It would seem I've been neglecting DA for too long now. This is what happens when a job drains all creativity from me.

I moved here to Boulder in Dec '07 to start what I thought would be a great job. Indeed it paid well, and was cool for some time, but I found that working for someone else, being told what to do and when to do it, sitting at the computer programming for 8 solid hours, just drained the creativity from me to such a degree that I would come home and not have energy left to edit or post any of the pictures I had taken, or do anything other that mindless activities such as watch TV.

Plus, like many of you fellow photographers, we like to just spontaneously up a go for a photo shoot somewhere. Maybe a walk through a park, or a drive to another town. There were times when I looked out the office window and thought "My god, the lighting outside is amazing! I wish I could go out and shoot for the next 2 hours" But alas, I was chained to the desk. And so I became resentful of the job I was once so excited about, and struggled with "do I quit or stay?"

Finally the desire to always be somewhere else, doing something different, began to manifest in subconscious ways. Early this June, the day I returned from a long weekend, the owner was waiting for me—sort of an ambush it seemed. As soon as I walked in the door "Richard, come in here, have a seat. We're letting you go." I first asked "why?" because I really wanted to know why, but then immediately thought to myself "Finally, they kicked me off the ledge I should have lept from months ago"

Of course now I'm still a little bitter about certain things from that job, and would love an opportunity to tell the management what I really think without burning any bridges (they are incredibly well connected in the Boulder tech community), but mostly Im just happy to be FREE AT LAST!

No more chained to the desk. No more answering to someone else. I'm an expert in my field, damnit, and I work best when left the hell alone to do things as I see fit when I feel compelled to do them. So what once looked like a scary ledge of freelance, is now a free flying open space of possibilities and opportunities.

And I have some creative energy back. Alas tho most of that is going into an internet startup company called Callisto.fm, found at [link] and so I still wont be doing quite as much photography, but the point is:

If I want to, I can!