For USA readers, yesterday was Thanksgiving – I spent the day with family, being thankful for so much. For the international readers, I hope you joined in yesterday, or perhaps will join me in some thankfulness today.
Front and center on my list of things to be thankful for are: health, family, and community. Health makes the whole thing possible; family–immediate and extended–gives me the daily dose of what love really means, as well as the strength to live a full life; and community–my friends, my amazing staff, co-collaborators, and you–make it all so exciting, rich, and inspirational beyond my wildest dreams. All these things are wonderful and worthwhile things to celebrate.
Within the always-humbling, sometimes-overwhelming presence that this community has in my life, I draw an immeasurable amount of inspiration and motivation. It’s continually shocking for those times when I receive your thanks or kind words, because in my head, our roles are reversed – I feel like the one who clearly derives the most benefit from your participation in this constantly growing community. Words here cannot extend a big enough thanks to you.
Let me take a moment to thank a small handful of friends, collaborators, organizations that have for some reason or another recently made an (another?) impression on me. This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a short one that is present for me at the moment. They are all, in some unexpected ways, not to be missed:
NON PROFIT ORGS
4Culture.org
Blue Earth Alliance
Help-Portrait
MUSIC
Head Like A Kite
Victor Shade
Say Hi
Fences
Shabazz Palaces
GOOD PEOPLE
The Superformula
Ace Hotel
Vince Klimek.
Matt’s In The Market.
Foodista
Small-Lot Wines
Mike Horn
Build LLC
Theo Chocolate
Lastly. If you feel inclined to, please share in the comments section below something you’re thankful for. Anything sincere–and this is not just for the USA folks. It might be a USA holiday, but gratitude is worldwide. I’ll select a handful of comments and send you a signed book or something else to show my thanks for your sharing.
Oh, and I always love this reminder: “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward Have a great weekend.
I’m thankful for many things. Friends and family. I’m also thankful that my job not only allows me to have a roof over my head and food on the table, but also allows me to travel a bit. I am thankful that I have a lot of creative energy. Enough that I can work on my own projects and some left over to support local organizations who do some greats things.
I am grateful for my kids and their never ending creativity. The world looks so much brighter through their eyes!
Everything that I am thankful for are so obvious that are too difficult to put into words..
I am thankful for my family and the opportunities that they provide me with. Some of them seem almost beyond their capabilities.. I am thankful for every sacrifice that they make for me and my future. I know that nothing is impossible since I have them.
I am thankful for every person that is willing to criticize me, or have some doubts in me as well. These are the people that keep me real. They remind me to stop there for a second and think about what I am doing, what I want to achieve and what I have to do to achieve it. They help me to see the direction of my life clearer and realize what is important and what is not.
As silly as it may sound, I am thankful for the Internet. For collaborations like creative live. For every artist, that is willing to share thoughts and ideas with the rest of the world. I hope they realize the impact they have on those young and still looking for themselves people. They helped me a lot.
Finally, I am thankful for this question. I live in Europe and, in addition, my family was never good at openly sharing what we feel. We know what is important, we feel thankful in our hearts, but we never say it out loud. And that is important. While writing this comment I got scared that they may not know how much I appreciate and love them, and that I don’t take everything for granted.
I am thankful for my family and what they mean to me everyday……for having Annie as my best friend…..and a special thanks to my nephew Patrick (Army Ranger) and all service men and women who keep us safe and free!……and Thanks to Chase for allowing us to say THANKS!
Not to be cheesy, I’m most sincere.
I’m thankful for your message to the world and that I was able to find it.
You and your peeps are sharing, you are opening the books, letting us see your cards, so openly that it’s practically life changing. You are taking years of hard knocks off my learning curve.
I found CL & you during the 2nd day of Tamara Lackey’s seminar. I was mesmerized. For 2 days I walked all over the house carrying my laptop so I didn’t miss a single word; completely transported. I watched and watched and rewatched and then bought the 24 HR series, because I have never heard anything so valuable to my aspirations.
I didn’t know who either one of you were before I found the link on B&H. I’ve been ‘in church’, as JS put it, ever since then watching as many videos of you guys as I can find. I’ve gotten a peek at what some AMAZING photogs do – things I never dreamt of seeing nor dared to hope for. Thank you for inspiring me, who’s over 50, young at heart, but was trivialized by the economic downturn in Detroit, broken hearted by the sudden lose of a career, lifestyle and financial comfort. I’m trying to jump start a new career late in life with a limited budget. The $100 I spent on TL’s course was so worth every penny. You’ve inspired me to give back right now, by doing some charitable work shooting portraits for battered women while I’m honing my craft.
So you’ve blessed me and I’m committed to bless another, immediately. (sorry to wax poetic, but I’m totally moved.). Thank you. God Bless you, Kate and all those who hopped on this wonderful momentum you’ve put out there.