Walking to catch a train a few days ago, I had an overwhelming feeling that I'm not making a difference. Now that may sound negative and not big picture thinking, but we all set our own values and hold ourselves to individual standards. This thought may have been sparked by too much time on Facebook looking at Quotes like "If you don't create your dream, people will pay you to create theirs" and "If you had to write your own obituary today what would it say?".
I quite often feel like I should try to make a difference in this world. I make token gestures like turning off lights, not accelerating and braking too hard and picking up litter on the beach. But really these things are almost not worth doing... Or are they? Well, I wouldn't do them if I didn't think that in some tiny way they didn't have effect. But really I want to make an actual difference not just go through the motions.
Once I had boarded the train I had a look around me, many glum faces, mostly glued to iPhones or some other device. Surely this is not living in the moment? Or making the most of every opportunity?
As the train passed over the Harbour Bridge, I looked up at the beautiful structure and out to the sparkling water below. Amazing, this was someones vision, it got built, it makes a difference to peoples lives every single day and will continue too for a very long time. Now I'm not suggesting that I will ever create anything that will even come close, but it would be nice to leave this earth having at least tried to do something.
So I came to the conclusion once again that, the best way for me to make a difference is through my photography. I have to (excuse the pun) re-focus, be more inspired and inspiring, dream with drive and get shit done. I have literally thousands of photographs that only I have seen, they need to be shared. I have bodies of work that I feel will resonate. So I'm making a promise to myself to get my next book and exhibition under way, and hopefully, make a few people stop and think in the way that a walk to catch a train did for me.
