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Chasing the Muse

Newness is addictive to the wanderer-type. We can bounce around careers, vocations, projects, relationships, cities, countries… without taking the time to become utterly amazing at something.

Discovery is exciting. I am constantly looking for unknown trails and parks to explore; activities cheap and free and not too far from home. The island provides that in spades.

It allows me to constantly work my photography skills, keep in good physical shape, and spend a lot of time in nature. I’ve also listened through numerous audiobooks on the streets and trails. Lately, I’m learning Spanish. Yo tengo hablar español!

Am I an amazing photographer? I don’t know. I love snapping things that catch my eye, and seeing what can come of a photo with a bit of editing. It isn’t a financial gain for me, thus, it’s fair to call it a hobby.

I’ve been composing and producing my own music since I was sixteen. It has never paid the bills, as it were. To this day, it usually costs me more to host or distribute my recordings in the world than what I earn in sales or streams.

I’ve done a lot of voiceover work, and after a thousand auditions, some bits of low-paying success, it’s also a side thing. I continue to develop my skills in this area. It’s fun to play with voices and accents and to tell stories.

I still do some web and graphic design, but it doesn’t inspire. The work I generally get paid for is video editing and post-production. I don’t know if I am amazing at it, but clients are always happy, and it’s interesting and open-ended and challenging. It’s a natural outlet for storytelling, and carving out a performance or message.

Film and video production combine photography, videography, audio production (including music composition), graphic design, travel, exploring, variety, voiceover, and elements of other things I’ve learned or experienced or tried out over the years.

So, try everything! But allow yourself to develop true competence — and thus confidence — in something. You won’t know right away. It might take years! Yet, just like in an intimate relationship, when you choose to love and take the time to build the skills and the foundation, it will provide for you an outlet for the creative juices, the feelings and emotions we need to explore and express, and a cohesion of energy that inevitably affords stability, in many forms.

Solvitur ambulando