How To Live An Authentic Life In The Modern World

Not much about photography. Or marketing….or lighting, posing.

Everything to do with a philosophy of living. Being a photographer an artifact. So to speak.

Are you an indoor cat? Or an outdoor cat? Indoor cat laps milk from a fancy bowl. An outdoor cat has his senses honed to a finely tuned level. And lives a much grander experience. He hunts his own food and carves out a territory.

What kind of cat are you?

I always felt deep inside there was a better way. Apart from the norms, ebbs and flows of group think.

It’s easy to follow the group. I like doing what I want to do however.

Everyday living is boring to me. What most folks do has very little appeal to me.

Go see fireworks, movies (ok, I like movies. especially movies with subtitles. Which more often means it’ll be good), play board games and talk about retirement benefits?

Blah. About as exciting as eating a bowl of sawdust and water.

The only thing that appeals to me is living with sway and savagery. Like a beast. And running a profitable photography business in a time when many have packed it in.

Here’s a few items to think on. (brace yourself)

Answer the Call To Aggression and Adventure

I’ve lived in and walked the streets of some of the worst neighborhoods in America, Costa Rica, Dominican Rebublic….. I’ve never had one issue. No one ever looks at me wrong or threatens me directly. When they do it behind my back and I get close to them, they immediately and profusely apologize.

The reason why is if any man touches me, I’ll cut his head off. So to speak.

You don’t need to advocate violence or use it as a first option but a true savage should always be prepared to fight to the death. If you don’t feel so strong about protecting those you love, or defending your values, then you might just be an indoor cat. Protected. Safe.

Back to Nature

Take a walk in the forest and enjoy the gifts of the wild that surround you. The smell of nature and the sounds of twigs snapping underfoot with the occasional deer in the background. Or bear.

Mother Nature was here before you and she’ll be around long after you are gone. Humble yourself before the Gods.

Make sure to enjoy her fruits by…and go barefoot.

Eat Meat

To be savage, you must eat savage. It’s how we evolved.I learned this the hard way and paid a heavy price after 7 years as a plant based vegan. Never again.

Pass on your knowledge to the next generation

It is a great tragedy when a man or woman dies and does not pass down their knowledge to their children or the children of their village. It is your duty as a man or woman to pass down knowledge to the next generation.

That is the position elders are supposed to have in our society. When the elders fail us, we are doomed to repeat mistakes.

If you care about the kids in your neighborhood make sure you teach them.

One of my all time favorite quotes is from George Bernard Shaw. (First time I read this my head exploded.)

Check it out:

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It ia a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations.”

This gives me chills. What gives you chills?

Always, always be learning.
Always. The more you invest in yourself, the greater skills you have at marketing and growing your business. The better person you become. And in business, it ALL starts with YOU.

As Jim Rohn would say: “Don’t make a million for the money, make a million for who you will become because of it.”

There is no easy way. If there were, everyone would be doing it.

This philosophy has served me very, very well in life and in business.

I bet to some degree it has served those who also have a lot to teach.

Like the community of friends in photography that I’ve gathered like a band of feral feline scrappers. Most of whom have had enough back alley scraps to call themselves outdoor cats.

Yours in success,

Rob