Hey dudes, dudettes, ladies, gentleman,

I'm sitting in the San Antonio airport, hanging with some sports writers, and waiting for my flight home from a long weekend of sports, and I really want a milkshake.

But I also wanted to try and get a few thoughts out about the weekend, shooting for a daily, the wonders of traveling, and a bit of Texas. Excuse me if I ramble a bit, but I honestly haven't planned what I'm going to say, so straight from my brain, into yours.

I've been in a bit of a self-proclaimed slump lately. What I'm shooting doesn't seem to be phenomenal, but it isn't bad, and I can tell myself that. I remember hearing it's easy to fall into a downswing after your first year out of college, whether interning or at a job, or freelancing. I think what makes this year hard is that it stems from not being able to reinvent yourself like you used to, and that is hard to swallow. No longer do you make leaps and bounds once a month when you get your big shoot, or your first portrait in months. You work everyday, and you can plateau a lot easier than you could in college. But I think you just have to admit to yourself that can happen and work harder to pop yourself out of it. Got to keep on doing, The goal can't be to keep on, keepin' on, because that is too easy to fall into as a daily photojournalist. You need to keep on doing. I think I'm writing this less for anybody reading this, but more for a reminder to stick to my own words and go that extra mile.

It's been a slow summer news wise, but a busy couple months in being under-staffed and still needing the paper to come out. I've taken vacations, my boss, has taken vacations and I've become interim editor, and we've had a new photo intern. Everything is always flexing, moving, bending, and as everyone says, there isn't a perfect, good time for anything.

So I'm marking this weekend as the upturn in a photographic stalemate. Avoiding it before it happens, and to try to give myself that spark we all need every so often. Start thinking about what I've told myself and others and make good on it. Dig deep, make the pictures you want to make, and beat yourself up if you believe you could have done better, so you do just that next time. 

Traveling has a way of doing that to you. Pulling you out of your mess, mentally and literally, and letting you evaluate it. Furthermore, as a photographer, it allows you to become a bit excited, see something new, break out of the same path. I think those two combined is something special and offers an opportunity. So I tried to snag it this weekend, accept the challenge of today's newspapers MEGA GALLERY  and see what a one man show could do on a road less and less travelled at smaller papers. 

I have some things I know I could've done better, but it makes me excited for our next game and the rest of the season. The pressure feels good and is a nice change of pace. Making yourself sweat and rising to the occasion is good for the soul, and I want to keep seeking out more opportunities just for that. 

Thanks for looking and listening, er, reading. 

Texas kind of sucks, and kind of rules. I want to come back for sure.

Grant