In rural villages in Africa you can find peace and tranquility. There are women coming home each day with babies on their backs and firewood on their heads. The men are building churches and homes. The boys are farming and preparing bricks. The girls are sweeping the floors and preparing food for the day. Everybody has a role to play in the village. The houses topple over when the storms hit, but the people come together and rebuild. The young die from diseases such as malaria, but every family from every nearby village comes together and mourns. The struggle is real in village life, believe me. But there is something to be said about the simple life. The closest I ever felt to being alive was in the rural villages of Africa- the birthplace of humanity.

No longer do we need a viewfinder. If you think you need to shoot RAW and process your pictures in Lightroom to be a professional, you’re sleeping. If your files are taking more than 30 seconds to import to your iPad after a long day of shooting up to 1000 pictures, you’re sleeping. If you think you need to go to NYC to make good street photos, you’re in a deep deep slumber. Make photos where you are now. Make photos from your soul. Ignore the advice that the photographers of the past have given you. Take selfies and start freestyle vlogging with a GoPro. Make photos, videos, panoramas, portraits, LiDAR scans with your iPhone. Now is the GREATEST time to get into photography if you are new to this art.

The farmer’s tan MUST go

All you need is 15 minutes of fitness everyday to get stronger. Pull ups, push ups, squats, and farmers walk. Increase the resistance 1% each day

Focus on your physical health and getting stronger each day. Everything around you is a distraction.

A bike ride with my local pastor and bike club to The Miraculous Medal Shrine in Germantown, Philadelphia. This church has been elevated by the Vatican to Minor Basilica status, a designation shared by only one other church in the city and 91 others across the United States.

Walk to City Hall to check if anything is going on in Philadelphia