Anyway, here’s what I came up with. I don’t love it, but it served its purpose; so I’m happy. It’s a mixed media piece. The drawing was done in my sketchbook and then I added some color and toning in Lightroom.

Enough about me. What helps you clear your head and unwind? When was the last time you were compelled to create? Where has your latest source of inspiration come from?

Photographers, remember: you need to make a decision. Shooting weddings, families, pets, bands, sports = jack of all trades, master of none.

I consider myself to be a jack of all trades. I certainly don’t feel like I’ve mastered anything, but I’m confident that I can shoot most things better than the average photographer –Hint: the trick is not to be better, but to try harder.

Lately I’ve been wrestling with the notion of finding my niche, but the more I press down into a certain field the more complacent I become. I recently shot photos with a dude who’s been shooting weddings for “unfortunately 17 years” in his words. He certainly made a decision about the work he does, but he also got comfortable and apathetic in the process.

I have a hunch that specialization leads to burnout or boredom.

Personally, I need variety in my work. I value creativity too much to be comfortable with a repetitive diet. Even people like Jeremy Cowart who are exceptionally specialized often pursue creative, personal projects that are extremely different from their normal gig.

The deeper you dig in a single direction, the more you need external stimuli. Creativity thrives on variety.

Then I see someone like Joe McNally, who is one of the best photographers in the world, describe himself as a generalist, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s part of the reason why his photos are so remarkable. Personally I know that I’ve learned things from shooting fashion that have caused me to shoot weddings differently, and I’ve learned things from street photography that has improved my headshots.

So what do you think? Do you consider yourself a specialist or a generalist? Does an artist ever feel like he’s mastered something, or is that word merely attributed to someone else who does something better than we do? Does Talent + Complacency = Mastery?

In my line of work I’m used to mixing light, color, shapes and patterns to create something that is hopefully greater than the sum of its parts, but this concept of mixing flavors is a whole new territory for me. It makes me think of this scene from Ratatouille.

I simply love the way Pixar illustrated the sense of taste in a visual manner. And now I have a new appreciation for chefs and foodies. Hats off to my culinary companions!

P.S. I’m currently accepting dinner invitations in case you feel inspired.

There is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into it, and to my surprise there are hundreds of variations of it. Needless to say, it can get overwhelming quickly. This was my third time leading a Seder, and while I am certainly no expert at it I offer my suggestions and resources with the hope that other Christians may find it helpful for preparing their own.

For starters, I find it helpful to do some teaching/history of Passover before beginning the formal Seder. You can download my one-page overview here. It’s broken into two parts: the first Passover, and then Jesus celebrating Passover with His disciples. You can expound on this and make it into a small group study for an evening if you want to give some context to others who haven’t done a Seder before, but I prefer to do it immediately before the start of the Seder.

I like to play two clips to give us a visual framework of the two parts. The first is from Prince of Egypt (end at 3:59). Then I talk about the Last Supper and show a clip from Passion of the Christ (begin at 1:30:20 – end at 1:38:52) This is extremely helpful in setting the proper mood.

After that you can follow along with the Hagaddah. As I mentioned before, there are many many variations, but you can download my Hagaddah here. It is largely based on the one I did at Westgate Chapel years ago, but I have merged it with various pieces I’ve found in my studies.

The Hagaddah is written in such a way that you can read it verbatim as you go through the order, but I highly recommend that the leader familiarize himself with the text so that he can explain parts of it in his own words rather than read directly from the script.

I found this overview to be helpful in understanding more about Passover and answering some relevant questions.

For the meal itself: I’ve always done it potluck style. Personally I’m not concerned about what is or is not kosher by this point. I view the meal as a separate part from the Seder (though squished in between it), and it just makes things easier for those of us who haven’t done it before.

For the main dish I served lamb. This was kind of a big deal for me considering that my definition of cooking usually means making turkey sandwiches. Nevertheless, I followed this recipe and it was perfect. Clearly illustrated and accurate.

For the Seder Plate, here’s what you’ll need to put on it: parsley, horse raddish (prepared, the hotter the better), charoset, brown/roasted egg, lamb shank (or a chicken bone will suffice), salt water dish. I would also recommend putting some pieces of matzo on the plate for guests to use to make the sandwich thing.

I hope that helps! I’ll try to keep this page updated as I learn more, so feel free to speak up with suggestions of your own.

Even though her appearance was disguised her talent could not be hidden. The people in the crowd were awe struck by her performance even though it came from the most unlikely candidate. True art has the capacity to break through barriers and captivate an audience. But there’s a catch…

The Washington Post did an experiment featuring the world-renown violinist Joshua Bell. The setup was simple, Josh (yeah, we’re pretty tight like that so I just call him Josh) dressed in casual clothes and played several classical pieces outside a metro stop during the morning rush hour. …and nothing happened.

All told he made $32 and only half a dozen people paused to give him the time of day. Now, I would say that Josh is more talented than Jewel (one man’s opinion anyway) yet the difference between these two scenarios is context. The WP article said it well when describing the experiment as “art without a frame.”

So many people are bursting with talent but they’re standing in front of the wrong audience. Your song, painting, design, recipe, photograph, etc. is ready to be shared. Put it in a frame –any sort of frame will do for now; just get it hung– and then get back to work.

Create your art. Share it. And then go do it again.

True talent can’t be hidden if you just give it some context.

I was seconds away from clicking “Publish” on a new batch of photos when suddenly things started making a lot more sense… I had to rewind all the way back to September 2009, but it seems to be the right place to start this series.

A book publisher asked me to review a book titled The Power Filmmaking Kit for a small stipend. Since I never did get around to blogging about it before now, I have the advantage of seeing how it has affected me. Not even half a dozen pages into the book I read something that has changed my outlook ever since:

Good films are born from real experiences. Therefore, accumulate experiences. (paraphrased)

This idea got under my skin and challenged me to explore life in a new way. I’m realizing now that this has been the driving force in my decision making lately, so I figured it would be helpful to let you know where I’m coming from. For better or worse I have spent the last 18 months chasing experiences of all kinds. I’ve tried my best to capture them with my camera and Moleskine, and now I’m excited to share them with you here.

The first stop of our journey takes us to the Big Apple…

Someone once told me “Don’t hog your journey.” For me, that’s what this 30 Post Challenge is all about. There are so many things I’ve learned, experienced, and photographed just in the last year and a half but I’ve been so painfully stingy in what I share. I never meant to keep things to myself, but it seems there is always one more reason, one more thing to finish before I’m ready to share my journey.

I’m realizing now (as I write) that the repercussions of this are far reaching. When I keep my journey to myself I get discouraged because it reminds me that yet another opportunity has been stifled. This in turn destroys expectations among my friends, family, and even clients. I then get stressed out and frustrated because I feel like I’ve let people down. To make matters worse I am robbed of opportunities to teach from my experiences. …all because I didn’t share.

So in an effort to overcome this disease called perfection I’m going to be pulling some photos from the archives and telling their stories here on my blog over the next couple weeks. There is so much I’m eager to share…

Not only is it common sense marketing to share your work, but in my case it’s downright unhealthy not to. So don’t take for yourself the painful route that I stumbled upon. Let’s keep shooting, sharing, and inviting others into our lives. Whether you’re making music, teaching improv, or serving the brokenhearted let’s share the journey together. We’ll all be better off for it.

During the month of December my brother-in-law planned 25 days of Christmas surprises for his wife. Every day she would post a picture and update her Facebook status to share what they did. Most of the surprises were quite simple, and all of the photos were taken with a cell phone; yet she had so many friends check in every day to see what they were up to simply because it was consistent and fun.

Everything from the Strobist blog to Groupon and even reality tv shows understand the importance of consistently giving their audience a reason to come back.

Too many bloggers, myself included, blame perfectionism for not posting more often. We want to have everything just right before pulling the trigger, but most of the time that just means that we either waste time writing drafts that we never publish, or we just give up altogether. I don’t recall who said it, but “I’d rather have a partial plan fully executed than a perfect plan partially executed.”

This is my attempt at putting an end to excuses and getting to work. Your move, Johnson!

The same thing is true with your time.

I can attest to the fact that if you put work before yourself, there will never be enough time for you.  There will always be more demands on your time than there are hours in the day.  I think this is especially true for creative types who are passionate about their work.  It’s easy to overwork when you enjoy it, but if you’re not careful you will exhaust your creativity, motivation, and drive.

So this is what I propose: Make time for yourself first.  Yes, I know you’re buried and overworked and facing a tight deadline, but that is all the more reason why you need to put yourself first.  Do whatever it is that makes you come alive, and give yourself enough time for it.  Schedule it on your calendar and stick to it.  If you don’t take your own time seriously then what makes you think other people will?

For the last two weeks I’ve blocked off my calendar from 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon every day.  During that time I silence my phone and disable email notifications.  For four hours I do something for me.  I read books, take pictures, find interesting videos on TED, dream, journal, work on personal projects, write this blog post, draw, etc…

There are dozens of reasons why this is a dumb idea, but you already know that.  What you probably don’t know is what might happen if  you try it.

I dream of being a filmmaker. For now, I’m a photographer.  And lately I’ve had an unshakable desire to pursue filmmaking again. Then this book came in the picture, and now I’m really not comfortable with things.

One of the decisions I made was that I need to attend one of Robert McKee’s Story seminars.  The only problem is the timing.  He only does two seminars a year in North America.  The first one is wrapping up today (likely as I am typing this); the second one happens in New York City this week.

When I first saw the schedule two weeks ago I looked at my calendar and my wallet thinking it probably won’t happen this year, but I haven’t been able to get the thought out of my head that I need to go.  I honestly can’t tell if it’s an act of faith or selfish ambition, but at very least I feel compelled to let my thoughts out.  Maybe God will use this simple post to encourage someone else, or make a connection, or kick me in the pants, or, or or…. who knows.  Either way, I’ve got to do something with this desire to make films, and this is a small step in that direction.