Reflections from the Journey

It has been nearly 3 years since I took my first steps towards fulfilling the mission that I believe (sometimes firmly, sometimes not so much) that God has given me. I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently and just re-read my older blog posts. I have to say that I am a bit (OK, a LOT) disappointed in myself, but still hopeful. (You can read them here, here, and here.)

Somewhere down the trail I got distracted and veered off onto a side trail. This is one of the difficulties with hiking seldom used trails and my lack of attention lead me away from where I wanted to be. I should have been looking harder for the blazes that are there for me to see, but easy to miss when I’m not looking forward.  The path I veered onto was clearly marked and very scenic. I even met some great people out on that trail, but it wasn’t the path for me. Thankfully, I looked up to see that I was down the wrong path before I got too far away from my intended trail.

All metaphor aside, I opened up a retail gallery/studio downtown Greenville. While it was great getting immersed in the Greenville art scene, I ended up focusing more on me and my individual success and less on honoring God through the talents He gave me.  There wasn’t anything wrong with me opening up a gallery, but I allowed it to keep me from moving toward the bigger mission.

So here I am on back on the trail at the point where I 1st veered off. Thankfully, though I lost some time, I did gain some wisdom. And who knows, maybe some of the folks I met will end up joining me on this journey at some point.

Before moving forward toward the next blaze I see off in the distance, let me update you on where I am on this journey:

I now live with my family on about 6 acres of land just north of Travelers Rest, SC.

We now have 3 apple trees, 4 blueberry bushes, 4 blackberry canes, and 2 raspberry canes established. I planted more but the deer and drought took their toll.

We have 2 decent barns on the property. 1 which will be usable for livestock and 1 that I will be converting into studio & teaching workspace and a gallery.

Our gardens last year on the new property didn’t do very well, but we learned a l0t that will lead to improvements this upcoming growing season.

In my next post I will lay out some of  refinements of my original ideas and also talk about how YOU can get involved.

Created & Creative by God’s Design,

Rich Nicoloff

I just noticed that when I moved my website from one web host to another most of my images in my blog posts disappeared. I will get this fixed shortly. Thank you for your patience.

(update: As of 2/1/2012 all of the broken image links should be fixed)

An old friend posed a question on Facebook a few weeks ago that just “popped” into my head a few minutes ago.  I often let these thoughts go when I know I should be writing or typing them down, but the call to share this one is much too loud and insistent to let it go.  My friend, John, asked his friends to give 3 reasons why they believe in God.  Now, before I tell you my response I want to point out that only 5 of his friends responded and I find that pretty disappointing.

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2010 was quite a trip for my family and I.  We navigated a lot of switchbacks, water crossings, and scary drop offs on our way to a nice gain in elevation.

The year started with us wondering just how long Kristie would continue to have a job as an Interior Designer at Gresham, Smith & Partners.  The Charlotte, NC office where she worked had already dwindled from around 2o employees to just 5.  While we knew that she had projects to work on we also knew that those wouldn’t last until the end of the year.  It wasn’t a good start.

The upside to Kristie’s precarious job situation is that it forced her to be serious about finding a new job which is something I had been pestering her about for over a year.  My heart and mind was in the mountains and living in Charlotte/Pineville was killing me inside.   I knew I didn’t belong there, but for some reason God had us staying put.  We (or maybe, just I) still had some lessons to learn.

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Not long ago I was much like most Americans fueling up my vehicles with gasoline, taking my kids to the fast food drive-thru’s,  buying my food at the grocery store, spray fertilizing & weeding my lawn, etc. without much of a second thought.  I did want to conserve energy a bit (& save $$$ a lot!) so I grew a few tomatoes & cucumbers in the summer, kept the thermostat set cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer, watched the “green” shows on HGTV, went hiking and photographing in the woods, fed the birds (& squirrels!) in my yard, I joined the National Wildlife Federation.  Heck, I was even using CFL’s in many of my lamps!  I was “going green” like most folks.  I was no “tree huggin’ environmental wacko,” but I was doing my part.

Now, I’m not saying that any of those things I did to “go green” was wrong, in fact I encourage people to do them.  Please don’t think that I am standing up on some pedestal or sitting up on a “high horse” looking down on anyone.  What I am is a person on a journey that just may be a little bit further along the trail than many, but still lagging behind many others.  I’m here to offer what little guidance and insight I can to what lies ahead if you decide to undertake a similar journey.

Though I would say that God has been preparing the trail for me throughout my life , we can take a look at where I began to tread this particular section of trail:

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So last night I got you up to speed a bit on what has happened since I 1st told you about the vision/mission  God has given me.  I realized as I was composing that post that I really haven’t given a very clear picture of my vision.  That is what I hope to rectify now.

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Well, it’s been a little over 8 months since I wrote about my dream for the future so I thought I would post an update on what’s been going on.

While I have been learning a LOT, the whole process feels like taking baby steps.  You know the shaky, unsure, off balance kind of steps I’m talking about.  They are cute and part of the learning process, but they don’t cover much distance.   Here is a sampling of some of the baby steps I (along with my family) have taken:

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I am 40-years-old. There, I’ve said it.  It is on the Internets now so it must be true.  Now, if you are reading this and suddenly scrambling to send me a birthday card or present please note that it has been a few months since the auspicious anniversary of my birth.  (If it helps you feel a bit less guilty about not sending something then, by all means, feel free to do so now.  I certainly don’t want to burden you with guilt.)

The funny thing is I really don’t feel like I thought I would.   After all 40 is O-L-D.  I don’t feel old.  I don’t even think I look all that old.

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A picture may tell a 1,000 words but it still never tells the whole story.  I’m going to take you on a journey back through the lens and out the viewfinder to tell you the story of the making of the image.

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Yesterday and today I have been printing some photos onto some beautiful 100% cotton canvas and then stretching them onto wooden frames (a.k.a. gallery wrapped).  It is a pretty time consuming process that has my fingers aching, but it is soooooo  worth it.  I like the way they look much more than when framed under glass.   There is something about a photograph on canvas that really makes it special.

As I took a break to drink a tasty cup of Organic, Fair Trade coffee I thought about why I prefer gallery wrapped canvas prints over framed prints.   Not surprisingly the realization that I came to spilled over into thoughts of religion and faith as well.  If you have read any of my previous posts you no doubt have seen that EVERYTHING about my life and my photography is bound up in faith and this is what I call my Journey.

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