Friday, November 29, 2013

Big Changes

Sometimes we need to make a big change - a complete paradigm shift - to really move forward. Break out out of our routines and processes to explore a completely new direction, gain new skills and insights and challenge ourselves to grow. For me, this is that time.

About ten years ago, I started working on the PIX team at Microsoft. We were responsible for the end-to-end photos experience across the company, creating web services, retail products and building our photos experience into Windows. The team was also filled with passionate photographers and I got bitten by the photography bug.  Over the last decade, my own passion for photography has grown. I have travelled all over the world trying to capture the essence of places and the power and beauty of nature and some of my happiest moments have been in the field, living these remarkable moments and sharing them with people.

I have also learned that the only way to get the truly remarkable shots is to be in the right place at the right time and for me to be able to focus on continuing to improve, I need the flexibility to go where the light is best and stay there as long as needed to get the shot. In order to enable that, I need to make a significant change to my lifestyle.

Starting in January, Leslie and I will be taking off in our Airstream trailer and traveling the country. Visiting the places we've always wanted to go, discovering places we never knew existed, and spending the time necessary to really get to know the people and places that we find. When the light is good, I'll be out shooting and when it's bad, I'll be writing apps which remains another great passion of mine. We are both very excited about this next chapter in our lives and we are both very grateful to Microsoft for making it possible for us to make this change.

We will be writing about our adventures on the road at Tin Can Tardis, our travel blog created specifically for stories about full-time RV’ing, the places and people we see and anything else that seems worth sharing. My photos will, of course, continue to be available at SpindriftPhoto.com and I’ll be adding a whole new section to cover the shots from across the country and organized geographically.

The toughest part of this change, even more difficult than figuring out how to live in about 200 square feet, will be seeing much less of the people who we have gotten to know and depend on over the past many years. We take some comfort in the knowledge that we will have all sorts of internet connectivity for much of the time so Skype and Facebook will allow us to stay connected. Also, our plan is to be back on Whidbey Island for the summers so we will have opportunities to grab coffee and catch up with everyone -- to share our adventures and learn about yours. And for everyone who doesn't live in Puget Sound, your town is probably on our destination list :-)



1 comment:

Unknown said...

Go get em!

enjoy the road ahead and come back a new.
Break some glass.