Inspired by the Aged

There are times when an artist finds himself in a slump, when he questions whether all the years he has spent in pursuit of his craft have been a waste. He asks himself if he has actually been fooling himself and all the passion has been nothing but worthless illusion. I have learned that these times are often a prelude to another experience of unexpected insiration from above. My faith in God allows me to release my anxieties and take them to Him. And it's often during these times when I see the supernatural power of God materialize into something I never expected. It has happened to me several times over the past year, and it happened to me again last week when my wife and I visited her mom at the retirement home.

I remember as a boy in high school, when I needed to write my first essay. I had never written one before, so at first I didn't know where to start. But upon visiting my aging grandparents in the nursing home, I immediately felt the need to record my thoughts and feelings. And the experience I had that day visiting them, provided the inspiration and subject matter for that essay.

So fast-forward about 35 years into the present, and I find myself in a similar situation. The loving environment that is present in my mother-in-law's retirement home has brought a new inspiration into my photography, which is really no more than an extention of my heart. As I have moved away from wildlife photography, I have felt a relentless passion to capture the beauty of human interaction, specifically those times of kindness and compassion, to bring a refreshing respite from all the discouraging news and images we are often bombarded with by the news media.

These pictures are my interpretations of those precious moments, ones that often go by so quickly, sometimes without much reflection of how the Lord has truly blessed us. If you look closely into the eyes of these people, you can easily see the love they have for each other. And if you look a bit deeper into those eyes, you might also see that it is a reflection of the love that God has for us.