More Than a Rock, 2nd Edition

62Photography and the Creative Life

The characteristic of a genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you are reading this book, you likely derive some joy from the natural landscape, from photographs, and from the practice of photography. It’s no wonder that most of us intuitively and emotionally respond to natural scenes and phenomena. After all, we are the products of billions of years of evolution, throughout most of which our ancestors relied on instincts and fitness to such environments ...