When it came to ice hockey my principles I used to live by was - be the first one on the ice and the last one off the ice has a pro athlete. Due to an unexpected shoulder injury/freak accident I was left unable to play at the pro level.
As I returned to the passion pit/square one. I had to figure out what I was going to do with the remainder of my life as my dream had come crashing to a halt in my early 20s. I always wanted to live a life designed by passion. I had lots of friends that used to work jobs just to support themselves and their loved ones but they used to complain about their jobs but didn't know how to change. I knew I didn't want to do that. What I did was I made a pact with myself. I made an agreement and said whatever it takes I will follow my passions and that will provide me with a living.
The reason I titled this article with the above three words because this was a "code" I had established for myself early on in life.
1 Desire - for me this meant the desire to be the best at whatever I choose to do. The desire to be successful and the desire to help others.
2 - Discipline - for me this meant the discipline in order to get it done. I had a lot of friends who used to procrastinate and I recall it would drive me nuts. Even though I don't really like that saying I'm going to use it anyways. Watching people procrastinate their precious hours on this planet is tough to see. For me I was wanting to discipline myself to make sure I was focused on my goals and did whatever it took to achieve them. this meant disciplining myself and not wasting too much time but having a healthy balance in life of fun and work.
3 - Determination - for me this meant the inner test. To see what I was made of. To find out if I was determined enough to succeed and reach my goals. To find out if I was determined enough to acquire the education or the skill set in order to achieve those goals. The determination to do whatever it took. And the determination to keep my head up and my attitude positive when things were down all around me.
I am writing this because even in photography these three principles apply. I want to share a photo with you. I have been out shooting all day and was just finishing dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Banff Canada. I was tired but I wanted to go and shoot at a certain place that I love to shoot at. If I did this and that meant I wouldn't get back to the city until 4:30 AM. But the full moon was out and I just had to do it.
When I arrived to my favorite location at Vermilion lakes in Banff Nationl Park Canada. I saw another photographer doing a shoot. We quickly became friends and were in synergy with ideas flowing and shots happening.
This was the shot >>>
Night shot long exposure Banff National Park Canada – Vermilion lakes - gregg jaden visuals
I think the shot turned out great considering Ryan was probably getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and it must've been lab ext to impossible to standstill but he used his determination to stay perfectly still. Imagine if I would've packed it up and gone home early then the chances are I would've never had this shot. What's even crazier was I just had major neck surgery two weeks prior to this shot so really I shouldn't have been out there at all but I saw it as an opportunity to "build my strength" which was the doctor's orders. One of the things about photographers that makes them successful is collaboration. Obviously people want to make a name for themselves but I think it is Way more powerful to collaborate as a team.
Ryan is the fellow on the Paddleboard. He stood still for 200 seconds to get this exposure. What a champion. The other photographer was doing shorter exposures which looks awesome as well, but I wanted to push this to the limit to try to bring out the colors of the background.
if you could ever do one thing in life… Definitely follow your passions. If you do just this one thing all the other concerns ends up taking care of themselves and as always everything just works out.
Happy Shooting!