The Sun Rises on a New Day

In an interesting L.A. TImes article, by David W. Galenson and Joshua Kotin titled, Its never too late to create , it goes on to talk about creativity in old age and how such artists as Clint Eastwood at age 76 is making some of the best films of his career. Its says that creativity is not the domain of the youthful and mentions examples of artists who never got recognized till later in life, Jackson Pollock, (30s) Virginia Woolf (40s) Paul Cezanne (60s), I think its well worth reading for any artist.

In a somewhat related issue there has been a number of posting on various blogs including George Barr's post about, Dealing with Disappointment , I think every artist, whether they be painter, musician, writer, photographer or what ever has received their share of the dreaded rejection letter. I just take it as a part of life, I have had my share of artistic disappointments, recently I sent my personal black and white work off to Black and White Magazine for their annual photo contest only to receive a form letter stating that my work was not chosen.

At the end of the day I go to sleep and I wake up and the sun rises on a new day, giving me the opportunity once more to go out and make new art, after all its the creativity that I love, the time spent behind my camera contemplating my subject matter and making something that I hope will be a beautiful photograph. Its nice to be recognized for work well done and my hope is that one day my body of work will be recognized for the long term artistic effort, but even then if only my friends and family and a the people that see my work on my website or this blog find enjoyment in it, I will be happy.

I made this image of the Illecillewaet Glacier in Glacier National Park in September of 1988. I persevered in making the climb up the 4.8 km Glacier Crest Trail with my 4 x 5 camera and related gear strapped to my back hoping to capture the last rays of the day's sun after doing previous hike earlier in the day.