to reassure anyone who has a dream, keep dreaming, keep showing up, even when everyone else is resting or partying, or telling you you're crazy, keep going. Keep your dream at the center of your radar, always. Be patient. D
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Photo credit: David Kenna dak photography
https://www.facebook.com/dakphotography
Photo credit: David Kenna dak photography
https://www.facebook.com/dakphotography