Posted by Pat Sampson on October 14, 2011 at 6:44 PM
Florans,
I've not had much interest in photography recently. I was hoping it was just a slump but it's been a couple of months now without a shutter click and I'm still not feeling the urge.
I'm hoping that a break from it for a while will allow my interest to rekindle but realistically I doubt that will be the case.
My sixtieth is coming up shortly and with a somewhat heightened sense of my mortality, there are a couple of things I'd like to address. In particular I'd like to do the physics I've been saying I'd get around to for the last thirty years and I'd like to put up a web site that caters to a niche market that I haven't really identified yet.
I want to thank you all for the fine experience and fellowship I've received here over the past nearly five years and in particular I'd like to thank Bill. NPN and the Floral Gallery in particular is a great place to learn photography. I will be watching the posts.
You all take care.
pat
Posted by Lorna Taylor on October 14, 2011 at 6:53 PM
You will be greatly missed Pat, take care of yourself and come back soon, maybe a new piece of equipment for your birthday will ignite your passion again. Look forward to your return!
Ditto that you will be greatly missed. I strongly identify with your heightened sense of mortality. I wish you great satisfaction in your activities.
Posted by Charlie Baugh on October 14, 2011 at 8:37 PM
Sorry your leaving us, Pat. I hope you find something to dig your teeth in cause you, I believe, really need to stretch yourself. Don't fret the mortality stuff and love each day for what it is. Hope you will continue posting.
Posted by Anne K. Rusk on October 15, 2011 at 12:07 AM
Pat, your art has been inspiring, your critiques thoughtful, and your presence welcoming. On so many levels your contribution will be missed! I understand your need for space and I hope your next adventure is wonderful. I wish you all the best and hope our paths will cross again!
Pat, I am 71, with RA. Mortality is definitely something I feel, looking forward. The odd thing is, I can still feel eighteen, looking backward. The world is full of stuff I will never do, but as long as I am learning, trying and achieving, as long as I am enjoying the day under me and in front of me, I will stick with nature photography. It is such a wonderful way of presenting both questions and answers about the natural world.
You will be missed. I hope you find all the answers you are looking for. Including why you are photographing God's world in the first place. As I once told Brad Hill about one of his finest bear pictures, "It's not about the photographer, it's about the bear." I've seen you take pictures that way, where it wasn't about the artist but about the subject. I hope you find what you are looking for, and I hope you keep on clicking.
My oh my you're just a kid!!!! Happy Birthday and enjoy thoroughly whatever you chose to pursue.
Posted by Ian Wolfenden on October 15, 2011 at 6:48 AM
Well, I hope it is just a break, Pat, because you will certainly be missed. Thanks for all your wonderful images and your ever thoughtful comments. And, if you do retire for good, my best wishes for whatever you now take up ( doubtless with all your usual energy and enthusiasm ). Oh, and 61 is no age at all, by the way ( I speak from experience - smile )
Posted by Bruce King on October 15, 2011 at 1:17 PM
Bummer Pat.........you'll be missed. I've alwayes appreciated your critiques and your work has been nothing less than inspirational for me.
I'm a couple years behind you but I cetainly hear what you're saying.
Good Luck, Pat. Hope your feet find their road and the road leads you on.
Posted by Steve Kennedy on October 16, 2011 at 6:54 PM
Good luck Pat! I hope you come back to photography soon. Your images were always high quality and creative, and your input and comments on the images of others were always very insightful and constructive. I've learned a lot from your input. Thank you!
Posted by scott lanz on October 16, 2011 at 9:23 PM
Thanks, Pat. Best of luck in all your endeavors. I've enjoyed and appreciated your talent and work at NPN.
Posted by Gary Yeoh on October 17, 2011 at 5:55 AM
Pat:
Thanks for all your help Pat. When I started doing photog, one of the advice was to find a few photographers you admire and aspire to get to their level. You are one of those photog for me. I think I would not have explored scanning without your encouragement and inspiration from your posts. Also I certainly wouldn't have taken all the time to learn post processing if not for trying to emulate your masterpieces.
You will be sorely missed in Floral, especially your very constructive critiques and comments. I have benefited hugely from your critiques and I thank you for taking the time and patience to write them.
Wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor. With your enthusiasm, energy and creativity, I am sure you will make a success of it. Take care.
PS: If you ever publish your floral work, please let me know and I am sure to buy a copy of Sampson's 'One hundred flowers'
Posted by Peter Conway on October 17, 2011 at 8:34 PM
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
Housman got it right at age twenty.... All the best Pat, enjoy the blooms wherever you find them.
Posted by beth summer on October 19, 2011 at 1:34 PM
Pat, while I haven't participated much in the last year (due to some sort of slump), I have enjoyed viewing your images and learning from you. I totally get where you're coming from (I just turned 61) and my interests in life have somewhat changed (I'm a grandma!). I'm sure whatever enedeavors you pursue, you will do it with 150% effort. You'll be missed. Take care and enjoy.
Posted by Wayne Jones on October 19, 2011 at 11:22 PM
Pat,
First, I want to thank you for all you have done for me. Your comments and forum posts are more valuable than you may know.
Knowing how much enthusiasm you put into photography and into NPN, this is surprise, but not a really a shock. I have "burnt out" on interests in the past, so I think I have some idea of how you might feel. It has been a while since I tied a fly or fletched an arrow, but the tools are still here, waiting, in case I get the urge, or better yet, in case someone I know gets the urge, and could use a little help learning how to do it well. It's good to have those tools (in your mind, as well as in the box) for the time when you can look at the activity as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. Then you will be glad you put your heart into this for so long. It's good to restart an activity when you can do it without that self-imposed pressure.
Mortality? That's a relative term. Some of you certainly has been passed on to others, and some of that will go on in various forms and ways that we can't even imagine now. Reflect on what you have, and on what you have done, and be thankful for it. Many people important to me have died, but I know that I have kept more of them than I have lost. Being 65, and having an incurable fatal disease, I have thought a lot about mortality. I could talk about it more, but I am rambling now, and why waste time worrying about something you can't change? Enjoy LIFE!
No matter how long or short your time is, the future arrives every day. If you are lucky enough to be part of another day, it is yours to enjoy or to worry about. I hope you enjoy every day!
Posted by Ken Smith on October 20, 2011 at 6:36 PM
Pat, I will miss you! The art displayed in your photos... thoughtful critiques...thoroughness and profound attention to detail...all speak about the man you are. Physics...eh... not surprised. Masterful mind at spatial interpretations and curiousity to explore the bounds of optics. Cool...I expect you will pour yourself into something else... your focus reassigned. I would enjoy hearing more...your journey to this place and next steps. Ahhh... and if you sigh, then mutter, "Ken, you have no idea...what I am dealing with..." Well, that is true. I respectfully honor that. There is a part of me that suspects perfection and desire to finish the job right can be a cruel taskmaster. Always, best wishes. Ken Smith ...ps...Sure enjoy reading Wayne and others posts...a fine group of kind and thoughtful folks.
Posted by Pat Sampson on October 22, 2011 at 6:30 AM
Thank you all. I appreciate the good wishes and the counsel. I think Ken has it right. You are "a fine group of kind and thoughtful folks."
pat
Posted by Mark Seaver on October 26, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Pat, best wishes on the future. I suspect that you're interest in photography will rekindle, but it's always nice to pursue other ideas/hobbies. I think it helps keep one fresh. Thanks for the many helpful critiques and I hope to see more pictures eventually.
Posted by Krunal Janani on November 2, 2011 at 7:11 AM
Thx for all the wonderful critiques u've done Pat, will miss u indeed, good luck for everything & nething u desire to do :)
Posted by Daniel & Loana on November 23, 2011 at 4:58 PM
Good luck, Pat. You will be missed.
D&L
Posted by Richard Teller on December 6, 2011 at 10:10 PM
I have appreciated your input in the images I have posted. I pray that God blesses you in what ever direction your life takes. Just a thought, I am just ready to turn 67 and photography is now starting to really move forward, I am learning to play an the dulcimer, My wife and I take a trip (our suv is still a tent) every spring and fall and hike a lot of trails. 60 can just be the start of life if you take care of yourself. Again, God bless.
Posted by Albert Darmo on December 10, 2011 at 6:18 PM
Pat.
I rarely watch the topics or discussion forums, because of my failing eyesight. i just became aware of your departure from NPN yesterdsy, i thought you were on a sabbatical, I will miss your fine work, and exemplary comments.and critiques. Whatever endeavors you wish to take, i wish you great health and success
Albert Darmo
Posted by Pat Sampson on December 10, 2011 at 7:46 PM
Thanks for the kind words you all. I appreciate them. I still watch the gallery and it still contains the best flora work I've seen.
pat
Pat, I've been away a bit and just became aware of your new direction. Wishing you all the best, and thank you so much for your outstanding contributions (both photographical and comment wise) to NPN.
Oh...., Pat....! I knew I had been missing you.... Sorry to be so late in catching up to the news. I hope the change in direction helps your morale and rekindles your energy and enthusiasm. With all you poured into moderating and otherwise contributing to Flora, it's no surprise that you feel drained on the subject. We are the same age... My body and mind and soul speak differently to me about what I do and why. It causes me to pause..., reconnoiter.... It can be a fine time to recombine your interests and talents and make new discoveries.
Thank you for enlivening Flora with your masterful images and comments. I miss you but wish you all the grace and blessings you need for what comes next on your path of life.
Discussion
25 repliesI've not had much interest in photography recently. I was hoping it was just a slump but it's been a couple of months now without a shutter click and I'm still not feeling the urge.
I'm hoping that a break from it for a while will allow my interest to rekindle but realistically I doubt that will be the case.
My sixtieth is coming up shortly and with a somewhat heightened sense of my mortality, there are a couple of things I'd like to address. In particular I'd like to do the physics I've been saying I'd get around to for the last thirty years and I'd like to put up a web site that caters to a niche market that I haven't really identified yet.
I want to thank you all for the fine experience and fellowship I've received here over the past nearly five years and in particular I'd like to thank Bill. NPN and the Floral Gallery in particular is a great place to learn photography. I will be watching the posts.
You all take care.
pat
You will be missed. I hope you find all the answers you are looking for. Including why you are photographing God's world in the first place. As I once told Brad Hill about one of his finest bear pictures, "It's not about the photographer, it's about the bear." I've seen you take pictures that way, where it wasn't about the artist but about the subject. I hope you find what you are looking for, and I hope you keep on clicking.
I'm a couple years behind you but I cetainly hear what you're saying.
Take care and best of luck.
Thanks for all your help Pat. When I started doing photog, one of the advice was to find a few photographers you admire and aspire to get to their level. You are one of those photog for me. I think I would not have explored scanning without your encouragement and inspiration from your posts. Also I certainly wouldn't have taken all the time to learn post processing if not for trying to emulate your masterpieces.
You will be sorely missed in Floral, especially your very constructive critiques and comments. I have benefited hugely from your critiques and I thank you for taking the time and patience to write them.
Wish you the best of luck in your new endeavor. With your enthusiasm, energy and creativity, I am sure you will make a success of it. Take care.
PS: If you ever publish your floral work, please let me know and I am sure to buy a copy of Sampson's 'One hundred flowers'
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
Housman got it right at age twenty.... All the best Pat, enjoy the blooms wherever you find them.
First, I want to thank you for all you have done for me. Your comments and forum posts are more valuable than you may know.
Knowing how much enthusiasm you put into photography and into NPN, this is surprise, but not a really a shock. I have "burnt out" on interests in the past, so I think I have some idea of how you might feel. It has been a while since I tied a fly or fletched an arrow, but the tools are still here, waiting, in case I get the urge, or better yet, in case someone I know gets the urge, and could use a little help learning how to do it well. It's good to have those tools (in your mind, as well as in the box) for the time when you can look at the activity as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. Then you will be glad you put your heart into this for so long. It's good to restart an activity when you can do it without that self-imposed pressure.
Mortality? That's a relative term. Some of you certainly has been passed on to others, and some of that will go on in various forms and ways that we can't even imagine now. Reflect on what you have, and on what you have done, and be thankful for it. Many people important to me have died, but I know that I have kept more of them than I have lost. Being 65, and having an incurable fatal disease, I have thought a lot about mortality. I could talk about it more, but I am rambling now, and why waste time worrying about something you can't change? Enjoy LIFE!
No matter how long or short your time is, the future arrives every day. If you are lucky enough to be part of another day, it is yours to enjoy or to worry about. I hope you enjoy every day!
pat
D&L
I rarely watch the topics or discussion forums, because of my failing eyesight. i just became aware of your departure from NPN yesterdsy, i thought you were on a sabbatical, I will miss your fine work, and exemplary comments.and critiques. Whatever endeavors you wish to take, i wish you great health and success
Albert Darmo
pat
Thank you for enlivening Flora with your masterful images and comments. I miss you but wish you all the grace and blessings you need for what comes next on your path of life.