When I created an Instagram account I’m not sure what my goal was.
To share photographs, to get support and encouragement,
to feel some validation in my work.
Yet I rarely feel “accomplished”, and I think it’s because I haven’t defined my end game, my intentions, my goals.
How many “likes” and followers are a satisfying amount.
What number am I aiming for, what will make me happy?

The answer should be one. Me.
I like my pictures, I’m proud of my work, and I love the process.
That should be enough. But it isn’t.

When I was young(er) I dreamt of working for National Geographic. Travelling the world with my camera and writing about my adventures. That didn’t work out for me.
But I’m still travelling (on a very part-time basis), camera in hand, and writing.
And although it won’t be in NG, I can still have pictures in a book. And that has been my project the last couple years. I’m hoping to (self) publish in the next few months.

Hopefully I can use Instagram to spread the word and sell a few copies, but my goal is:
MY picture book on MY coffee table.

Today, as I went out to walk the dog a woman saw me and gushed
“oh my, what happened to you?”
Ok here we go, the typical question about the wheelchair I thought….
She continued “you’re full of paint, were you painting? Do you paint?”
I smiled from ear to ear, being noticed as an artist (or a person full of paint I guess) and not a disabled person was such a relief. She made my day.
Then we chatted for a while never mentioning my wheelchair or why I’m in it.

I think I’ll wear my painting clothes more often…