Want to go home, people?
Find Jason Bourne.
In 1994, I was in an airplane hanger …
… standing in pitch black darkness ...
… Is this dirt … ?
About 12 of us stood before a lone man silhouetted by a dim light bulb swinging above a bank of computers behind him.
(OK, I’m not sure about the swinging part).
What the whu … ?
Where am I … ?
What is this … ?
Am I being recruited … ?
Is this Treadstone … ?
Is Jason Bourne here … ?
And this wasn’t even Treadstone
It was a temporary building on a vacant lot that would become Santa Monica College’s, SMC’s, Academy of Entertainment & Technology, now the Center for Media and Design.
But, no, as it turned out … no.
Jason Bourne wasn’t there.
In 1994, this was a canvas tent on a dirt lot — where I did not step forward.
My Summer, 1994, Intro to Photography instructor, Tim Moriarty, encouraged us to come here for this inaugural orientation.
Movie studios like Dreamworks were having trouble finding digital animators — digital anything, in 1994 — so they were partnering with SMC to create them.
Together with Dreamworks, SMC would build an entirely new campus, to break ground on the very dirt we stood.
In 1994, Dreamworks wanted to build a movie studio on the Marina Del Rey wetlands, but the good people of the west side wouldn’t have any of that. Dreamworks still partnered with SMC, though.
“You’ll be the first class of somethin'," said the man in shadow, "I don’t really know what. But if you’d like to learn more, step forward.”
Step forward, he said …
… Literally …
… out of the dark, into the light.
Step forward.
Robert A. Johnson, a renowned Jungian psychologist, wrote about Slender Threads — thin wisps of opportunity, destiny, floating by in unexpected moments, prepared to whisk us off to a better life, if we’d just grab hold …
… Slender Threads …
My body lurched forward …
… but then … my brain … oh, my brain …
… I have too many political science credits. I’m applying to a decent university. I’m on a poli-sci track …
… What is digital animation, anyway?
… What are you, going to be a cartoonist now ?
… Wipe that smile off your face …. Who are you? … Where do you come from? … Are you listening to me?
…What do you wanna do with your life?
I broke my stride, slammed down hard on my front foot, and riveted both feet to the ground.
Students swarmed about me, parting to either side, stepping towards the light.
Seconds or an eternity passed.
Then, with a bleak resolve, I walked back out through the dark — to the dark — to a life less bright even than what lit that tent …
… but calmed Twisted Sister’s dad down, and all the voices in my head that sounded like him.
But that was 29 years ago.
Here’s what I’ve learned, since …
You think the fate of universes rides on your one perfect, precious decision. You think that because movies show you this, and others have told you so throughout your life.
But that is a lie.
Here’s what’s true
Life is a long series of trials and errors, a series of failures met with the errant, oddball success.
No cosmos will collapse if you make a choice that ends up looking wrong.
Life is this:
You make a choice, assess the damage — and pivot once again …
… for decades, for a lifetime.
The fate of worlds is not hanging in the balance.
No one will lose their wits because you become a digital animator.
And one more thing …
There are no deposits in the bank of time.
Only withdrawals.
And our remaining balance … is always a secret.
So now …
I study and practice photography under the greats: Sue Bryce, Pye Jirsa, Chris Weston, Justin Bridges, and Elyna S. Blair. (I count you among them, Tim Moriarty, Intro to Photography, Summer 1994, SMC! I count you among them.)
And at the end of a photo shoot or study session, I have more energy than when I began — and every crevice, nook, corner, and cranny of my life is improving, evolving, ascending — moving towards the light.
All this to say …
I bet you, too, have a part of your life you’re denying, overriding, negotiating with — reasoning your way out of.
To you, I say this:
Don’t do that.
That’s a mistake.
Instead, grab hold of that slender thread whenever it appears — and fly with all your bravest brave, towards your truest truth, towards the light.
Because life is dying for you to become who you truly are.
And so are you.
Photo by David Hofmann on Unsplash
The hero’s journey is the epic tale of moving away from and coming home to your truth — the light
Walk that journey with me.
We can both be brave.
And if that journey involves a creative portrait or personal branding photography session, then …