“What if you were wrong? What if everything you ever believed was a lie? What if you missed your opportunity because you didn’t know your worth? What if you settled on familiar, but God was trying to give you something better? What if you decided not to go backwards, but forward? What if doing what you have never done before was the answer to everything that didn’t make sense? What if the answer wasn’t to be found in words, but in action? What if you found the courage to do what you really wanted to do and doing it changed your whole life?”
― Shannon L. Alder

What will the New Year bring? I look at it a lot like this image and associated quote, there is a trail, a general direction, though the exact steps I will take are imprecise, at this point. I have liberty to deviate from the path of others and create my own path. That option has often lead me to new and interesting places. What’s over the horizon? I have a good idea, having travelled the path before, but it’s never the same twice, there is always something new, if I have the vision and intent to see it. Will I have to backtrack at some point? I don’t know right now. The one thing I do know is that this is my path and nobody else’s and I have to choose my steps.

At the end of this year I will have achieved a significant goal: that of publishing a photo and accompanying text every single day. I will have published over 450 photos, viewed by over twenty-one thousand people around the world. I realized that the world is active 24/7 and that there are more people with common interests than I could have imagined. Friendships have formed as conversations grow. The post a day goal has not always been easy but has forced me to go beyond my comfort zone. It has not just been the photos but the act of writing something significant about the images.

The exercise has also allowed me to look back on the year, day by day and see precisely what inspired a change in style, subject matter, and composition. It’s been very enjoyable and encouraging. I have to thank the many of you who engage with me on a regular basis as we share our images, words, and thoughts. There were tough times when I felt discouraged, that I was producing material that was of no significance and I’ve found, in this community of bloggers, there is no such thing as insignificance, even the most mundane image can bring encouragement and inspiration to someone else.

That said, I will continue into the New Year with the momentum I have gained, continue to try to produce quality images and text, to deviate from the path, on occasion, and travel into untrodden territory and see what awaits me.

A very Happy New Year to everyone. May 2017 bring growth, creativity, and fulfilment to all of you.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC USD @ 75 mm
1/40 sec, f/3.2, ISO 100

For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/EdLehming
or my website (some images available for purchase)
http://www.edlehming.com