“Relentless Forward Motion!”

Dex Tooke crosses Monument Valley, RAAM 2011.

That was Dex Tooke’s motto as a raced against the clock in the 2011 edition of the Race Across America (RAAM), a 3000-mile, non-stop bike race from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland. He had attempted this Mount Everest of ultracycling the year before, but abandoned just a couple of hundred miles shy of Atlantic ocean saltwater as he was too far behind to make the cut-off time. (Or so he thought–you need to read his book to find out the “rest of the story!”) Dex had this “RFM” motto emblazoned in huge letters on his big, team support, RV (“Bessie”), and it was a constant mantra for the 12 1/2 days he was on the road headed east.

In 2011, Dex finished RAAM, becoming one of only four 60+ aged athletes to tame “The Beast” within the allotted time limit. You can read about what this insane bicycle race is all about–the sleep deprivation, the saddle sores, the massive support team required, the highs, the lows, the tears, the humor, etc. in Dex’s book, Unfinished Business, available through Amazon books.

Anyway, back to the motto…Relentless Forward Motion. What does that have to do with photography? Well, I believe that Relentless Forward Motion ought to be our mantra as photographers as well. (And maybe even a good mantra for Life in general!)

To that end, I try to do something every day that will push me forward as a photographer–improve my skills, my art, my knowledge. What follows is a list of suggestions…Try to do something on this list every day, even if it is just for a few minutes:

1) Shoot pictures! That is my #1 priority if I have time and the light looks good (and sometimes even when the light doesn’t look so good!).

2) Post-process images. You can never stop learning more about post-processing. The more you do it, the more you learn. Try to learn a new post-processing technique at least once a month.

3) Update your website and/or blog–you will always learn something new doing that. Don’t have a website? Learn how to build one! (Try YouTube for some step-by-step tutorials.)

4) Peruse photography websites of all kinds. You can see the ones I most frequent under the Online Resources tab.

5) Look at the work of other photographers. You can do this online, in the library, at a bookstore or even at a photo club meeting. And speaking of…

6) Attend a photo club meeting! Guest speakers can teach you all kinds of new ways of seeing and new techniques for working with your images.

7) Look up a You Tube video on a photography issue that interests you–seeing, equipment, personal style, interviews with famous photographers, Photoshop techniques, how to shoot a strawberry dropping into a glass of soda water, and so on. Fun and educational.

So…lets get going…remember, it’s RELENTLESS FORWARD MOTION! Make Dex proud and your photography better!