STAYING HUMBLE

At some stage in your career, hopefully early on, you decide it’s important to stay humble, no matter what level of success you achieve.

The passion you feel along the way can have a way of making everything you experience a bit larger than life, obscuring the overall relevant importance of what you are doing.

Sure, some ego is important for the artist to survive, as is drive, tenacity and grit, which are all necessary to succeed, but those won’t determine what you leave behind that actually matters.

Being based in reality, having integrity, nurturing healthy relationships, and making a difference in your community are more important. The work you make in the process is just a byproduct of those pursuits. That’s hard to remember when you are captured by self-interest and self-importance. Selfishness and narcissism are the enemy. Looking in the mirror is best reserved for introspection.

Here’s what the Santa Fe Photo Workshops had to say recently:

“We are now two years into a world turned upside down by the ebbs and flows of a global pandemic. Although our lives have been readjusted to expect the unexpected, we have also been reminded of the importance of our health, the safety of our family and friends, the meaning of home, and the significance of community. In turbulent times like these, we search for what is most important to us. To borrow words from Suzuki Roshi, ‘the most important thing is to remember the most important thing’.”

“At Santa Fe Workshops, what is most important to us is building a deep connection to one another through photography and writing and honoring the power of creativity. We invite you to join our community and convey what is most important to you by where you put your attention and how you spend your time.”

(Photo: Andrea Wells by Randy Wells)