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Thanks for tuning in to the Nick Amp podcast. I am your host Nick Amp and this is episode 27

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I'm so grateful that you decided to tune in for another episode

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Before we say anything else, let's get all the main things out of the way

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If you're watching this on YouTube hit that subscribe button

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This is the best way to support our channel completely free and allows us to reach more people and provide valuable content

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information insights about the creative industry

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with more people and if you're listening on the streaming platform Spotify Apple music any of those good ones

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And you don't want to see my face and you still want to support the channel

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which is completely free go ahead and leave us up to a five-star review as that helps put us out there reach more people and

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Get to know a lot more of you

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And if you have anyone that you would like me to have on specific

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Go ahead and leave me a comment down below in the YouTube comments or send me a DM on Instagram

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Anything of the sorts so the guest we had on today was someone special to me name is Nimit Patel

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He's a photographer based out of Utah

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Travel nurse he's seen a lot in the world his his his world right now is currently changing and evolving

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And what we talk about is

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What it means to be a photographer. What is social media? Why should we use it? Have we gone too far with social media?

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We talked about principles values sticking to your values sticking to your principles

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Not bending just for vanity metrics and we go into detail about a lot of other deep topics

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And I hope that you take some valuable insight from this. I think it was very fruitful

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I really enjoyed it, and I hope to have more people on who are big thinkers

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creatives

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just people who

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Care about people because that's what we're doing this all for that's what I'm having these discussions

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I want to have discussions with people. I'm curious

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I want to know more about people because certainly I do not know everything

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I want to be able to have discussions with people dig into their brains and

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Figure out why they do what they do and how they got to where they are

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And without further ado, I'll stop talking and I'll just cut to the episode 27 and here we go

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All right episode 27 with a guy who I've been chatting with on Instagram for quite a long time

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His name is Nimit Patel. This is episode 27 and I'm so excited to have him on

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I actually found Nimit Patel through another podcast actually I found him from the Bushwaggers podcast and recently we had

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Chandler Garrick on as a guest in episode 22 or 23

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And what do we know full circle now? I'm having Nimit Patel on our podcast Nimit

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It's so great to have you on man

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It's an absolute pleasure to be on nice to meet you face to face Nick. Finally, like you mentioned

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We've been in touch for a little while here

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About lots of different things, but obviously kind of you mentioning the you know

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Bushwaggers podcast kind of photography has this you know, kind of a common bond if you will but really nice to be on it

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Thanks for inviting me up, bro. So, I mean, I just can't believe it

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It just feels a little surreal talking to you at all because we've been chatting it up and we almost linked up back in Utah

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But then you know my plans as you were keeping up to date with my

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Day by day hour by hour what was happening weather updates and you were like bro. I don't know

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So I really appreciate you there. We almost met up

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But actually I could be making a trip back to Utah in the very soon future. So I'll have to let you know about that

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Awesome. Yes, and I definitely remember that

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So so let's delve right into it Nimit

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You're a photographer. You're a travel nurse

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You're a man of wisdom. You have many attributes that

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Make up who you are. Can you

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Make up who you are. Can you?

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delve into delve into

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Why you do photography?

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A little bit later. I'll ask you when but I want to know why I want to get right to it

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Tell me the why and I know you have a why which is why i'm curious and I want to pick your brain

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Sounds good. Um, yeah, so my photography story, um in terms of why I ever even picked up the camera or why I still shoot

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um

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Me particularly you mentioned how you know my career background is uh travel nursing

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Uh, I did for about five years and then before that I worked, you know at a hospital back in new york where I used to live

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Um, and me personally I found the work and I still actually do work in health care

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And I find it fulfilling rewarding

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But with it comes a lot of stress challenges

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Um because of the situations we're in so to answer why really I think initially

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I think I picked it up just there wasn't actually any reason why I actually picked up the camera in the first place

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But then when I started to use the camera more take some photos here and there family events with friends and whatnot

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Um, I started to hear friends and relatives mention. Hey, you're pretty good at this. Hey, those photos are good

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Maybe there's something there. Maybe you want to look at I had never even thought about any of it

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You know until I got that support from those people, uh, but then fast forward from there

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I think it became a tremendous outlet for me. Um in terms of stress relief

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Um, just another means to become one with nature

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So I love being outside so much and the camera just added another element where you know

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I could go somewhere whether i'm alone or with other people and connect with it in this way of like

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Capturing it, you know in camera and then being able like, you know, uh kind of immortalize those memories if you will

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And I think that's still why I enjoy it so much now you you said two things that really

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Got my brain thinking

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And the first one i'll tell you it's having support from others and two it's connecting with nature and that soothing

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Quietness honed in on what we're doing in the moment. Now, let's break down the first topic first and

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I think this is an important topic

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What does it mean to you to get support from others in?

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A passion like photography. Is that something that plays a role in your life? Do you think that?

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Having support in anyone's passions. Is that something that really?

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Could be the indicator from

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Down here to up here and for those of you listening i'm going low to high

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Sounds good. And yes, certainly. I know this whole this whole discussion really is going to be pretty deep and there's a lot of layers to these things

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So i'm not going to pretend like I have you know, like, uh, you know all the answers or even many of the answers

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But I will kind of just start that conversation that way we can get into it more versus me having a very good answer

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You know for that, uh, but me personally, yeah, i've always

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And it goes both ways. I've always found um, fortunately, you mean my childhood growing up in my you know family

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Um, my parents my older brother. I have one one sibling. It's just me and him

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I've always gotten support love affection every step of the way from them. So that's kind of where the foundation came from

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Um, but then you know years later certainly, you know as you start to go out in the world and do different things school work

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Just everything kind of where you end up in life you make friends or you develop, you know

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a better rapport with certain relatives and um, you know, you see that

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Many of them are supportive and then on the flip side like I mentioned at the beginning is I always

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Wanted to be someone who's supportive of others as well. So every step of my own journey

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It's it's never been just about me. I've had those phases. I think just like most people where certain

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Goals that we have or just certain phases we're going through. Sometimes we end up

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Thinking a little bit too or spending too much time in our own heads if you will

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Like where we're thinking of ourselves, but it was never from a selfish place

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It was more of like I want to improve myself and be better and you know to do those things

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But ultimately I always wanted to be supportive of others as well. So I think

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And you'll probably agree with me on this but it really goes beyond photography, but I think any industry so if you look at the top

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People in any industry you'll often see a common theme where they

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associate with a certain caliber of people so

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I

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Remember distinctly. I don't know when but many years ago nick when I started to like, you know

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And I started outside of school. I'm talking about school reading

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But when I cracked open a book myself, you know to learn and and just I was interested in the wisdom contained in those pages

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one of the first things I remember reading was

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About who you associate with and something so distinct it stayed with me

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It was like if you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room period

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And that was just that has stayed with me because I think if you want to excel in anything

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You have to associate with the best in that field, you know, and it just really made a lot of sense to me that um

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It's not about

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Being the best but if you're associating with people who are just very good at things and there's you know

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They have that skill set and that's the kind of life that you want to live. That's uh, you know

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Certainly a key part of it and going back to the support, you know, which is what we're discussing

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Um, you'll see that often that is the case where those individuals will be supportive

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Especially because they can understand better, you know, like uh, hey, you know, you're interested in photography, you know

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Oh, yeah, and someone just starting out. Let's say as an example, you know, they bought a camera

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They have some gear they have lots of questions, you know

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How to do this how to do that, uh all those things but if you can just kind of develop that supportive

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rapport with people, um, it's gonna go both ways and i've really been um, you know grateful for that in my life

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You hit a lot of areas man. That's a real good deal and to piggyback off what you're seeing having that

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People around to support you in what you're doing. That makes all the difference

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Um, I wouldn't have started this photography journey. I wouldn't have gone after my dreams pursuing this creative industry

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If it wasn't for a certain friend back in the day four years ago is just saying

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Hello, why are you not doing it? What is the reason stopping you? You're 20 years old at this time

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I'm only 24 now, so i'm still a young guy, but 20 years old. Why are you not going for it?

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There's literally no reason and the reason i'm saying this is because

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Who you associate with? Is the biggest indicator of where you're going and i'll i'll be the first one to admit

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There are some times where I got stagnant in my my growth

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I wasn't hanging around certain people that were

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Pushing me to grow in that area. I was like, okay

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Why am I still having the same level of results?

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and then

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Like you mentioned having these people who are at a high caliber caliber

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You see that they're better than you

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How humble and I love that realize I thrive on that

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See because I think that's also a mark of

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well

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We I don't want to jump to other you know things um

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But certain things like when you talk about things like ego or just certain things like

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You'll see that that's often the case where if someone's not capable of see like I said, I thrive on that

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I enjoy being around people who are living at a higher level than me or better than me in a certain

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You know skill set or whatever because i'm just like wow like you make it look so easier. Wow

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Like I never thought of it that way. Maybe I just you know shit, you know, just what i'm doing and things like that

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So if you feel it's important that over time

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I'm not saying that's not the case

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If you feel it's important that over time i'm not saying that someone has to just immediately, you know

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Make those changes but where over time you're like, oh like i'm not threatened by this

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I'm not you know

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All these like negative things that there's really a lot of great things that you can learn and become better yourself

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and then ultimately

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On the other side you're going to end up being that for someone else that that's that's kind of what for me is so

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um

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Really why I even agreed to be on your podcast

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See, I I don't even being on um, you know the bushwhackers podcast, right?

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When they first invited me on there, I was like, why do you want me on the podcast?

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What do you think that I you know, and then it really got me thinking, you know, they're they're my friends right chandler loop

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um

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He got me thinking that yes, we're friends. But what do they see? What do they?

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Um, you know want me to talk about what what is it that i've done or what is it that i'm doing?

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That's so interesting and it got me thinking that it's not all about

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like

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What you have what you've attained it's who you are. It's how you operate

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It's how you do things and those things are ultimately going to be the things that like like what you said about this friend, right?

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A number like four years ago who inspired you myself in my own life

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I lost track of how many times and i'm not talking about the closest people to me. That's one thing too

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It's people who for example, it might be a friend who I haven't even talked to in like the last six seven years

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Or someone who I had a conversation with a stranger

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Uh, maybe like two years ago just somewhere I happened to be somewhere out and we had a conversation in exchange

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Let's say I was out in nature somewhere out of park having a conversation and something they said to me

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Was just so inspirational or supportive and had nothing to gain, right?

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This is a stranger i'm talking about that's happened to me several times

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Um where i'm just like wow, like that's a very interesting. I'm glad that you shared that with me

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Thanks for supporting me and all these things

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So it's not always the people that you're like very close to or spending time to or that you talk to all the time

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It comes from anywhere as long as you're open to it

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so

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Something that you really talked about that I really value in what you said is

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How can I support others and this is something that I delve into all the time is something i'm working on

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Being a young guy you grow up you start to think you realize things are all about you

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You realize things are all about you. They're not really all about you and growing up and becoming a man you got to realize

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We're here to serve we're here to offer to others. What do I bring to you? How can I add value to you?

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It's not just about what can I take from you?

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I mean dude, you can't just be a taker you get caught real fast after a while people start getting smarter

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You can't be a taker as you get older

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and to

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To delve into what you said

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Is giving value to others supporting others. Okay, so as artists

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it is

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uh something that's personal to us because we're expressing ourselves in different ways and

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Having that support system that rapport with others that push us to go into these passions

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How would you tell someone maybe an 18 year old?

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How could they build a rapport of people that can support their art?

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And what would you do to go to approach this? Let's say they don't have a family that supports them in this art. Okay, and

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maybe they're more of the

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The standard route the doctor that's fine. But maybe they just have no one support them to go into passions. How would you go about?

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Building this rapport people to support them building these people to help propel them in the right direction being in the same room

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As these people that all are striving for the same goal. That's a great question. I think it's a good opportunity

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to kind of link my

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Creative identity if you will and photography which is a big piece of that back to my main career in health care

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and the reason i'm saying that is because

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Really before I picked up the camera and when I say pick up

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I mean like when I actually consider to do this professionally or make money from it or or things of that nature

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It wasn't until several years after you know, I picked up the camera for the first time but see

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Growing up the way I did. Um, you know, I come from an indian, you know family

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Um, you know indian culture and just in general

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You'll understand where i'm coming from with this. There are certain

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Paths that you can take in life, especially when it comes to career paths that

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You'll find

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Ample support you'll find a very clear

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Guidance on how to get from point a to point b

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Okay, this is my goal and this is the process to get there and i'll get more in in detail in just a moment. But um

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Photography was not one of those things for me creative identity was not one of those things for me

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So I didn't have a creative identity

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Until I you know wanted to pursue something different and the reason why it relates back to my career is because

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First off there was no creative identity that I had developed through that career, you know

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And at this point i've actually been a registered nurse for almost 10 years now actually

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um

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and i've seen and done a lot in that time and

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Back in school even you know relating it back to what we were discussing earlier is that

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There was kind of a clear path. Okay, so this is my goal, you know, I wanted to work in health care

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These are the few, you know options like becoming a doctor or a nurse or different things you can do in the field

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And then you get the you know certification schooling degrees and then you do certain things and you can end up

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you know in those positions

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And often you don't actually yes to perform at the highest you should kind of stay up on the latest research

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You should be um, you know factoring that into your practice so that you can

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Give the best to your patients, but there's not any creative identity that I personally, you know encountered during that process

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So then on the flip side when it came to oh one day like, you know

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You're asking me these questions like nicks asked me. Hey, what you know, what happened one day or like what did you do?

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Or what would you tell an 18 year old who's just starting out and has all these different opportunities?

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And you know, like where do I spend my time? Where do I invest my time?

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And it was like oh like there is no clear path

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What do you want to gain from this? What do you want to do?

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When you say photography just think about this

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I know in your case because I admire what you're doing in general like the podcasting

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Everything you do but your photos they're awesome. Your photography is awesome

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But you're so many your creative identity in particular is so much more multifaceted

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You're not just a photographer. I've seen some of these videos that you produce and the people you're working with it's incredible stuff. Um, but

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And you I want to hear from you after this too

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But when you started doing those things, I doubt that someone you found like a clear road map

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It's like oh, yeah, this is what you can do nick

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These 10 steps and you can end up where you want in this industry, you know

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Um, it's not that way because if you just look at photography

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We're both heavily like landscape photographers myself particularly

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Um, but then you have portrait photographers. You have food photographers fashion

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Wildlife photographers it just goes on and on and on and you know what? I'm trying to say with this. There's so many different

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Uh niches, um, and there's not a clear thing. It really comes down to when it comes to creativity

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It's it comes from within it comes from what someone is looking

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To gain from it looking to do from it and no one can no one else can actually decide that for you

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Whereas the things like I was relating it back to my career someone could like for example

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Let's say I go back to when I was 18 and I said that I want to become a registered nurse

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I mean all the resources and details are there to do that

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Uh, I mean all the resources and details are there to to guide you to that goal, you know

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Um, whereas I never felt that with this it was all just finding things, you know

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Like I have questions researching those things going on youtube learning how to do this with the camera

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Hey, I saw this photo and I took a photo in the same place, but it didn't come out the same way

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Why that's a big point? Um all different things, you know youtube master class

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You know networking with other professionals in that field

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That can give you a glimpse into their process and how you can implement something, you know better, you know

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Do those things better?

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So I think for the people who are 18 in particular, I think it comes down to that that

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Spending more time deciding

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Which is very difficult trying to figure out what someone is trying to gain from it

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What is your purpose to do something?

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because

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The best and worst part about life is that there is no meaning to life personally. It's that

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That's the best and worst part because see the best part for some people is like there is no meaning

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So just enjoy like do your thing and then just live your life and enjoy this

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uh

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Really brief moment in in in time that we have here on this, you know in this universe

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But then on the flip side the worst thing is like well, there is no meaning so you need to create it

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You know if you want to have that purpose guiding you um, and then that comes to a personal level like what

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I've done or what works for me or what I see

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Has been a this has been a key realization in the last several years is it doesn't mean that someone else wants those things

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Or that because someone else is living a different way. They're going about things wrong

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No, in fact, they might be living the most real and authentic life that they were supposed to from the beginning

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You know, even though it's not the same things that I want so

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There's a lot there in the first thing I would like to address nimit is

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Being 18 years old and for me that wasn't that long ago

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and

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Having all these options these opportunities. There is no clear road map

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In the creative aspects, right? I've always been in the creative industry since i've been about 15 years old. Okay

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And from the age of 16, I told myself I knew this already

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I knew I said I want to run a video production company at 16 years old

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Crazy how I knew that that young. I don't know how I knew it. I just knew

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and

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I gave it up for a little bit. You know, the roadmap wasn't linear and you bring up

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About how I get these people to work with them and there's a lot of things i've done that I didn't learn online things that you can't

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Learn online things that you have to experience firsthand mistakes that you have to make

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Contracts that you didn't write at the beginning because you didn't know how to write a contract with a client

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So then you might get a late payment or no payments later

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and then oh

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experience

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or no payment learning how to have tact when you're dealing with different

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Clientele different co-workers people who are your superiors

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These are the things as 18 year olds that we have to just learn experience as we grow and then you kind of figure out

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Where you're trying to gain

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This positive outcome and not every negative outcome is really negative. Actually, it just kind of steers your head

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In a different direction and that's okay

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and something that you also said was

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art

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in life having no meaning and

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That's that's a heavy topic because some people

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30 year olds 40 year olds 50 year olds even 80 year olds. They kind of they do ignore that topic of

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That when you're gone all this money wealth fame is where does it go?

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Not with you. That's for sure gone

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You don't take it with you you don't take it with you and

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That's something that is

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We have to think about that. How do you want to live your life now?

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Is are you okay with living in a hut by the beach?

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It's a one room and are you happy with it? Cool

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Do you want to live in a mansion? Cool

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whatever

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live that way and

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To break this down a little bit

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Live that way and to break this down a little deeper on terms of

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Finding a road map for me. At least I don't know how your perspective of this is or

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which way you went I

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Found some mentors who were older than me

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Also acted as a little bit of father figures

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they were a little bit of both life coaches and business coaches all in the same and they kind of

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Gave me a road map, but they didn't they said, you know what they said to me they meant

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Just because i'm telling you that I did it this way and it worked

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Doesn't mean you're going to take this exact road map, but I am showing you the mistakes that I learned from

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So there's mistakes that happen and you can learn from the mistakes and you can go in your direction

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Doesn't have to be the same direction I went

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from you

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Let's say have you had a mentor someone that really kind of guided you in this

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Photography realm being specific. I know in the nursing the health care world

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There's all kinds of experienced people in there in the photography realm

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Was this more of a self a self journey or was this something that you had someone kind of helping you whether that was

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A youtuber that you were watching and you kind of took wisdom from them or was there someone that you knew that kind of that is a great question

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Again, I you know, I love this opportunity

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Sometimes doesn't you know, I don't always get a chance to talk about kind of like how my health care career, you know

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Fits into or how it's similar and different. So in this case, yeah, i'm looking back on just like I said

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I've been a nurse for about 10 years and i'm looking back especially the first two to three years

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Which typically the first kind of two to three years are very transformative for most people's career

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And it can kind of set you up on a trajectory, you know for where you'll be, you know later on but I can't imagine

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surviving thriving or being a good clinician

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Without great mentors every step of the way in that industry so

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More tenured nurses other doctors I worked with even new nurses I worked with because we had our own

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You know, like they brought their own, you know things from prior from you know

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Before they started working in the hospital as a nurse like other things they did. I even worked with um, you know

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You kind of see both things or some people who like myself we were just you know in doing undergradive

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And we decided that this is what we wanted to do

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Versus I worked with several people who it was like a second career or even some of them third career

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So some of these people worked in completely different industries before coming into the healthcare realm

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And they brought with them a lot of cool experiences and their own, you know skill sets from those industries, right?

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So I can imagine uh without mentorship

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You know having ended up where I did

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Now on the flip side, which is very interesting

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I didn't apply that to photography for lots of reasons because see it started as a hobby

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And everything i've done is even still now nick has been very organic

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So what I mean by that is i've actually never i've never had a mentor. I never even um

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Had like a specific

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I actually use youtube heavily before so I think it would be a good platform to talk about

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So i've never had a mentor

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I actually use youtube heavily before so I think it would be a good platform to talk about so even when I was

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First got my first professional quality camera. It was a sony a72, you know

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I purchased with a lot of deliberation because there's so many options

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But when I bought that camera like for instance like I you know, I watch reviews about that camera

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You know on youtube and then once I got it how to use it, you know certain photography techniques same thing

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I've learned so much of this on youtube, you know back in like 2015 2016

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2016 and um, there was really no in myself personally where it was always like I was going to a specific

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You know photography website or photography, you know youtuber where I kind of relied heavily on it

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It was just kind of based on what I was trying to learn at the time if that makes sense

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And that's still true. That's still the case where I don't really

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You know have a mentor in the photography world and also i've actually this might be interesting for you

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But I don't know if yourself if you have done this, but I still haven't taken a photography course to this day

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not one

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So I think about what if I do and where that could bring my art like what kinds of new things I would learn in that

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So it's something on my list, you know to to you know

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Learn from other photographers in the industry and especially ones who have been in this industry for 20 years 30 years and here

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You know their insights from what's changed, you know, what's the same and all those things, you know from years ago

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So approaching this in two ways

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And there's not necessarily a wrong way

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And goes back to our other conversation roadmaps

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Clear paths in the art of photography just the arts in general. There's not always a clear path

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I was discussing a conversation with my mother the other day and I was talking about mom

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I thought I knew everything four years ago

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And I said I thought I knew everything about photography

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I was an egotistical person who thought I knew it all and I thought I had all this experience ranked up and I was like

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I don't know anything. Why should anybody ever listen to me?

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I'm only 24 people who are 45 and 50 years old

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Those are when they're starting to listen to you and even then they're just the masters that you don't become a pro to in your 30s

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Then you get your become a master in your 40s 50s. Let's say you start at 18, right?

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You're getting your years of experience and then I said with your 60s 70s and 80s. That's when you have the wisdom

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So I said, how do I who do I think I am to even tell anybody anything about anything in life?

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And she was like nick. Yeah, i've been in nursing for 20 30 years and i'm just out of my pro phase and i'm in

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I'm a master i'm a mastery now just because i've seen so many things

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And where i'm going with this nimit

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I was saying mom you could be

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working with a 20 year old nurse, right mom and

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She was like, yeah

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And then I said she may be smarter than you I said but they

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Haven't seen the 20 30 40 years of

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Health care that you've seen so just by that by default

401
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You already have a lot on them in terms of the wisdom and you're still going to be able to show them so many things

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And where i'm going with this

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Having a mentor

404
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For me, I didn't necessarily have one

405
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Sort of say I had what's the word colleagues peers?

406
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Who helped critique my work, right? We all have people like that. Hopefully. I hope you do and feel

407
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vulnerable enough to share that and ask them for critiques, but in terms of a mentor in the arts, it's

408
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difficult and I think I would find value in it because

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They would see certain things that I just wouldn't see but that's in every industry

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But then at the same time, how can that person tell me you need to put your

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Photography and change it that way, you know, maybe I wanted to express it

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This way

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Maybe I wanted to express that photo right there in the back a tighter shot by a millimeter and a half

414
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And that's just the way I thought it looked cool. So

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I think there's value in both ways the way you said organically just learning getting better learn to express yourselves

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But that's a that's a skill on its own being able to express yourselves

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And so I have taken a photography class nimit back when I was in high school. Listen to this man

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I didn't like it

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I didn't I didn't like photography bro. I started in video when I was 15

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00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:46,920
Okay, so how is this guy gonna make me think photography is interesting nimit?

421
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:51,800
How is he gonna make me think it photography sucks? I said that word word by word

422
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:56,280
Videos way better is more interesting photography. Just a still image. How can that make me excited?

423
00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:01,560
photography just a still image how can that make me excited so graduate high school, I

424
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Take photos, we're gonna hire to take photos. So I'm like, okay

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Maybe I might just take photography because I'm making money from it next thing

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You know you fall in love with it, right?

427
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:14,840
Because you realize you can express yourself in such ways and where i'm going with this for you the question I want to know

428
00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:17,720
How

429
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,200
Do you find meaning in your photography?

430
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:26,360
Um, that's a big question big question and before I answer that so just because of what you said you brought us some great things

431
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,400
And it was really nice to hear that about your own story

432
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:35,480
Which I was hoping to you know, learn more about as well and um what you were talking about with your mom

433
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,880
I didn't talk to anybody else about this, but I remember years ago

434
00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:44,680
I mean I was in college and you know, like listening to my first ted talk particularly it's irrelevant

435
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,560
So, you know, I came across ted talk, you know the

436
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,600
Couple of discussions that I first heard they were excellent. I was like, wow

437
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:56,120
I never thought of this topic this way and who are these people which are often very obscure people

438
00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:01,080
They're often on ted talk. It's not people like other like famous or top of the field

439
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,080
They are there but not most of them

440
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,640
So I was like, you know, I have a goal to be on like have my own ted talk one day

441
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:14,520
So, you know time goes on and i'm thinking like wait, but then one day it's similar to what you're saying. I was like

442
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,520
Yeah, I mean I could but like what am I going to talk about? What do I have to offer?

443
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:20,520
Why does somebody want to listen to me?

444
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:26,520
I hadn't really done too much. So I was like, yeah, there's nothing, you know to and it's so interesting because

445
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:32,120
I had that goal like what you were talking about, you know with your mom like oh, I know everything but then fast forward

446
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:38,680
You know, you had these changes. I had a similar thing and ever since it's been kind of this like in between

447
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,160
where like if this was

448
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,360
Like at the like, uh, the second point in that process

449
00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:48,200
Like I said, where I see number one the first step was like, oh I want to be on the ted talk one day

450
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,040
You know, it's like this cool thing, you know to be on stage and talk about some topic but then

451
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:56,200
Realization step two where I was like, yeah, but what am I going to offer?

452
00:32:56,440 --> 00:33:01,240
What are we going to discuss and things and then i'm I was kind of you know

453
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:06,760
In between like for example if I was at step two then I wouldn't have even been on your podcast

454
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:13,400
Because it's like oh, but why what am I going to offer and then over time? I did realize that um

455
00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:19,000
A lot of the times we don't realize but because people don't always say that like they don't always

456
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:25,240
Like see something you've written or see one of your photos that inspired them and they're gonna just you know

457
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:27,720
Say it, you know outright like words and stuff

458
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,240
But people are observing and people are watching and people are looking at those things

459
00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:37,880
Um, and it speaks to a lot of people. So for instance in my case, um, I noticed that sometimes

460
00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:43,800
Both with photography and other things that i'll share and that's a whole different discussion that we might get into um, but

461
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:50,760
Where it resonates with a lot of people and the reason i'm bringing that up is when I first started sharing it wasn't

462
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:55,400
That's not why I started sharing. It was just I love this photo. So i'm going to post it

463
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,800
Here's another photo of me and I'm going to post it

464
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:03,160
Here's another photo that i like just sharing it like, you know many people um, but then when it started to get into like deeper

465
00:34:03,460 --> 00:34:06,200
discussions or you know, because i'm very

466
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,240
Much into like reading self-development

467
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,480
Um philosophy and like applying those things to life and how I operate

468
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,320
Um, and a lot of my friends and relatives enjoy those things too

469
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:21,640
And the reason i'm bringing it up is that's around the time. I realized that hey

470
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,160
I've done some cool things in life. I have started to like

471
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:29,080
I've done some cool things in life. I have some experience people are

472
00:34:29,720 --> 00:34:31,400
you know kind of

473
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,640
Relating to this, you know a different thing

474
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:39,720
It's not like I have a big audience or I certainly by any means I don't but I value the relationships

475
00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:44,520
I have I value the people that do you know, enjoy my work and stuff?

476
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:45,560
um

477
00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:50,360
So much because that just that itself is just like going back to the first kind of thing

478
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:54,760
We were talking about support. Um, it's all related, you know someone um, you know

479
00:34:54,760 --> 00:35:00,280
Like me myself writing something, you know about something going on in the world or just some thought I have

480
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,560
And then one of my friends being like, oh, yeah, like I totally agree with you

481
00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:08,200
I've you know thought about this myself and it's cool to see that, you know, someone else feels the same way

482
00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,440
So those are the things that I really value

483
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,560
Um, and that's kind of what i've seen here to be the case

484
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:21,240
But that was a big kind of tangent but related to the previous. Um, you know conversation. I thought was irrelevant, you know

485
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:24,520
um, but you were saying about um, you know

486
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:29,080
Just photography like fight like finding like the meaning in photography and specifically, right?

487
00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:34,840
Okay, and yes, that's been something I developed over, you know several years

488
00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:40,520
Um, but for me, it's just like I said, you know, uh, it's remained a creative outlet for me

489
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:43,640
While I do other things that I find creative

490
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:50,440
Um, I don't do any of those things as often or as good yet, um as photography

491
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:55,560
So when I say that I mean like I do some writing i've done some drawing or different things like that

492
00:35:55,880 --> 00:36:01,720
But i'm nowhere nearly as proficient with those things yet as I am photography. So photography for me just

493
00:36:02,360 --> 00:36:07,560
um an escape, um a way of decompression stress relief, um

494
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:14,760
I love to travel which you know something that we've talked about, you know privately several times and uh, when we go on these trips

495
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:17,480
Whether it's you know within the country or overseas

496
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,920
um taking photos of special places to me is just such a

497
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:28,040
Special process for me because I get to come home and then years later like we still do my wife shray and I

498
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,160
We look back on certain trips. We went on in 2017

499
00:36:31,700 --> 00:36:34,440
2019 and we're like wow, that was so much fun. We did this

500
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:39,960
This was the first time we experienced this or you know went here and um, that's really why I do it

501
00:36:39,960 --> 00:36:43,080
I think it captures those memories and for me, that's just

502
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:47,000
I mean, there's there's no there's no price tag you can put on that, you know

503
00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:51,640
In terms of capturing those memories that way, um, and that's something

504
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:57,720
That I would love to talk about more in general with anyone not not particularly on this podcast today

505
00:36:57,960 --> 00:36:59,160
but where

506
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,160
I've noticed especially on

507
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:07,160
like instagram culture where a lot of that the story and the like the

508
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:14,680
The memory of actually being in that place is lacking and i've seen a lot of the time even people i'm with whether they're

509
00:37:14,900 --> 00:37:17,960
photographers or not that they'll often go

510
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,640
somewhere or do an activity just

511
00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:27,480
To share that they did it and i've never i've never aligned with that

512
00:37:28,020 --> 00:37:30,040
Mindset because it just doesn't make sense to me

513
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:36,600
But I see that a lot and I find it very unhealthy where i've seen that people will just go especially landscape photographers

514
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:41,400
Like I need to go to this spot and I need to capture it this way and I gotta share it

515
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:47,560
Like that's why like it wasn't because they like oh I need to see this for myself, which is where i've often started

516
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:49,800
um, I think that

517
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,040
my trip

518
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:56,760
I don't know if you have have you ever been to Alberta Canada or Banff National Park by any chance nick?

519
00:37:59,240 --> 00:38:03,320
I highly recommend it. I'm sure you've seen several photos from there

520
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:08,760
You know where of where i'm going to kind of talk about but i'll take it back to my days of tumblr

521
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:12,120
So I was you know at the time in college, you know, I had a tumblr account

522
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:17,000
Um, I was pretty just kind of lurking in terms of like, you know, just kind of my own thing

523
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:20,200
I just like to see photos of nature cars, you know, like

524
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:26,200
Wisdom like quotes, you know things like that. So I came across a lot of beautiful natural

525
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,320
Um, you know vistas and scenery on there

526
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:36,520
Um, which kind of jump started this love honestly of travel but particularly I remember seeing a photo of lake louise in Alberta

527
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:42,120
Canada for the first time and I was just like my mind was blown at how gorgeous it was

528
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:47,400
Because I never saw anything like that in person for sure, but I never knew this existed, you know

529
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:49,000
And I was like what else is out there?

530
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:53,960
So fast forward several years, you know when I got the chance I built it like I I made the trip

531
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:56,520
Just because I needed to see this lake nick

532
00:38:56,520 --> 00:39:00,680
Like I was like I saw this photo years ago not because I wanted to go and take photos of it

533
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,600
It was like I need to see this place for myself and it was one of those

534
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,360
Fortunately, I've had those experiences several times in life

535
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:13,400
It wasn't the only time where I got there and I was just like wow, this was so worth coming

536
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,040
It's more beautiful in person than I could ever imagine

537
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:22,120
I love it so much and then that whole region was just like that. So it's a very special memory to to us

538
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:27,240
Um, so I think that like the meaning behind photography for me is those things

539
00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:30,040
It's just a means to capture these memories, you know

540
00:39:30,600 --> 00:39:34,680
Um, and I just enjoy it. I look I like I enjoy looking back on them several years later

541
00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:37,560
You know when i'm going through all these archives and i'm like, oh wow

542
00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:42,600
You know, that was a beautiful day or something that you know, I remember from there like what why did we go there?

543
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:47,960
Like what was the occasion and things like that, you know, because it kind of immortalizes those experiences for me

544
00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:51,960
Thank louise brother amazing just absolutely gorgeous

545
00:39:54,920 --> 00:40:00,280
Oh brother, that's amazing that you're able to go there and see that I was on tumblr for a little bit. I'm probably

546
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,000
Yeah, yeah end of tumblr sides of things

547
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:08,040
But it was cool. It had a little artsy things and they're kind of interested in kind of what people are putting out on there

548
00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:10,600
but to concentrate on

549
00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:13,240
Capturing memories

550
00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:20,280
That's why I started in video just to capture memories of my friends

551
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,480
Look back on it. I could I have videos

552
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:26,280
From almost 10 years ago

553
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:29,800
That I can look back on and just remember that exact

554
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:38,840
Moment limit the exact moment the exact feeling so i'm sure you've had some instances of photos you've taken

555
00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:43,480
Right where you can remember and recount the feeling you had at lake louise whether it was in

556
00:40:44,040 --> 00:40:45,240
Moab

557
00:40:45,240 --> 00:40:51,640
California in death valley when you were in oregon when you were in florida wherever where you were just at just recently

558
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:57,400
I'm sure you have you could look back at all those moments, right and remember the memories and maybe

559
00:40:57,960 --> 00:40:59,960
It wasn't the photos of

560
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,440
You and your wife maybe it was a photo

561
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:04,200
of this

562
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:09,320
Market that you took I don't know if we do any street photos out of whatever maybe it was this photo this market and you remember

563
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:13,400
It brings back the memories of you and your wife trying this food for the first time taking in the culture

564
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:20,200
Over out of the country. That's a that's an interesting memory. That's very specific why you bring anything so specific nick

565
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:24,680
But I mean that's that shared experience that not only did you have with yourself with the camera

566
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:28,760
You have that shared experience with your wife and you guys can both look back on that and remember it together

567
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:37,320
so to piggyback off this relationships capturing memories remember the feelings the people we share these experiences with social media

568
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:43,000
Has been a tool that is kind of so connected so many people of course you for example

569
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,720
I mean heck would I have even met you if I would have been?

570
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,000
Probably not. I don't know who knows so

571
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:52,680
To me I see it as a tool and it's what you make of it in the relationships

572
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:58,280
I have on there. I also do value and i'm curious to pick your brain about this because

573
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:00,920
you share

574
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,480
A unique perspective at least that I value and I think more people should value

575
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:08,040
And I want to know

576
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:14,120
From your words from your perspective from how you internalize this what your relationship is

577
00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:16,920
With social media today

578
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:26,680
in where you see it going in the future. Oh, yeah, and that's a that's a big discussion too. Yeah, um

579
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:29,960
Let me think about this and i'm thinking about what you said

580
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:34,520
With the prior discussion too really very important things there

581
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,200
Yeah, I probably have a similar

582
00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:42,520
Relationship with it than like a lot of people do but I think it's a very important thing

583
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:48,040
Yeah, I probably have a similar relationship with it than like a lot of my peers

584
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:52,120
Um, I would I think the best way to describe it over the years

585
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:55,320
So we're looking at a good decade now, right nick of these

586
00:42:56,260 --> 00:43:03,080
platforms being in existence basically that they never existed before they kind of broke open this whole industry and

587
00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:09,320
similar to a lot of other things like where it's like oh like the first product especially when it comes to health care like

588
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:13,260
Medications for example when it's like the first medication of its kind

589
00:43:13,900 --> 00:43:17,100
What we've seen in health care often is this

590
00:43:17,660 --> 00:43:21,980
Okay, this is brand new and it has the hopes of helping with problem a

591
00:43:23,020 --> 00:43:28,860
But is it going to create problem xyz? Is it safe? Is it you know, what are the cons of this?

592
00:43:28,940 --> 00:43:31,180
We see the advantages. That's why it exists, right?

593
00:43:31,340 --> 00:43:38,780
But what are the the potential downsides of this and I think that relates back to social media because you're absolutely right

594
00:43:38,780 --> 00:43:40,780
without social media

595
00:43:41,020 --> 00:43:45,660
What the industry is today? We wouldn't be talking right now, you know

596
00:43:46,140 --> 00:43:52,700
And I mean where we say that very definitive like it sure it's possible because we you and I particularly we love going to nature

597
00:43:52,700 --> 00:43:58,500
Right. So let me think of an example. Oh, yeah somewhere you've been in the past and I absolutely love the Alabama Hills

598
00:43:58,500 --> 00:44:00,620
Okay, so let me paint a picture here. So

599
00:44:01,740 --> 00:44:08,000
Sure, and I randomly you know, we've gone there, right? So randomly we're planning a trip like hey, we're this week free

600
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,500
I'll do a little road trip to beautiful, California, which has countless

601
00:44:11,500 --> 00:44:16,940
Oh my god, and I know where you live and it's just you're like in the backyard of New Semi. It's gorgeous

602
00:44:16,940 --> 00:44:20,860
So let's say okay, we decide okay, let's go to Alabama Hills Lone Pine

603
00:44:20,900 --> 00:44:25,660
Let's hang out there for a few days, you know, and then by chance, okay, you're home in Fresno

604
00:44:25,660 --> 00:44:28,300
And then you're like, you know what? I haven't been there in a while, you know

605
00:44:28,300 --> 00:44:32,340
I've been there several times but I kind of have this idea and I want to camp out there or something

606
00:44:32,340 --> 00:44:38,820
So you go there for a few days and we happen to like our dates happen to overlap imagine how much?

607
00:44:39,540 --> 00:44:44,860
Would need to go right for that to even happen and then when we're there at Alabama Hills

608
00:44:44,860 --> 00:44:47,780
We actually do like we're at the same place like Mobius art

609
00:44:47,780 --> 00:44:51,680
We wanted to shoot it, you know sunrise and we happen to be in the same place

610
00:44:51,780 --> 00:44:57,180
But what are the chances of that right? So that's why we're both of us are like without these platforms

611
00:44:57,180 --> 00:45:01,140
We probably wouldn't have met we probably wouldn't have become friends and whatnot

612
00:45:01,140 --> 00:45:03,140
You know and I've seen that I

613
00:45:03,860 --> 00:45:09,700
Will also I think it would only help this discussion to include other discussions

614
00:45:09,700 --> 00:45:14,420
I have with friends because it's so relevant and relatable right now where

615
00:45:14,900 --> 00:45:17,060
You and I are talking about these things

616
00:45:17,060 --> 00:45:23,780
But I've heard these same thoughts and feelings from so many of our peers right now. So one thing I've heard is

617
00:45:23,780 --> 00:45:30,100
Social media. Okay, so Instagram in particular is like I

618
00:45:30,620 --> 00:45:34,460
Can't survive without it what they mean is like, oh I feel like I need

619
00:45:35,420 --> 00:45:38,980
Instagram I need to have an account. I need to have a presence here

620
00:45:38,980 --> 00:45:45,420
I need to use it a certain way in order to achieve a goal and that goal is very like

621
00:45:45,420 --> 00:45:49,700
It's a very broad term in this in this respect. Does someone want to sell their photos?

622
00:45:49,700 --> 00:45:54,620
Does someone want to put clients for like videos like you do? What do they want to do?

623
00:45:54,620 --> 00:45:58,700
So it's very broad term, but they feel like overall the consensus

624
00:45:58,700 --> 00:46:01,460
I've heard from so many people who are

625
00:46:02,020 --> 00:46:08,020
In the industry in terms of like they're doing some like where they want to generate, you know income or profit

626
00:46:08,020 --> 00:46:14,900
Not like just you know, I'm going on taking photos and sharing and we're only talking about people who are kind of wanting to establish

627
00:46:14,900 --> 00:46:16,900
themselves in a certain industry

628
00:46:16,900 --> 00:46:20,180
And that's what I often hear Nick. I hear that and I hear that like

629
00:46:20,900 --> 00:46:25,140
it's more like this thing like I've been talking to a lot of people about this in general where

630
00:46:26,500 --> 00:46:32,420
They they have us likely where they want us where it's they hate us, but they need us

631
00:46:33,140 --> 00:46:37,380
And that's basically my current, you know, kind of like what's going on?

632
00:46:37,380 --> 00:46:40,340
So it's been a roller coaster over the years like most people

633
00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:44,020
But I almost wanted to

634
00:46:44,020 --> 00:46:47,060
just completely go offline and

635
00:46:47,700 --> 00:46:50,340
Really? Ultimately the reason why I'm not is

636
00:46:50,820 --> 00:46:56,420
The discussion we're having right now like the friends I've made the people I keep in touch with on there

637
00:46:56,660 --> 00:47:00,260
That's what keeps me there and I'm sure many of other people would agree with that

638
00:47:01,300 --> 00:47:06,180
Because you might know enough about this, but I do generate some revenue, right?

639
00:47:06,180 --> 00:47:10,020
So I generate revenue from my photo photography sales as well as clients

640
00:47:10,020 --> 00:47:15,220
So like I you know, I did like weddings and things like that as well as selling like, you know, fine art wall decor

641
00:47:16,180 --> 00:47:22,180
But what a lot of people might find interesting or not because I don't have you know, a big audience on instagram

642
00:47:22,420 --> 00:47:27,060
Is most of those revenue and sales have come off social media?

643
00:47:27,300 --> 00:47:32,980
Like this was either local because people want to support a local artist, which I often do in other capacities

644
00:47:32,980 --> 00:47:34,980
You know, we all want to support local people

645
00:47:34,980 --> 00:47:39,700
And then other things were like just like off social media like it wasn't

646
00:47:41,300 --> 00:47:44,900
Yeah, and the reason I'm saying that is because like I know several

647
00:47:45,700 --> 00:47:50,740
People who are like on instagram specifically might have 100 000 followers 200 000 followers

648
00:47:51,300 --> 00:47:56,100
That is no guarantee of profit or revenue. Um, i've heard some tales, man

649
00:47:56,100 --> 00:48:02,500
I've heard some tales where you can I mean you can have those many followers and still not have that many followers

650
00:48:02,500 --> 00:48:09,140
I mean you can have those many followers and still not be making money, you know from the account or from photography

651
00:48:09,540 --> 00:48:14,580
um, and then meanwhile, um, you know, I was talking to another good friend about this as well that

652
00:48:15,300 --> 00:48:21,060
Then you have the people who have literally no online presence nick and they are killing it

653
00:48:21,940 --> 00:48:29,220
You know, like they are booking clients. They're making sales all this stuff all offline. Um, and that's

654
00:48:29,220 --> 00:48:36,740
Traditionally especially because you're a little younger than I i'm sure with your direct peer like that's not seen as very common

655
00:48:36,820 --> 00:48:42,820
I would I would I would almost gather like everyone kind of has this online presence. It feels like it's like

656
00:48:43,300 --> 00:48:44,820
You need this

657
00:48:44,820 --> 00:48:49,540
But for me, it's like this like that's who I want to be, you know, I want to be someone who

658
00:48:50,260 --> 00:48:57,140
Especially doesn't rely on the platform like playing their games in order to achieve a goal if that makes sense

659
00:48:57,140 --> 00:49:03,220
So while there's a lot of like good things from it where for example, like i'm able to share my favorite, you know

660
00:49:03,700 --> 00:49:08,100
Photographs i'm able to keep in touch with people like you like I could message you and you know

661
00:49:08,100 --> 00:49:13,700
Like see your work and like kind of have discussions about that uh beyond that. I would love to not feel

662
00:49:14,500 --> 00:49:18,100
Like we need it, you know, especially when so many people feel like

663
00:49:18,740 --> 00:49:26,420
They're not rewarding high quality work, which is definitely not the case, you know, that's not been the case for years

664
00:49:26,420 --> 00:49:33,460
Um, and we talk about instagram a lot because we use it, you know like that but it applies to really all platforms tiktok

665
00:49:34,020 --> 00:49:37,460
Twitter all other, you know, I don't know if I can say twitter because it's called x now

666
00:49:37,540 --> 00:49:40,740
You know what I mean? Uh, but but like all these, you know platforms

667
00:49:41,060 --> 00:49:46,500
They all kind of have that where i've not seen one to this date that values high quality

668
00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:53,620
Content in terms of photography or what people are writing. It's often what generates the most

669
00:49:53,620 --> 00:49:56,600
Discussion nick which is often negative

670
00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:05,080
And you i'm sure you've seen instances of that too where especially when it comes to tiktok or on instagram reels where

671
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:11,000
whether it's a photography related or not, it doesn't it doesn't really have any relevance in this chat, but

672
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:18,360
You'll often find that the ones that really really get a lot of reach are often the ones that

673
00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:22,280
People are not very happy about or like there's a lot of

674
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:25,320
Kind of aggressive commentary if you will on these

675
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:31,240
Um, and that's i've seen that to be the case across platforms. So I have not personally found one that's

676
00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:36,520
You know immune from that and that might just go back to where who are the people on the platform?

677
00:50:36,520 --> 00:50:41,320
And I saw this with threads. I'm trying to remember. I'm not sure if you use threads. I use it occasionally

678
00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:44,520
You know because I used to use twitter a lot and for me it was just a little easier

679
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:48,120
I found it easier. So but on threads when it first

680
00:50:48,680 --> 00:50:50,680
Dropped there was a hope

681
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:55,800
there was a hope from people like me that this is it had the the

682
00:50:56,680 --> 00:51:02,840
The chance to be something different but then very quickly, you know, I was talking to friends about certain things and I was like

683
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:05,400
Yeah, but if it's all the same people

684
00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:13,560
Then there's not going to be any difference here either, you know, like it's that kind of like so and we've seen that I don't really

685
00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:16,600
like when I use strides in particular I

686
00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:19,800
Let's say an estimate I might follow like 150 people on there

687
00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:23,960
I really don't know but on threads you have a very clear option to choose

688
00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:29,560
You only want to see stuff that people you follow so people you know people you like like, you know

689
00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:34,200
That you want to see their stuff. That's all you see versus on instagram for years

690
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:38,040
I mean, I don't even I can't remember the last time I really scrolled because

691
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:40,600
I love to see

692
00:51:40,600 --> 00:51:45,080
Photos and other things from people I love who I like follow in this case, right?

693
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:50,760
But that's not the case on my feed. I don't know about yours, but sometimes they show me like if you posted a video

694
00:51:50,760 --> 00:51:53,640
That's fantastic. They show me like four days later, Nick

695
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:58,840
And I'm like to myself I'm like if I'm posting a photo set today

696
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:01,080
I would like people to see it today

697
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:04,120
Like it's not something like I wanted people to see four days later

698
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:08,760
And then who sees it too is like what small percentage right Nick? It's not even like everyone

699
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:13,880
That wants to see it is seeing it. They're all seeing like random sponsored ads and all this kind of stuff

700
00:52:13,880 --> 00:52:15,880
So it's a very complicated

701
00:52:16,520 --> 00:52:18,520
situation that we're in

702
00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:26,440
But overall like my goal and really that's the the reason why I even agree to do these kinds of podcasts or

703
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:29,880
Like when people want to hear about my story

704
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:35,160
My goal is to inspire other people really like I want to inspire other people that

705
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:42,040
If I can do certain things they can um, what I've done is not a big deal. Um, you know like that

706
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:44,040
You know like that

707
00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:49,240
The way that they've always done things. There's other ways to do those things. Those are really actually my goals

708
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:55,400
Uh, so so I would like to say like I posted something actually on my threads recently a few days ago

709
00:52:55,800 --> 00:53:00,600
um, and it gathered a pretty good discussion about it and I remember someone's like

710
00:53:01,400 --> 00:53:03,400
They happen to be a wildlife photographer

711
00:53:03,400 --> 00:53:11,960
And they said something along the lines of oh, yeah, like I don't want to make reels

712
00:53:12,360 --> 00:53:14,360
But I feel like if I don't

713
00:53:15,320 --> 00:53:19,000
I'm not going to build an audience and nobody's going to see my work. So

714
00:53:19,720 --> 00:53:23,160
There's a lot more to that statement than just what they're saying

715
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:31,000
They are ultimately feeling like they're being forced to do something they put in their head

716
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:34,680
being forced to do something they put no value to

717
00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:37,560
in order to

718
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:43,720
Create exposure to like their what they actually care about like their work

719
00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:48,040
in a way like people can see so they feel like if they don't do the things that they

720
00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:54,120
Put no value on that. They don't even have a chance, you know, and if you really look at

721
00:53:55,080 --> 00:53:59,160
What's behind the scenes like i've never worked for one of these social media companies

722
00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:02,360
But you know, I from what I know from research and whatnot. Um

723
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:05,400
Ultimately, I would I would

724
00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:09,320
From what i've gathered so far is that that's what they want, right?

725
00:54:09,560 --> 00:54:17,080
They want people to stay on the platform. They want people to keep engaging in different manners, whether it's posting stuff commenting

726
00:54:17,480 --> 00:54:19,160
liking um

727
00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:20,760
viewing etc

728
00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:25,480
Their goal is to keep people on their platform for as long as possible, right?

729
00:54:25,480 --> 00:54:30,840
Because especially if you've seen in general, I mean this isn't just applied to social media companies

730
00:54:31,160 --> 00:54:35,320
Um ad revenue it has been a tremendous source

731
00:54:35,800 --> 00:54:42,040
Of income for many companies for years and years like commercial ads on tv. It's nothing new nick, right?

732
00:54:42,440 --> 00:54:45,720
But what i've seen is that basically over time

733
00:54:46,600 --> 00:54:50,600
So let's say I have a great idea for a platform company xyz, right?

734
00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:56,680
And we're going to do things different. This is the premise. These are the goals. This is how we're different

735
00:54:57,080 --> 00:55:00,040
So I started I found the company in 2024 this year

736
00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:07,080
And then fast forward so like, you know, like it garners like often like a lot of initial excitement or interest because it's like hey

737
00:55:07,640 --> 00:55:10,680
There's some hope there's something new something fresh and then

738
00:55:11,400 --> 00:55:15,720
Ultimately what i've seen and it's all almost always almost always

739
00:55:15,720 --> 00:55:20,440
Uh happen is that four years five years six seven years down the road

740
00:55:21,700 --> 00:55:23,700
Unfortunately, they start to incorporate

741
00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:27,720
Several of the things that they had hoped to distance themselves from

742
00:55:28,120 --> 00:55:32,360
So the reason i'm saying that is because if you look back on when you first sign up for instagram

743
00:55:32,840 --> 00:55:35,800
I'm trying to think about it myself is so I made an account

744
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:37,240
I don't remember who told me about it

745
00:55:37,240 --> 00:55:41,800
I'm sure it was very heavily based on all like one of my friends opening an account and it's like hey instagram

746
00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:45,960
I was like, what are you talking about with blah blah blah, and then you post a photo of random stuff

747
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:52,040
You know people post photos of their coffee people post photos of them like with their friends like out of the park or whatever random moments

748
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:56,200
And then you know, they had built-in filters like they were a lot of fun right back in the day

749
00:55:56,280 --> 00:56:01,000
You know like just their og filters and you post it and it was just like that's what it was

750
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:03,080
That's what instagram that was it

751
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:10,600
It was just kind of this extension like where people were using facebook to write like a status instagram was just let's post this

752
00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:15,640
Let's share a photo of my pets to all my family and friends and stuff or like share like i'm on a trip and

753
00:56:15,960 --> 00:56:22,760
Let me share this beautiful view with those people and then unfortunately like I said, it just became something else

754
00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:25,320
and that something else

755
00:56:25,780 --> 00:56:27,780
Personally has been

756
00:56:28,040 --> 00:56:31,240
something I see as very unhealthy for people who are

757
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:35,560
Looking to achieve certain goals. That's another key part of this

758
00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:42,680
It's not this blanket thing where like if you're still using instagram just to share those moments with people just to keep

759
00:56:43,080 --> 00:56:49,000
In touch with people there's nothing there never has been anything wrong with that. It's just this unhealthy

760
00:56:50,200 --> 00:56:55,260
Need i've seen from people like oh I need to cater to this mysterious algorithm

761
00:56:55,640 --> 00:56:58,920
That frankly it doesn't even work anyway, it's broken, you know

762
00:56:59,240 --> 00:57:02,040
um, so it's just really sad to see that that I feel like

763
00:57:02,040 --> 00:57:08,780
Creativity is being lost in that because people just feel like they need to keep pumping out certain things to like

764
00:57:09,260 --> 00:57:14,620
Stay irrelevant or stay in, you know in front of people to to for them to view it in things

765
00:57:14,700 --> 00:57:18,700
And I just I don't know I didn't know I think I tried at some point

766
00:57:18,700 --> 00:57:23,580
Maybe like two years ago roughly to like because of the other goals I had like i'm talking about

767
00:57:23,740 --> 00:57:29,020
Where I wanted to like book, you know, like eloping clients or you know, sell more photos and things like that

768
00:57:29,020 --> 00:57:34,700
But beyond that I never really had a goal or intention to like build a following

769
00:57:34,700 --> 00:57:40,860
Like I've just was grateful for the people who already were, you know, supportive of me and you know

770
00:57:40,940 --> 00:57:43,820
Found my work to be inspirational or even just

771
00:57:44,460 --> 00:57:45,900
Family who uh, you know

772
00:57:45,900 --> 00:57:50,880
I've been told over the years for example at this point because we do like to travel a lot in particular

773
00:57:51,100 --> 00:57:56,860
A lot of family members just derive a lot of value from seeing my photos because they're like oh like you inspire me to like

774
00:57:56,860 --> 00:57:59,660
Get out in the world or visit this specific

775
00:58:00,140 --> 00:58:03,100
Destination that you went to because I looked at it. I was like, wow, this is so beautiful

776
00:58:03,580 --> 00:58:05,900
Just like what I said about lake louise. So

777
00:58:07,740 --> 00:58:11,580
You know that poses a couple questions for me limit

778
00:58:13,260 --> 00:58:15,260
First one

779
00:58:16,060 --> 00:58:23,340
Where are your values placed what do you put value in are you comfortable and confident in what you value?

780
00:58:24,780 --> 00:58:26,220
and

781
00:58:26,220 --> 00:58:28,220
are you valuing something else because

782
00:58:29,420 --> 00:58:32,460
Someone else is putting value in it and we're keeping up with the joneses

783
00:58:33,500 --> 00:58:40,060
And why do I say this? Why do I say values? Well a lot of things that we do in life comes down to what we value

784
00:58:41,420 --> 00:58:48,460
In what we believe to be good. What is good? Oh, don't even don't even get me started on that but to believe

785
00:58:49,420 --> 00:58:51,420
In these values that we have, right?

786
00:58:51,660 --> 00:58:54,460
The question is you said there's this need

787
00:58:54,460 --> 00:59:00,860
For the beyond the platform whether it's just to get your quick dopamine whether it's to build this audience status

788
00:59:02,300 --> 00:59:05,340
These things are not new status

789
00:59:05,900 --> 00:59:10,220
Exactly. That's been around forever. This is a different beast. It's the same beast different costume name it

790
00:59:10,780 --> 00:59:13,740
You've seen this in the past history all over man

791
00:59:14,780 --> 00:59:17,820
And to delve into this just to right here

792
00:59:18,780 --> 00:59:20,780
If you're valuing

793
00:59:21,180 --> 00:59:22,380
this

794
00:59:22,380 --> 00:59:24,620
this status of

795
00:59:25,260 --> 00:59:27,260
Social media. It's just a social media Instagram

796
00:59:28,220 --> 00:59:34,700
There's a lot of other things that are need to be taking a look at inside before we can even think about running a business

797
00:59:35,340 --> 00:59:40,460
Before before we can even start about running the business running a business is serving others. It's leading people

798
00:59:41,100 --> 00:59:43,900
And when you're leading a group of people you have to be right with yourself

799
00:59:45,740 --> 00:59:50,000
100 and if you're planning to lead a flock of 100k

800
00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:53,200
Do you think that we should be careful with that first of all?

801
00:59:54,080 --> 00:59:56,080
100k that's the chain effect man

802
00:59:56,800 --> 01:00:00,720
Who do they talk to you first of all and then it goes on and on but

803
01:00:01,600 --> 01:00:03,600
When you value

804
01:00:03,600 --> 01:00:06,880
This status there's a whole lot of things that you need to look at inside

805
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:12,400
Why do I hope to gain this status? What value am I getting out of it?

806
01:00:13,360 --> 01:00:15,360
Hoping to get a profit. Okay

807
01:00:15,600 --> 01:00:17,600
Is there a guarantee?

808
01:00:17,600 --> 01:00:18,560
No

809
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:19,680
No

810
01:00:19,680 --> 01:00:23,040
No, you can build a business offline you can but yes, we're told

811
01:00:24,480 --> 01:00:26,880
That building a business online is the optimal way

812
01:00:27,760 --> 01:00:28,720
Sure

813
01:00:28,720 --> 01:00:29,840
It's a tool

814
01:00:29,840 --> 01:00:31,440
It's more reach

815
01:00:31,440 --> 01:00:33,840
Just like before commercials were ready to get my business out

816
01:00:34,560 --> 01:00:36,560
But brother, let me tell you nimit

817
01:00:37,200 --> 01:00:40,160
Half if not 75 to 80 percent of my business

818
01:00:41,120 --> 01:00:43,840
Has come from relationships i've had from my community

819
01:00:43,840 --> 01:00:48,000
Since they've known me since them it since i've been 15 years old

820
01:00:49,440 --> 01:00:51,440
They've known me who i've been

821
01:00:52,080 --> 01:00:56,240
Since then they've watched me grow and develop now. Did I know everything then?

822
01:00:56,640 --> 01:00:58,720
No, I was terrible in so many ways

823
01:00:59,120 --> 01:01:03,120
But because they know when they see their earnest trying to get better and their value

824
01:01:03,600 --> 01:01:06,480
I took from that relationship I have with them whether they were teaching me about life

825
01:01:06,960 --> 01:01:08,960
And they're watching me grow into this

826
01:01:09,440 --> 01:01:12,720
That's valuable those relationships I built with them because not only

827
01:01:12,720 --> 01:01:15,280
Do I have this business partnership this relationship with them? I have a life

828
01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:18,000
Friend relationship with these people

829
01:01:18,000 --> 01:01:20,000
And you can build a business without it

830
01:01:20,560 --> 01:01:26,640
But people are told right in the media you get told something over and over and over and over and over again

831
01:01:27,280 --> 01:01:30,880
You start to believe it. Just like if I tell myself i'm awesome every day

832
01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:37,040
I might believe I might believe it if I keep these promises to myself that i'm gonna wake up at 4 30 every single day

833
01:01:37,040 --> 01:01:38,720
Go to the gym at 4 30

834
01:01:38,720 --> 01:01:40,720
You start to believe that you can do it

835
01:01:40,720 --> 01:01:42,720
So you can help measure your success

836
01:01:42,720 --> 01:01:43,000
This mix with a hobby is because the psychology is slowly

837
01:01:42,720 --> 01:01:44,720
You can prove it to them if you wanna make the world a better place

838
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:44,520
The social media is milkized in place

839
01:01:44,520 --> 01:01:55,040
I've seen a lot of people get Braun's

840
01:01:44,720 --> 01:01:46,720
And you can help them in all possible ways

841
01:01:46,720 --> 01:01:50,720
So anyone 70 percent of the world's job or women in the most vulnerable group

842
01:01:50,720 --> 01:01:51,840
Whether they're alone they're ready to do whatever for the world

843
01:01:51,840 --> 01:01:54,340
The thing is you can make your family or цana money

844
01:01:55,040 --> 01:01:55,920
I've seen coop people

845
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:59,440
Usually pay on my computer

846
01:01:59,440 --> 01:02:00,480
During training

847
01:02:00,480 --> 01:02:01,760
Any time someone asks why I got to the gym

848
01:02:01,760 --> 01:02:03,360
Do I even need to?

849
01:02:03,360 --> 01:02:05,880
Or what things do I need?

850
01:02:05,880 --> 01:02:08,560
Social media you see all people are getting there

851
01:02:08,560 --> 01:02:16,960
What do you value? Do you value numbers or do you value people? And I'm not trying to be black and

852
01:02:16,960 --> 01:02:21,760
white here in a minute. There is gray. There's different ways to look at this. When you run a

853
01:02:21,760 --> 01:02:26,480
business, yes, we're in business to make a profit. Okay. Let me play devil's advocate here.

854
01:02:27,600 --> 01:02:35,760
Instagram is a business. Now, whether or not they have the right mindset for everything,

855
01:02:35,760 --> 01:02:40,960
but they're in it to make money, to grow it to be the biggest thing in the world, man.

856
01:02:41,760 --> 01:02:46,800
I mean, can we absolutely actually be mad at them? Can we blame them for wanting to make money?

857
01:02:47,360 --> 01:02:53,120
Can we really? If we're relying on their platform that much and we're mad at them or throwing these

858
01:02:53,120 --> 01:02:59,200
fits and publicly throwing it out, maybe we got to look inside. What do we value? That's why I'm

859
01:02:59,200 --> 01:03:03,280
asking values here, man. Oh man. This makes me think about so many things. What are we valuing?

860
01:03:03,280 --> 01:03:07,200
And these are things that as I'm getting older, I'm understanding. I feel like I'm at this age,

861
01:03:07,200 --> 01:03:12,880
24, a ripe age of things are starting to make sense. You know what I mean? There's that age

862
01:03:12,880 --> 01:03:19,280
when you hit an age, things start to make sense. I think I had a similar problem. Because I'm 33

863
01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:25,920
now. So when I was around 24 or even a little bit 23-ish, I would say a lot of things started to

864
01:03:25,920 --> 01:03:30,480
click. So that doesn't make sense to me. It relates to my own life. Certainly I didn't have

865
01:03:30,480 --> 01:03:35,600
anything figured out. I still don't. But I feel like a lot of things clicked around that age for

866
01:03:35,600 --> 01:03:42,800
me personally too. And you bring up, oh my God, so many good points as usual with the values and

867
01:03:42,800 --> 01:03:48,160
principles in particular, because I placed a lot of importance on those things. So when you talk

868
01:03:48,160 --> 01:03:52,720
about certain things like values, principles, you got to bring in other things like character,

869
01:03:52,720 --> 01:04:00,000
ultimately, which is like when we talk about my character, I'm talking about who I actually am.

870
01:04:00,640 --> 01:04:05,520
Who I am when I'm alone, who I am with other people. But ultimately, it's like who I am,

871
01:04:06,240 --> 01:04:11,520
regardless of what I'm doing or what other people might perceive from it or whatever.

872
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:20,640
For me, those things are so important. It's always hard to express because I feel like that's the

873
01:04:20,640 --> 01:04:29,520
starting place for everything I do in life, ultimately. Some things I just do because I

874
01:04:29,520 --> 01:04:33,920
want to experience something or it's fun or whatever. But when I decide to do something pretty

875
01:04:33,920 --> 01:04:40,960
substantial, that's a big decision, I'm going to start with my principles, my values, does this

876
01:04:40,960 --> 01:04:47,280
match those things before I proceed? And I think ultimately, I think because it's very personal.

877
01:04:47,280 --> 01:04:54,880
So I think people in general, I think they would do well to start there. I think if they haven't

878
01:04:54,880 --> 01:04:59,520
thought about, hey, what are my principles? What do I stand for? What are my values? They should

879
01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:06,160
start there. If they have thought about those things for some time, they should always be

880
01:05:06,160 --> 01:05:12,800
reassessing that, hey, okay, this is where we are now, this is the situation. Hey, does this match

881
01:05:12,800 --> 01:05:19,280
my principles and values? Because we ended up here, oh, and then maybe in that internal

882
01:05:19,280 --> 01:05:24,320
conversation, they'll decide, oh, this doesn't actually quite, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't

883
01:05:24,320 --> 01:05:29,280
actually match these principles I have. Maybe I need to make some adjustments. And I felt like

884
01:05:29,280 --> 01:05:35,200
I was somewhere around there personally. And the reason I'm saying that is because another

885
01:05:35,200 --> 01:05:41,760
fantastic, so certain, I like to consume this type of, those perspective and wisdom in general,

886
01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:46,560
as you likely know, but something that has stayed with me is ultimately, it said that if

887
01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:55,440
something compromises your peace, it's too expensive. So what that means is,

888
01:05:56,560 --> 01:06:02,560
if there's something that someone else is suggesting you to do or something you're even

889
01:06:02,560 --> 01:06:08,640
already doing, and it doesn't match with your foundational principles, values, you feel like

890
01:06:08,640 --> 01:06:13,600
it's not right, it's too expensive, meaning that you shouldn't compromise on those things.

891
01:06:13,600 --> 01:06:19,200
And I think it's a good indicator that if you feel that way, perhaps we need to make adjustments. And

892
01:06:19,200 --> 01:06:23,600
that's kind of where I found myself at some point. And I was like, oh, this is a match,

893
01:06:23,600 --> 01:06:28,320
what I'm actually looking for. And I think a lot of it comes down to that. Like what you said

894
01:06:28,320 --> 01:06:34,880
about Meta and Instagram in particular, you're absolutely right. They are not, yes, they might

895
01:06:34,880 --> 01:06:39,360
want certain things like, hey, it would be nice if people like using our platform or, you know,

896
01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:44,640
like it's so cool that they can post photos or like network with other like-minded individuals.

897
01:06:44,640 --> 01:06:49,040
And those things are there, which we already kind of touched on, which is what we enjoy about it.

898
01:06:49,040 --> 01:06:59,200
But you're right. Can you be angry at a business for prioritizing why the company exists? Not

899
01:06:59,200 --> 01:07:05,680
really. I don't think there's a good argument for any of that. I see this a lot in general,

900
01:07:05,680 --> 01:07:09,680
and I've gotten better about it myself because again, I didn't start by this, but I should

901
01:07:09,680 --> 01:07:15,040
probably just as a disclaimer, I never claimed to be perfect. I don't expect perfection from other

902
01:07:15,040 --> 01:07:20,400
people. So it's like a work in progress that I consider all these things and learn these things.

903
01:07:20,400 --> 01:07:25,920
But this has come up in particular when I read about certain individuals who are quite affluent

904
01:07:25,920 --> 01:07:32,240
and wealthy, where like when they make themselves in the news, being vague on purpose, you might

905
01:07:32,240 --> 01:07:38,880
read stuff like, oh yeah, like they made this much money and they did this with it. And you've likely

906
01:07:38,880 --> 01:07:44,480
seen this commentary from the public where it's like, oh, like you have so much, you have this,

907
01:07:45,120 --> 01:07:48,800
you should be doing this. You shouldn't do this. You know, it's like this like,

908
01:07:50,240 --> 01:07:54,080
and it relates back to what you're talking about, you know, like as far as like a business is

909
01:07:54,080 --> 01:08:00,960
concerned. And another fantastic book that I highly recommend anyone who hasn't read already,

910
01:08:00,960 --> 01:08:06,960
The Alchemist is very classic book. I absolutely love it. I've derived lessons from it when I first

911
01:08:06,960 --> 01:08:13,360
read it. And even when I reread it, it kind of is one of those, just like other people will have

912
01:08:13,360 --> 01:08:20,080
their own like books or other things, even a song or something that will like reground them, if you

913
01:08:20,080 --> 01:08:25,520
will, The Alchemist remains something like that for me, where every time I reread it or even skim

914
01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:31,120
from it, I gain that back. And I'm like, oh yeah, like I need to rethink this or I've kind of gone

915
01:08:31,120 --> 01:08:36,560
off track in this, you know. And in that book or just in general, that author, Paulo, he actually

916
01:08:37,920 --> 01:08:43,360
has a quote about that, that it seems like everyone knows exactly how other people should live,

917
01:08:43,360 --> 01:08:54,000
but not themselves. And how easy is that? How easy is that to point out from the outside looking in

918
01:08:54,560 --> 01:09:00,240
that, okay, so you see this person did this, oh man, that was a mistake, or I would have done it

919
01:09:00,240 --> 01:09:06,720
this way, or all this other stuff. And ultimately that makes me also think of something else.

920
01:09:06,720 --> 01:09:15,440
2020. Right, exactly. Hindsight is 2020. 2020 was a big year for lots of changes in general in the

921
01:09:15,440 --> 01:09:22,880
world, but it relates to something else too, where it's like how we're seeing outside looking in,

922
01:09:22,880 --> 01:09:29,360
where we will judge others based on their actions, because that's ultimately what we see,

923
01:09:29,360 --> 01:09:36,960
and we in general as humans will judge ourselves by our intentions. So why is that important?

924
01:09:36,960 --> 01:09:44,400
That piece is very key because it's like we need to give more grace to other people, is ultimately

925
01:09:44,400 --> 01:09:48,800
what I'm trying to say too. It's like, because we're like myself, let's say I do something or

926
01:09:48,800 --> 01:09:54,000
say something. Often it comes from a good place, like in general, like I want to help other people

927
01:09:54,000 --> 01:09:59,200
or support like we've been discussing, but it might not be perceived that way. Is it how I said it?

928
01:09:59,200 --> 01:10:04,480
Is my word choice? Was it bad timing? It doesn't matter. But see, we're talking about intentions

929
01:10:04,480 --> 01:10:09,600
here where I was like, oh, like I just wanted to help. But then the other person says the same

930
01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:14,880
thing, let's say to me, and I'm like, oh no, they said this to me. That's not right. They shouldn't

931
01:10:14,880 --> 01:10:20,800
have done this. So now I'm judging them because of their action, but I was giving myself more

932
01:10:21,600 --> 01:10:28,080
like leeway because it's like, oh, but I meant well, which I think is a mistake. So I think in

933
01:10:28,080 --> 01:10:36,480
general, just giving people more space. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. You're right. Give grace.

934
01:10:37,520 --> 01:10:41,600
Realize we're not perfect. I'm not perfect. I've made a thousand and billion mistakes,

935
01:10:41,600 --> 01:10:47,040
and I'm sure you have too, and that's okay. And something that's for me, at least what I'm taught,

936
01:10:48,240 --> 01:10:54,400
I go to church every Sunday. And the one thing we're really taught is a Bible verse. How can you

937
01:10:54,400 --> 01:11:03,520
point out the speck in someone else's eye when you have a log in your own eye? How do you have

938
01:11:03,520 --> 01:11:09,360
the right to point out the speck in your eye, the other person's eye, when you have a log in your

939
01:11:09,360 --> 01:11:17,040
own? Now, digesting that, get right with yourself before you start trying to convict others. Yes,

940
01:11:17,040 --> 01:11:24,960
we're called to convict others. But with all that being said, should we even be giving unsolicited

941
01:11:24,960 --> 01:11:31,360
advice that goes with that unsolicited advice? Should you even give it if it's not asked for?

942
01:11:32,880 --> 01:11:42,080
And I've read the Alchemist in it. I read it last July or June. I posted about it and then we

943
01:11:42,080 --> 01:11:47,360
commented a quote from it, I'm the personal legend. I mean, man, at that time in my life, man,

944
01:11:47,360 --> 01:11:56,720
that book really hit different. It was perfect timing for me to read that book. You know what

945
01:11:56,720 --> 01:12:02,400
I'm saying? At that moment, it seemed like there could have been no other book at that time that

946
01:12:02,400 --> 01:12:07,680
I could have read. And that's weird. Timing is weird. I mean, how does that even work?

947
01:12:07,680 --> 01:12:15,280
How does that all come together? And that book also kind of leaves that in the place,

948
01:12:15,280 --> 01:12:24,400
what you're learning in. To dive into books real quick with you, 2024, two questions here in a

949
01:12:24,400 --> 01:12:33,120
minute. What book do you recommend for others to read just starting out into the self-improvement

950
01:12:33,120 --> 01:12:41,440
wisdom, finding your personal legend? It can't be the Alchemist, but if you're listening,

951
01:12:41,440 --> 01:12:48,320
read the Alchemist. Two, what book is high on your list to read this year?

952
01:12:48,320 --> 01:12:52,960
Good question. Okay. And I might not have the best answer for it because I've fallen a little bit

953
01:12:52,960 --> 01:12:59,360
behind on my reading. I can think of stuff. Because lately what's been happening is I'm reading

954
01:12:59,360 --> 01:13:07,680
more of excerpts or snippets from various books. So relating this back to our discussion in the

955
01:13:07,680 --> 01:13:13,280
last piece about social media and it being a tool in that you can find a lot of healthy

956
01:13:14,560 --> 01:13:18,080
perspectives from it. So one thing, one change I made, and you might find this interesting,

957
01:13:18,080 --> 01:13:23,280
is I found myself following too many photographers, just in general. Honestly, I found myself

958
01:13:23,280 --> 01:13:28,880
too many photos. I was like, I need something different. So I was like, how can I go about this,

959
01:13:28,880 --> 01:13:33,760
though? What do I want to follow? What am I interested in? Naturally, I love learning. I

960
01:13:33,760 --> 01:13:43,360
love books and all these things. So I found this whole sub community of just book bloggers. All

961
01:13:43,360 --> 01:13:50,160
they do is read books, skim books, find excellent quotations, and they share this to people. And

962
01:13:50,160 --> 01:13:54,960
they share, okay, this is the book I'm reading. I highly suggest. And they share their favorite

963
01:13:54,960 --> 01:14:00,560
parts of it. And that's where lately I've derived a lot of value from. So while I don't have,

964
01:14:02,000 --> 01:14:06,560
I don't really have, like, the Alchemist is really one of the books that I mainly recommend people,

965
01:14:06,560 --> 01:14:12,320
especially when you're starting out reading, because it's so easily approachable and the

966
01:14:12,320 --> 01:14:18,400
story is so relevant for so many people. I can't think of like a specific one right now, another

967
01:14:18,400 --> 01:14:23,600
one. But I think that that kind of process might be helpful for someone where it's like, hey, like,

968
01:14:23,600 --> 01:14:29,600
I'm interested in this subject, or I want to improve in whatever way it could be, where you

969
01:14:29,600 --> 01:14:36,640
seek out those people, that whether are they living this way that you're, you know, striving to live

970
01:14:36,640 --> 01:14:42,080
that way. Or if you're just seeking like wisdom in a certain area, you can research that. So

971
01:14:42,080 --> 01:14:46,960
whether that means on Google and find resources there, or if you're active on TikTok or Instagram,

972
01:14:46,960 --> 01:14:51,440
just as examples, where you can actually search those things. Like, for example, if you go on

973
01:14:51,440 --> 01:14:57,120
Instagram right now, and you search the Alchemist, you will likely find countless quotes from the

974
01:14:57,120 --> 01:15:01,680
book, you'll find other insights, you might read about the author and different things. So it's

975
01:15:01,680 --> 01:15:06,400
just like, I think like a healthy way to approach that is just to seek out what you're looking for.

976
01:15:06,400 --> 01:15:10,720
I mean, decide like, hey, you know, I'm interested in this. And you'll often find those things pretty

977
01:15:10,720 --> 01:15:17,600
easily, especially at this point, which is really part of this whole process, too. Like, it's never

978
01:15:17,600 --> 01:15:26,400
been easy. Like, we have never had so many choices and access to free resources, like, ever. Like,

979
01:15:26,400 --> 01:15:31,120
this is just, it just keeps going up, right. But I'm saying this because I think sometimes people

980
01:15:32,160 --> 01:15:37,120
get too caught up on that, like, perfectionism, or like, going back to what you were saying about

981
01:15:37,120 --> 01:15:42,160
like a roadmap or something like, oh, like, what do I need to do? Or like, what is the right way

982
01:15:42,160 --> 01:15:47,760
when really they just need to seek out that, like, take the next step, you know, and look at

983
01:15:47,760 --> 01:15:53,200
something that might help them to kind of go further in the direction that they're wanting.

984
01:15:53,840 --> 01:15:59,520
And I found a lot of like that to be great for me. And that's what I do. And, you know, like,

985
01:15:59,520 --> 01:16:05,360
I like to share certain things from those, you know, like articles I read or books I read with

986
01:16:05,360 --> 01:16:11,200
people. And then there are several friends of mine and relatives who also do. And what we're able to

987
01:16:11,200 --> 01:16:15,920
do is discuss those things like, hey, I read this, what do you think about it? And they often give

988
01:16:15,920 --> 01:16:21,840
me perspectives that I hadn't considered. And that's the reason why I do that, because I want

989
01:16:21,840 --> 01:16:26,560
to hear from other people, because I want to learn, I want to get other perspectives of those, you

990
01:16:26,560 --> 01:16:31,280
know, things from other people, so I can become better myself. And I think it's like this positive

991
01:16:31,280 --> 01:16:37,760
feedback cycle, because of that, because like, I'm wanting to improve, but then I'm sharing these

992
01:16:37,760 --> 01:16:41,760
things that I encounter, like, hey, this is wisdom, this is really helpful for me, it's going to help

993
01:16:41,760 --> 01:16:45,760
someone else maybe. And then I hear back from that person, let's say, like, oh, yeah, this really,

994
01:16:45,760 --> 01:16:50,320
I needed to hear this today, or this, I read this, and it really made a lot of sense. And I'm like,

995
01:16:50,320 --> 01:16:57,040
that's the only reason, right? You know, and I don't know, I can't think of anything going back

996
01:16:57,040 --> 01:17:03,120
to like values and principles. Those are the things that I thrive on. I thrive on just the

997
01:17:03,120 --> 01:17:11,040
people I know, the friends, family, you know, supporting them, they support me. And in general,

998
01:17:11,040 --> 01:17:17,200
something I think has might be helpful to people too, is not just photography, or creative industry

999
01:17:17,200 --> 01:17:23,440
in general, but the fact that other people are out there, living the way you dream of living,

1000
01:17:23,440 --> 01:17:29,840
is exactly why, not only that you can, but you should strive for that, you know, and I keep that

1001
01:17:29,840 --> 01:17:36,480
with me as well. I think that's guided me for several years at this point. Instead of kind of,

1002
01:17:37,920 --> 01:17:43,920
the personally, I don't find that helpful, or I find an unhealthy way, it's like, you need to be

1003
01:17:43,920 --> 01:17:49,520
realistic, like that mindset, you know, like, I don't think that that's a wise use of our lives.

1004
01:17:51,200 --> 01:17:56,640
So I think that's important for people, anyone viewing or listening, that you strive for what

1005
01:17:56,640 --> 01:18:01,200
you desire in life, and you'll take measures, you know, along the way to get you close to those

1006
01:18:01,200 --> 01:18:06,640
things, instead of compromising, instead of settling, you know. You got to aim to get

1007
01:18:06,640 --> 01:18:12,480
somewhere. You got to aim to have a direction, man. That's right. And that's so true.

1008
01:18:13,440 --> 01:18:18,560
Wrap this all up into a nice wrapper and a bow, Nimit, right here. You've had some big changes

1009
01:18:18,560 --> 01:18:22,320
in your life recently. You just got back from a trip, you made an announcement that you're having

1010
01:18:22,320 --> 01:18:27,760
a child. That's a big deal, man. Big deal. Congratulations, by the way. I think I told you,

1011
01:18:27,760 --> 01:18:30,080
I messaged you, but if I didn't- Thank you so much.

1012
01:18:30,080 --> 01:18:31,440
From here, congratulations. Thank you.

1013
01:18:31,440 --> 01:18:39,280
I'm truly, I'm happy for you. And someone who is a traveler, you travel, you see places.

1014
01:18:41,600 --> 01:18:50,320
2024 through the next 18 years, maybe longer, what is traveling going to look like for you?

1015
01:18:50,320 --> 01:18:52,800
It's, I'll make it simple. What is traveling going to look like for you this year?

1016
01:18:54,160 --> 01:18:58,400
Makes sense. Yeah. And thank you again. We really appreciate it. I couldn't be more excited about

1017
01:18:58,400 --> 01:19:04,160
this. And yes, you're absolutely right. And we've already certainly, you know, started to make

1018
01:19:04,160 --> 01:19:10,800
certain changes, anticipate certain changes. So we just, we took a baby moment to Australia

1019
01:19:11,360 --> 01:19:18,080
for about two weeks or so, because we figured that with all the incoming changes, that it would be

1020
01:19:18,080 --> 01:19:23,920
good to get this long haul trip over with. And it was really, it was fantastic, Nick. We loved it.

1021
01:19:23,920 --> 01:19:30,320
Beautiful country, just like I expected. Experienced some really unique things. Like for example,

1022
01:19:30,320 --> 01:19:34,880
we were able to see the Great Barrier Reef. There's a lot of changes happening in that area,

1023
01:19:34,880 --> 01:19:41,040
as well as other similar ecosystems in the world. So really it was special to see it the way we did.

1024
01:19:41,760 --> 01:19:47,120
Just other things, beautiful country. But in terms of, yeah, 2024 specifically is going to

1025
01:19:47,120 --> 01:19:55,120
look a lot different. And really the answer for that is that there's versus like changing our

1026
01:19:55,120 --> 01:20:02,640
travel style for 2024, really it's that we're not going to be traveling, you know, with a combination

1027
01:20:02,640 --> 01:20:08,400
of the changes that Shreya is undergoing and, you know, things we have to do around the house and

1028
01:20:08,400 --> 01:20:13,200
other, you know, things to consider. Realistically, I won't actually be able to go on another trip

1029
01:20:13,200 --> 01:20:19,360
until maybe like December or January or something like that. Now, when we actually do, I have some

1030
01:20:19,360 --> 01:20:24,960
ideas, but we're going to be sticking to lots of road trips. And that brings me up to something we

1031
01:20:24,960 --> 01:20:31,120
haven't actually talked about today. But so I grew up in New York, in Queens, and we moved to Utah

1032
01:20:31,120 --> 01:20:36,320
about three years ago at this point. So about three years ago, we got here. And one of the things I

1033
01:20:36,320 --> 01:20:42,480
love about living in this region is you can hop in your car and we love, we're big on road tripping.

1034
01:20:42,480 --> 01:20:47,440
And, you know, because I know you were, when we were actually going to link up, you were down in

1035
01:20:47,440 --> 01:20:51,200
St. George and you were going to look in Hanksville, you were talking about Moab and all these beautiful

1036
01:20:51,200 --> 01:20:57,920
places that are so special to me. You can hop in a car and be some fantastic places within three

1037
01:20:57,920 --> 01:21:04,880
hours, six hours, you know, like all these places. So I anticipate lots of fun road trips with our son.

1038
01:21:05,680 --> 01:21:09,280
And that's kind of what we're going to be prioritizing for the first year or two.

1039
01:21:09,280 --> 01:21:14,240
And just being able to show him this incredible Southwest, West United States area.

1040
01:21:15,360 --> 01:21:20,560
There's just so much to offer and I'm excited to share with him and show him these places that I

1041
01:21:20,560 --> 01:21:27,040
adore so much. And the travel style is going to be different. I'm learning all kinds of stuff,

1042
01:21:27,040 --> 01:21:30,880
you know, having strollers. Guess what I was looking at the other day, Nick? I was looking

1043
01:21:30,880 --> 01:21:36,320
at baby carriers, you know. So for example, you might be familiar with the brand, you know,

1044
01:21:36,320 --> 01:21:40,480
after a brand like Osprey, you know, like they make tremendously high quality bags and things like

1045
01:21:40,480 --> 01:21:44,400
that. So I come across this thing, I'm like, oh, it's an Osprey bag. And I was like, no, it isn't.

1046
01:21:44,400 --> 01:21:51,120
It's a baby carrier and it is beefy. Like it's their typical quality, but it's meant for like

1047
01:21:51,120 --> 01:21:56,800
these like camping and backpacking trips. I never thought I'd be looking at a baby carrier is what

1048
01:21:56,800 --> 01:22:03,280
I'm trying to say, you know. So it's a really cool and exciting time, you know, where Sherry and I

1049
01:22:03,280 --> 01:22:07,440
are both looking forward, you know, with excitement to these changes that are coming, but definitely

1050
01:22:07,440 --> 01:22:10,240
there's going to be adjustments, you know. So.

1051
01:22:10,240 --> 01:22:16,000
That's a good deal, man. That's music to my ear when you're starting this new path, this new

1052
01:22:16,000 --> 01:22:21,440
journey in your life, man. Can't wait to see where you go and how it makes you grow as a man and

1053
01:22:21,440 --> 01:22:27,360
develop as a person. It's going to change a lot of things and I'm excited for you, man. And traveling

1054
01:22:27,360 --> 01:22:30,880
as far as road trips, man, nothing wrong with that. There ain't nothing wrong with a good road trip,

1055
01:22:30,880 --> 01:22:38,080
brother. There's nothing wrong with that. And to close us out here, Nimit, I really do appreciate

1056
01:22:38,080 --> 01:22:45,520
you coming on. It's been a pleasure talking with you, talking about ideas versus just simple surface

1057
01:22:45,520 --> 01:22:51,040
things. I really appreciate you willing to go into detail with me about certain topics. And for the

1058
01:22:51,040 --> 01:22:58,320
people listening, where can they find Mr. Nimit Patel on Instagram? What is the handle, man?

1059
01:22:58,320 --> 01:23:03,600
Oh, sure. Yeah. So that would be the Nimit Patel. That would be my Instagram handle.

1060
01:23:04,240 --> 01:23:10,720
All right, guys, you heard it here. To follow Nimit Patel, not only to find stunning photography,

1061
01:23:11,440 --> 01:23:18,720
but you also get wisdom. He shares a lot of wisdom on his story. And let me tell you,

1062
01:23:18,720 --> 01:23:22,240
reading some of those, those are very fruitful. There are some days where I'm like, man,

1063
01:23:23,040 --> 01:23:28,240
I needed to hear this at that moment. And all right, let's get to it. So if you want to get

1064
01:23:28,240 --> 01:23:33,600
some wisdom, stunning photography, and possibly have good conversations with this awesome guy

1065
01:23:34,400 --> 01:23:40,000
at the Nimit Patel, highly recommend you go follow him. Give him a like on his last one, comment,

1066
01:23:40,000 --> 01:23:45,600
say, yo, Nimit, I'm here from the podcast. All right. Well, with that all being said,

1067
01:23:45,600 --> 01:23:50,240
appreciate you guys all staying until the end. Nimit, again, thank you so much for coming on.

1068
01:23:51,920 --> 01:23:56,560
Oh, absolutely. And again, thanks for having me on. It was as much fun as I was

1069
01:23:56,560 --> 01:24:00,320
expecting it to be, just being able to talk to you about all these different topics.

1070
01:24:00,880 --> 01:24:06,240
And yeah, looking forward to linking up with you in person and meeting you in one of these beautiful

1071
01:24:06,960 --> 01:24:12,480
landscape areas that we all adore so much. And yeah, so again, thanks for having me on.

1072
01:24:13,040 --> 01:24:19,040
All right. Peace. Peace, guys. Now that concludes episode 27. I really enjoyed that conversation.

1073
01:24:19,040 --> 01:24:25,360
I really hope that you took something from this episode. Nimit Patel is a great man, and I hope

1074
01:24:25,360 --> 01:24:29,520
to have him on again and see him very soon. If you enjoyed this episode, go ahead and hit that

1075
01:24:29,520 --> 01:24:35,360
like button here on YouTube. Subscribe if you want to see more of these episodes, support the channel.

1076
01:24:35,360 --> 01:24:38,640
If you're listening on the streaming platforms, go ahead and hit the subscribe button, leave a

1077
01:24:38,640 --> 01:24:42,880
five star review. And if you want to connect with me on Instagram, see my day to day, it's at the

1078
01:24:42,880 --> 01:24:48,480
Nick Amp, the podcast is at Nick Amp podcast. I really appreciate you. And I wouldn't be here

1079
01:24:48,480 --> 01:24:53,920
without you, your support for all you who are watching. It means the world to me. And I'll see

1080
01:24:53,920 --> 01:24:55,920
you next week. Hope you have a good one.