I'd gotten off base. I could tell because I was comparing myself to others, and feeling lacking. I was also allowing myself to be defined by what others think of me, or what I THINK they think. This is not who I am, nor is it who I want to be. That kind of attitude only leads to unhappiness and the inability to use my gifts for the greater good. At least I didn't let it go on too long.

The light I need to shine on my work as a photographer has nothing to do with what others think of it and everything to do with my purpose in taking photographs in the first place. I take photos because that is how I see. I share them because that is how I offer my gifts to the world community. If my images impact the world for the good, that is great, but I can't know what effect they will have on others. All I can do is bring the best of myself to the process, send them out, and trust they will do whatever needs to be done. It's like having children. You conceive and give birth to them. Then you care for them and try to prepare them to take their rightful place in the world. But there comes the day when they grow up and leave home. Yes, you continue to support them but now you are no longer responsible for their actions. They must take responsibility for themselves.

And so it is with our photos. There comes the day when we must stand aside and let them do the work they were created to do. We may think we know what that work is, but we probably don't. The work is a mystery to the one who created it because the work depends on the times and circumstances in which our photographs exist. Any recognition they receive belongs not to us but to the images themselves and to the subjects that they portray. As photographers we are merely the channel through which they flow. That's why it's so important that we be as clear a channel as possible. And that's where the light comes in.