Life is like a boxing match. It is always going to throw jabs and punches your way if you’re ready for them or not. You must learn how to constantly block, dodge, and wave your way through life. But the moment you let your guard down, life is going to continuous knock you around until you fight back. And when you get knocked down, (and we all do) it’s so important that you get up as quickly as possible and keep fighting. Because life has no problems with kicking you while you’re down. The key is to turn the match where you have the advantage with superior skills and techniques. Just don’t give up and throw in the towel.
Since I’ve given up on New Years Resolutions years ago, I’ve found setting some personal goals for myself to be not only satisfying but fulfilling. They are, for me, far more meaningful and manageable to accomplish. I can add to them and edit them to suit my situation. As well as outright delete them. Some are completable, some are reminders, and some are something for me to continually work towards.
What did I learn in 2024?
Life has a way of teaching us lessons through both hardship and growth. I’ve come to realize that there are some mean spirited and fucked up people out there —individuals who, without hesitation, bully and cause harm to others, whether through reckless actions like causing a car accidents or through deliberate cruelty. And because of my experiences with these individuals, it has taught me the value of distancing myself from those who don’t give a shit about their actions. 2024 has also shown me the importance of friendship and the memories we create together, grounding myself in the relationships that truly matter. Along with time, my most precious and non-renewable resource has taken on new meaning as I try to spend it wisely—at work, at home, and in play—choosing carefully who and what deserves my attention. And finally, I’ve come to embrace the value of exploring the quirks of my own mind, even though it doesn’t seem to function “properly.” I’ve come to accept it with a sense of humor and a willingness to grow, knowing that understanding myself is an ongoing journey worth taking.
Where did I go and see in 2024?
This was a bucket list year which included a bunch of firsts for me. Beginning with a mini road trip with my best friends down to Toledo, Ohio to see our first Total Solar Eclipse. It was stellar. (Pun intended 🙂) Our next group outing was celebrating Star Wars Day (May the Fourth) in downtown Detroit.
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Then in July, I began my epic England aviation vacation. My first time “Crossing the Pond”, driving in England along with my first air-to-air photo flight. I struggle with describing how fucking exhilarating it was to photograph World War Two fighters over the iconic English countryside from the back of the famous pink Skyvan. While racking up 1400 miles on a rental car, I had to go and see the infamous White Cliffs of Dover along with one of my favorite all-time aircraft, TSR.2. She is such an amazing larger than life aircraft. And yes, I had to do some plane spotting at London-Heathrow while I was in England. Then I heard London calling, so I answered with another day trip via the train, which I found pleasing to ride. Seeing such iconic and historical landmarks felt like a dream.
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And since I fell in love with helicopter flights, you know I had to book a flight over London. And as long as I have been attending and photographing airshows, the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) has always been on my radar. And after 5 days of RIAT, I can say it is a far superior experience to Oshkosh AirVenture. A week after I got back from my England trip and with jet lag in full force, my sister along with my best friend and I headed to Las Vegas for some serious nerding out at the Star Trek convention. The best was saved for last. Two of my best friends got married, my other bestie officiated, and I was the “Best Man” (another first for me). From the rehearsal to the ceremony all the way through to the reception, we had an absolute blast.
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What did I Lose in 2024?
My good friend, Shawn Yost. Tragically, cancer relentlessly took him from us. My wonderful friendship with him started back in 2004 at the Grosse Ile Airshow. I had arrived early and scoped out a spot on the taxiway to shoot from. Shawn walks up and sets down his chair a couple of feet away from me. Opens up his camera bag and I noticed he pulled out the same camera body that I had, the Canon Digital Rebel. And that started our friendship with our shared love of aviation and photography that lasted for 2 decades. Over the years, we traveled coast to coast, shooting tens of thousands of photos, and creating countless hilarious and meaningful memories. We had so much fun together.
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As time passed, we had different paths in life, and our lives slowly separated further and further apart. I was in England when I got the news of his illness. It was two weeks later that I spoke to him, and the first thing he said to me was that it didn’t matter what happened to our relationship, life happens. But now we are starting over. And our conversation picked up right where we left off. We talked about shows and events we attended, shared photos back and forth, just like old times. Sadly, 35 days later, he passed. If I’ve learned anything from this, it is that Life is short. Use your time doing what you love with the people you love being around. Someone once asked me, “What are the images that you shot that makes you smile?” Not your best or favorite. Mine are of Shawn and my fellow aviation photographers goofing around at airshows over the years. I miss you, my friend.
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What did I Gain in 2024?
I’ve had better mental health in the past 6 months than I ever had in the past 40 years. Why now and what caused this huge positive shift? Well, for years now I’ve been putting a lot of effort and dedication into bettering my mental health. And I can say with confidence that looking back at my life, I’ve had poor mental health for years and didn’t know what to do about it. To a point of just accepting and struggling with it. I journaled for years, and it helped temporarily and had no lasting impact. Then I started listening to self care podcasts and philosophy audiobooks, applying what I learned to my life. Some of it suck like glue and some just wasn’t right for me. But as I slowly got to know myself and my triggers, my outlook on life changed as well as having fewer and fewer days of having a noisy and chaotic mind. Then with the death of Shawn, it dramatically altered my perspective. I started to see who and what is profoundly important to me and on the flip side, who and what does not. Also expelling myself from the super massive black hole of death scrolling through social media and the News has been so liberating. It’s a gravity well of anxiety and fear that is relentlessly damaging and tremendously toxic to my peace of mind. This ongoing spiritual journey has helped me discover and realize a meaningful purpose in life.
How I met Cielo
Early this year, I got into a car accident which was caused by another driver’s road rage. Fortunately, no one was hurt but my car of 10 years was damaged. It was repairable but I knew sooner versus later, things were going to start failing and I wasn’t going to start dumping money into her. So, this was my reasoning for getting a new car. From the start of this, didn’t know what kind of car I wanted, just features I knew I wanted. Turbocharged engine, all-wheel drive, heated steering wheel, Apple CarPlay along with the newer technology that my old car didn’t have. Did quite a bit of searching online and found a few possible candidates. While at the dealership looking at various Genesis G70 models, I spotted the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which checked all my boxes. And after a test drive, I told my sales representative that I wanted a blue one. The dealership didn’t have any in blue. But she would contact their other dealerships and if they had one, it could be transported here. The next day, she called and told me that she found one with the same trim level I wanted. A week later, I got my Cielo. Which is “Sky” in Spanish.
Looking back on 2024, it had its profound life lessons, bucket list adventures and strengthening meaningful friendships. From witnessing a solar eclipse and fulfilling lifelong aviation dreams to embracing better mental health, this year’s ups and down has been instrumental in changing the way I live my life. Finding a sense of purpose, cherishing my friendships, and continuing on with my life long spiritual journey are my most valuable takeaways from 2024. So, what’s in store for next year? You’ll just have to stick around and find out.
For the past 14 years, I have a passionate love affair with photography. And I’ve come to discover that I have a fondness with photos that comes with a story. Over the years, I have shot a few of them. Here’s the next installment in my “The story behind an Image” series.
Part 5: This too shall pass
Despite all of its future importance to me, I couldn’t tell you what clothes I wore, what I did at work or what the weather was like on August 16, 2004. But what I can tell you about that day is that someone broke into my apartment and ripped my newfound passion away from me. Thankfully I was at work when it happened. Looking back, I remember walking up the first flight of stairs, then turning to see the door of my apartment. Which was slightly open but with every progressive step, more of the disturbing scene was revealed to me. The sturdy steel frame of the door was peeled back from the wall like an orange and the door itself looked like it was violently punched in by the Terminator. Absolutely dumbfounded by what I was looking at. I remember saying to myself, “What the hell was someone trying to do to my door?” As soon as I walked through the threshold, it was as though a switch was turned on in my brain and I realized what had happened. I got robbed. And that feeling of safety and security at home was instantly eroded.
Walking through my molested apartment, seemingly in slow motion like from a poorly edited B movie. Of all my possessions that was taken from me, my TV, home theater system, it was what I always kept at the foot of my bed concerned me the most, all of my photo gear. Which included my new Sigma 50-500 mm lense, which I had only used once at the Thunder over Michigan airshow a week before. Along with my first DSLR camera, Canon’s Digital Rebel along with two other lenses. Gone. The thought that a person would carelessly force their way into someone’s apartment or house, someone’s home and selfishly take whatever he or she wants, left me rattled to what seemed like forever. I’ve never endured such a feeling of violation in my life.
Feeling shattered and especially vulnerable, I called the local police. To my youthful ignorance, unless you catch them in the act, most break-ins go unsolved. And the only helpful words of advice for getting any of my beloved gear back, would be to check the local pawn shops. The officer told me that most stolen goods end up there, sold for quick cash. I couldn’t imagine the humiliation of going from shop to shop searching for my stolen gear and dealing with the unknown challenges of proofing ownership. I never had the courage to search for my missing gear. I just wanted to get away for that apartment and to move on with my life. At that time, I felt that my passionate love affair with photography was dead and over.
I never stayed another night at that plundered apartment. Oddly enough, the thieves didn’t touch my computer that stored all my precious photos. And thankfully I was able to find a new place to live fairly quickly. After a few months, I was settled in and got back into my work/life routine. During that time, I feverishly saved up enough money to not only replace but upgrade my gear. At the time, I purchased Canon’s new 20D and the 400mm F/5.6L lense. That body/lense combo vigorously rekindle my love affair with photography. I would go on to shoot some of my most memorable photos with them.
I find it ironic that sunsets can be symbolically viewed as an ending of something along with the passing of time and that the final image I took with my Digital Rebel before it was stolen was a sunset. It was the end of one chapter of my photographic journey and after that dark event, the start of a fresh and newly energized one. The image associated with this story was shot two days before that personally devastating day. This disturbing event in my life showed me that most things that we struggle with, are just moments in time. And that with time and patience, we can come to terms with and cope with our hardships and continue on with our lives hopefully stronger and wiser. Similarly, with what’s going on with the world now, “This too shall pass”.
