The talent that I have been given eludes me. Night after night, I dream of opportunities and adventures full of limitless ambition and innocent wonder. I've gotten to a point in my "career" where the sheer weight of "what I've got" makes it difficult for me to appreciate what I've been given. My camera kit overwhelms the bags I currently own. My image collection has grown so vast that I barely know how to sort it. Yet I sit here, complaining about things that other individuals in my position would dream of having.

One of the greatest things I've discovered in recent years is the invaluable art of pursuing your goals. We all love to put things off until the next day. Or wait for the next chance to arise. Or, better yet, just tell ourselves that now "isn't the right time." But if an opportunity comes up, the best thing you can do is take advantage of it until you've exhausted all your energy. If you're running to the store, grab a camera just in case. If you see an ominous bush in the corner of your eye while closing your eyes on a camping trip, put off sleeping for another ten minutes or so and grab your camera. Better yet, if you don't even own a camera but have longed to take photographs, why not succumb to the next sale you find?

Success takes a whole lot of patience, and a whole lot of luck. It's not often that you manage to capture a meter ripping a hole in the sky while perched on a hill overlooking a shrinking reservoir. But if you didn't have your camera out in the first place, even that slight possibility is erased. As difficult as it might sound, always be ready for the unexpected, and take every chance you can grab ahold of. In the end, it will have been worth it.