The Art of a Photographic Masterpiece and the Art of Your Future Life

 Clouds in Transition - Gates of the Valley, Yosemite National Park

 What does making a great landscape photograph have to do with creating a new life after your end of career?

Grand art born of great, visionary artists often arises from a spontaneous idea, an image in the mind’s eye.  The evolution of an idea that culminates in a tangible work of art, whether a painting or a photograph of a spectacular landscape, requires a blending of grand vision and the execution of exceptional technique.

Similarly, in order to create a masterpiece that will be your new life, you must imagine a clear vision of your future before you begin to create it. The path to doing so is to prepare yourself by creating and executing a realistic plan that will guide you to making your new life an exuberant reality.

I am, by nature a serious person, yet strive to not take myself too seriously.  Certainly, there are some things in life besides faith, family, country, etc. that require serious respect and appreciation. Then there are some that bring forth in me a special sort of devotion: fly-fishing and landscape photography.

During my lengthy medical training, I had exceptionally renowned professors who benefited me and my future patients enormously. From them I learned surgery and then the subspecialty of plastic surgery. Beyond that, I also learned to appreciate my mentors as valued professionals and colleagues. So it is that I applied these principles to my non-professional endeavors with the same degree of passion and devotion for excellence, specially landscape photography. My search for exceptional teachers of photography led me to the fabled work of Ansel Adams (1902-1984).

The Visualization of a Photographic Masterpiece

Ansel Adams was already an accomplished pianist when a family vacation to Yosemite National Park in his early teens ignited a fascination with landscape photography. This became his life’s work. I made it my purpose to learn from him by studying his excellent books about various aspects of photography.

He is credited with developing and teaching the concept of visualizing in your mind’s eye what the image you make will look like in its final form. He described the process of creating a photograph as one of making it, rather than taking a photograph. He practiced and taught deliberate visualization of the final image before even touching his camera. This was followed by the technical steps of making a negative by careful composition, adjusting the camera settings and finally opening and closing the shutter. The undeveloped image would later emerge in his darkroom, first as a negative and then a print. He considered the negative to be a sort of raw material from which he would create his printed masterpiece. From his musical expertise he drew a parallel with photography and stated that “The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score, and the print the performance.”

So, how can the work of such a master help you in creating the second masterpiece of your life?

Visualize Your Future Life Before You Begin to Create It

To summarize these analogies, I believe that to visualize your future life is to create as clear a realistic vision of it as possible. The next step is to prepare by making a plan (the negative) and then executing it (the print). This approach will empower you to live in a way that manifests your vision even as you remain wisely flexible to evolving circumstances.

Integral to visualization, Ansel Adams faithfully photographed what he saw through his camera lens. The images he created were of the natural landscape; there was nothing artificial. His means to do so, visualization and camera, were true. Notably, he studiously avoided extraneous distractions that were not part of the natural landscape.

So it is that you too can and must create your unique vision of the next phase of your life. It is within you to visualize your future, then create and execute your plan. This then, will become a living manifestation of your character and purpose that become integral to your legacy.

What is your next bold vision for your future?

PS: Do you want to learn more from me about how to create and experience a fulfilling Transition rather than an unpleasant “retirement” experience? To help you, I provide consulting services tailored to your specific needs. Click here to apply for a complimentary strategy session.

Clear Clouds - USA

© Enrique Fernandez, M. D.