butchlambert
Site $$ Sponsor
Sylinda and I recently returned from San Antonio where I gave the keynote address at an annual meeting for an academic group focused toward studying invasive plant species on rangelands.
The topic of my presentation was, "A Road Least Traveled: The Evolution of a Photographer and Author." Addressing such a crowd whose profession was far removed from my own might seem difficult but considering the young people present, it seemed to be very well received, as indicated by the wonderful post presentation comments.
The primary message was one of "decisions" which occur at a critical point in almost everyones life where a window of opportunity exists when an individual can veer from their primary life goal and experience a life way, however ephemeral, that might be significant as a career changer.
I used my own experience of having just graduating Texas Tech University and deciding to forego a career opportunity to step through a door along life's path and engage a life I had wanted to experience for some time. Although I knew I had sacrificed an opportunity for a career job, I would forever regret not giving this much anticipated adventure at least a year or so of my time in order to have closure and move on with life.
I need not go into details as previous posts have alluded to the life I led for some years as a young man, living a very simple, basic existence hunting predators for a livelihood. Although I no longer desire to revisit those times in their entirety, it is a fact that the decision made in the summer of 1974 was a life changer. Experiencing this rather primitive lifestyle where the rifle and steel trap were essential tools to succeed, this existence taught me so much about setting and achieving goals under sometimes very adverse conditions. During this period I began studying photography as a daily routine, setting the stage for the ensuing four decades as a photographer published in magazines on a world wide scale. Now, with 30 books also on my resume, it is often I revisit the memories of those early years and retrace the sinuous trails that led me to this point in life. And in those moments of retrospect, if I entertain the thought that perhaps my endeavors might have been handled differently, I always say unequivocally, absolutely not. It happened just the way it should have.
In this accompanying photo of long ago, while living a life that now seems as if it were only a dream, I am basking in the late light of a winter day cleaning steel traps for boiling and later use in an attempt to generate enough money to pay for my college loan, truck payment and buy groceries. Such a simple life it was, but one I am proud to say, and to quote Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way.”
Enjoy!
The topic of my presentation was, "A Road Least Traveled: The Evolution of a Photographer and Author." Addressing such a crowd whose profession was far removed from my own might seem difficult but considering the young people present, it seemed to be very well received, as indicated by the wonderful post presentation comments.
The primary message was one of "decisions" which occur at a critical point in almost everyones life where a window of opportunity exists when an individual can veer from their primary life goal and experience a life way, however ephemeral, that might be significant as a career changer.
I used my own experience of having just graduating Texas Tech University and deciding to forego a career opportunity to step through a door along life's path and engage a life I had wanted to experience for some time. Although I knew I had sacrificed an opportunity for a career job, I would forever regret not giving this much anticipated adventure at least a year or so of my time in order to have closure and move on with life.
I need not go into details as previous posts have alluded to the life I led for some years as a young man, living a very simple, basic existence hunting predators for a livelihood. Although I no longer desire to revisit those times in their entirety, it is a fact that the decision made in the summer of 1974 was a life changer. Experiencing this rather primitive lifestyle where the rifle and steel trap were essential tools to succeed, this existence taught me so much about setting and achieving goals under sometimes very adverse conditions. During this period I began studying photography as a daily routine, setting the stage for the ensuing four decades as a photographer published in magazines on a world wide scale. Now, with 30 books also on my resume, it is often I revisit the memories of those early years and retrace the sinuous trails that led me to this point in life. And in those moments of retrospect, if I entertain the thought that perhaps my endeavors might have been handled differently, I always say unequivocally, absolutely not. It happened just the way it should have.
In this accompanying photo of long ago, while living a life that now seems as if it were only a dream, I am basking in the late light of a winter day cleaning steel traps for boiling and later use in an attempt to generate enough money to pay for my college loan, truck payment and buy groceries. Such a simple life it was, but one I am proud to say, and to quote Frank Sinatra, “I did it my way.”
Enjoy!
