Mining for Gold

So when is enough pictures enough ? Do I really need to get out and take more pictures ahead of everything else . I'm old enough to remember when my photos were all captured on film and I have boxes of transparencies and negatives collected over a period of 40 years . These images have been looked at and edited over the years and every time I go back I always find a nugget of gold . That's because I realise something about myself that has always been true , it is my way that I see the world .
We all have a unique perspective that is evident every time we click the shutter , an outlook developed over years of living and learning along the way . Everything that happens in daily life influences the way we look at the world .
When I look back at what I have photographed in the past and compare those images to my work today I notice a distinct style , my style . As a photographer / artist we are told that technique is important but style even more so . This may be even more relevant today . Technology has made it very easy to shoot pictures and lots of them . We are encouraged to share them with the world . Sites like  www.flickr.com/  , 500px.com/ and    www.smugmug.com/ have become huge because the technology is very accessible  .
So we are living in the information age and we are constantly bombarded by images . It seems that there is a rush to post as many photos online as possible and maybe become famous and rich . Rather than get swept away in a wave of expectation I have chosen to practise the art of slowing down time , to look back at what I have done before . This has allowed me to notice a style that is mine , unique to my way of looking at the world .
So the next time you are getting down on yourself because you haven't picked up the camera for a while , stop and go back to where you started . Every picture tells a story .