This is hard to write about in the first person. I'm sure my friends would be much better at writing this than I would - than I am.
I can easily comment on the things that make me different. I have a much harder time assessing and commenting on the things that make me beautiful.
The older I get the less I care about what other people think. Long time friends have said that I was 40 when I was 21. Mostly in good ways, I think. I hope.
I've always admired people who could do that - live their lives by the standards they set out for themselves and to hell with everyone else. As long as they tried to meet their own standards and reach their own goals for themselves - they were doing a good job.
Usually their standards were higher than anyone else would set for them.
That's what I've tried to do. A long time ago I set some pretty high standards for myself as far as the way I want to live my life and the person I want to be. What i would and would not do. How I would try to behave and conduct myself.
And it has not been easy.
The older I get (again) the more I realize how rare that is. A lot of people try really damn hard to live up to other people's expectations of them.
Another long time friend recently commented about people falling into holes throughout their lives. Hole = pitfall. A life lesson type of dealio.
You usually don't fall into the same hole twice. And if you do - you know better how to get yourself out. Some people need to fall into all the holes themselves firsthand. Some people can just watch the people around them all fall into same holes and realize that's not for them.
I'm more of the latter. Not to say that I don't fall into my fair share of holes - they're just usually different ones than most people I know. I intentionally put myself into situations that I know will make me uncomfortable.
Don't drink. Don't smoke.. what do you do....
Another thing that other people say makes me 'different' is my career choice. The fact that I don't have a single linear career path. I took a flying leap off the corporate ladder 9 years ago and have not looked back. I work engineering contracts and take every few years "off" to do more creative things and travel. I don't think I could do one without the other. I don't need or want the security and stability in that part of my life.
But I definitely want it in other parts.
The last part of the question was about the things you do that light people up. That's easy. There are several things. I can get anyone to talk about themselves for hours - make them feel comfortable enough to want to share their life story with me.(have yet to meet anyone who can do that with me). I am told that I ask good questions.
And... I can make beautiful photos of people. Photos that other people look at and tell the subject how good they look. Photos that let people, who normally would not - see themselves as beautiful.
That's one of the main reasons I switched from landscape to people photography many years ago
- instant gratification.
/<.
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