From my mind's eye
Two thousand twenty-two, what an unbelievable year it was. At its highest I felt like Icarus, worried my wings would burn and I would fall back to earth. And at its lowest, I felt the emptiness of uncertainty chill my bones to the point of shattering.
Over the course of the year I’ve written nearly 45,000 words in an attempt to capture the experiences and express their impact on my very soul.
A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense and is thereby a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.
But I was raised a photographer. I find nothing captures and expresses as deeply or purely as a photograph.
The following is a photographic time capsule of my 2022. Visual representations of my feeling, mood and experience in a moment. This is how I saw the world and how the world saw me.
To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.
With over 5,400 photos to cull through, its taken some time to get here. The first cut was nearly 500 images. Round two found its way down to a respectable 98. A third round reduced it to 57, and those last seven cuts were so difficult. All were deserving of a place on the list, but I had set the limit and I was going to stick to it.
These final 50 moments are a reflection of the intoxicating beauty and the humbling humanity of our world.
* I highly encourage you to view the images full screen, to give them each the singularity of focus they deserve.
I spent 25,747,200 seconds on this adventure in 2022. These images show 50 of those seconds and account for 0.000001941958737% of that time. But 50 seconds is all it takes to convey the overwhelming joy and happiness they have given me.
A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.
These moments touched my heart and left me a changed person. These moments communicated the fact that our world is beautiful, kind, complex and full of wonder.
One final note ...
I just want to give a nod to my mentor and hero, not only in art but in life. My father, Jim Flory, is a master of his craft and my favorite photographer of all time.
He has taught me everything I know about the technical aspects of photography, but most importantly, he has shown me HOW to see the world.
I dedicate this post and these photos to my hero. Thank you for everything, I love you so much.