Why I Finally Stopped Waiting for Perfect

I'll be honest.

When I entered this year's PPOK competition, I wasn't convinced I belonged there.

Like many photographers, I had a hundred reasons to wait. Maybe next year. Maybe after I learn one more thing. Maybe after I re-edit that image... again.

Sound familiar?

Then I kept hearing the same message:
Done serves. Perfect waits.

As Seth Godin says: Create. Ship. Repeat.

So I stopped polishing and started submitting.

To my surprise, those photographs came home with Photographer of the Year, Best of Show, Animal Portrait, an Honorable Mention, and a few medallions along the way.

Am I proud? You bet.

Am I shocked? A little.

But the biggest award wasn't a trophy.

It was learning that growth doesn't happen while your best work sits on a hard drive waiting for perfection. It happens when you let people see it.

Every image taught me something. Every critique made me better. Every trip down an Oklahoma backroad and beyond reminded me why I picked up a camera in the first place.

I'm still learning. Still making mistakes. Miss Focus (my Canon) occasionally reminds me who's really in charge. 😄

And honestly... that's part of the fun.

So here's my question for you.

Is there a place in Oklahoma—or anywhere you've traveled—that deserves to be remembered before it's forgotten? An old building, a quiet road, a forgotten town, or a story that needs telling?

Leave me a comment. You just might send Miss Focus and me on our next adventure.

Because every road has a story.

I'm just trying to catch a few more of them before they disappear.