I’m old but new. I’m the same but different. I’m back but starting over.

I seem to have reinvented myself. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing until I was well into doing it. Eighteen months ago I pulled up stakes in Louisville, KY and moved to Delaware to begin Adulthood 2.0. Moving wasn’t even on my radar until… well, until it was. That’s how my brain works. It’s an on-off switch. One minute I was adamantly turning down requests to shoot portraits of friends. “I don’t photograph people,” I announced. “they have expectations.” The next minute, I had a portrait studio above my garage.

This leads me to wonder how much control I really have over my conscious life. I once wrote in a blog post (in that previous incarnation) that the camera seems to have a mind of its own and makes its own decisions about what gets photographed. It benevolently lets me think I’m calling the shots. This still seems to be true.

I’m not complaining. I’m learning to accept and trust my camera’s wisdom. And I appreciate the benefits. Divine camera guidance has shown me a world I would not have otherwise known. It led me to the beautiful Kentucky countryside and then, when I was ready, sent me off to explore the world. (You see, I wasn’t getting out much before the camera realized I needed some nudging.) It created community involvement opportunities and a way to keep my brain alive and free from atrophy. Best of all, it led me to People. I think that’s been St. Camera’s hidden agenda all along. There were lots of people it thought I needed to be introduced to, and photography was the path that lead to new friends with new stories. It was also new way to engage with old, treasured friends.

So the camera’s secret plan has led me to portrait photography. It started with a couple of friends in Delaware who rolled their eyes at my lame excuses for not doing portraits. My indoctrination into photographing subjects that were not inanimate was a funky family photo and a maternity shoot on family farmland. I admit that it was surprisingly pleasant.

I’ll never give up landscape, macro, food and travel photography. I see too many things I want to capture. And since the camera has never revealed its almighty plan ahead of time, I can’t tell you where I’ll be going next.

You’ll just have to keep reading this blog and you’ll be the second to know.