Vital Imagery Blog

"The biggest cliché in photography is sunrise and sunset." — Catherine Opie, photographer.

It's true perhaps that these natural spectacles have been overused as photographic subjects. Yet should you happen to have a camera in hand when the landscape is lit by the shades of twilight, it's pretty hard to resist taking just one more shot.

During a holiday this year on pretty Marco Island, Florida,  my daughter and I actually started laughing when I picked up the camera for the fourth consecutive night to try and do justice to the crimson, orange and magenta tinting the sky above the gulf. Every night the blend had offered subtle differences in tone, each seeming more memorable than the one before. However, in checking the results  it was difficult to tell where one session began and another ended.  With dozens of very similar images, my efforts had indeed become clichéd.

The question now then is whether I can change that. Tomorrow, I'm heading out on a little mini-…

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." — Anatole France

Inspiring words from the 19th-century French writer with a clear intent to motivate. Taken to heart they are not simply a call to action but an encouragement to aspire to greatness through faith and vision.  Whether the goal is in business or simply getting through this morass called life, this is a sentiment with impact expressed simply.

There are fragments of living when a little motivation or inspiration is necessary to get moving on something, to finish it, or from time to time, to just get through the day.  Though the latter comes from mental stimulation and the former occurs when outside influences provide a motive to act, they are connected.  One cannot be inspired with motivation and vice versa. We all need both. We all find them in different places.

Famed artist Pablo Picasso said, "Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working." The im…