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 am thankful for the people who have poured of their time and expertise into my life to make me the person I am today. For the gifts I’ve been given and the work that is slowly coming my way so I can live off of photography. For my family, parents, sisters, nephews and nieces and friends all over the world that make my life much sweeter. And I’m thankful to you Chase and to Creative life and all the great content you make available to us! God bless you! :c)
I’m thankful that due to the interconnectivity of all peoples thru social media and otherwise, we’re all living our lives in broad daylight. We all know what’s happenin in our friend’s lives. It’s give us all the sweet relief of sharing the good times, sharing the trouble and just simply sharing to share. For whatever ails you these days, all it takes is a good spin doctor to help you see the bright side & the silver lining. I’m thankful for the freedom to share my bourdons and my joys and for all my favorite spin doctors who helping me open my eyes to see the paths to new opportunities and adventures for the future. And of course, I’m thankful for the ultra elite VIP’s in my life who have taught me what true, honest love is all about.
I’m thankful that I have a loving family, a job, and the time to take pictures.
I’m thankful for the hard times. If it were not for them, I would not learn the lessons I needed to, nor would I be as grateful for when times are good.
Thankful for many things, awesome family, great kids, my health and all my needs taken care of.
Also extremely thankful for my new hobby of photography. I’m coming up to my first birthday and have had a great time learning over the last year. Am also very thankful for this community of photographers I stumbled across in CreateLive Live with Chase, Zack, Jeremy, Scott Kellby and all. Grateful that you all put so much back into this industry and you are so accessible to people like me starting out.
Happy thanksgiving all.