The Un-Holy Trinity, Trying to Live a Photography Life with ADD

I thought to myself, not long ago, “why does photography really mean so much to you?”, and I think I just realized why.

I’ve said it many times before, and I’ll say it again just for good measure, but I have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). My entire life has been a struggle to receive and retain an education in various forms, a struggle to stick to something for any long period of time, and a struggle to control or express my emotions and feelings properly. Simply enough, there’s your answer, photography has reached me in a way that nothing else has.

I fell head over heels in love with shooting photography as soon as I picked up my first professional camera. I’d love to say I fell in love with it back in 2009 when I picked up my Canon Power Shot, but I just wasn’t ready for it back then. In 2021 I was ready, I was itching to find something that would not only teach me something, but get me out of the house as well. It was that itch to be educated in something that drove me to the decision of learning and dedicating myself to shoot in Manual & in RAW, ultimately forcing me to learn both the full functionality of my camera and how to edit the photos. It started out small, and super slow, learning what different apertures did, then shutter speeds, then ISO levels, and figuring out what adjusting one does to the other. That was just the very tip in photography education that I’ve given myself, and I do mean “given myself”. I don’t learn like others do, I have to trick my brain into receiving information by finding alternate methods of learning.

One of my biggest struggles, and honestly the one that still scares me the most, is sticking with something (or better yet NOT sticking with something). I don’t mean things like sticking with shooting in manual, or learning how to compose an image / edit photos, I mean “sticking with something” on a deeper level. If you or someone your close with that has ADD, you’ll understand this better than the general public, we have an unhealthy drive to pick up new hobbies, and then (sometimes immediately) drop them for the next hobby that peaks our interest, and the fact that I’m very aware that I do this, is what scares the shit out of me. I NEVER want to lose photography, I don’t want this to be another hobby that disappears and gets set aside for the next thing. I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “well if you don’t want to lose it, and you’re aware that you have a tendency to do that, just don’t do it”, to which my reply is and always has been, “If I could control my brain perfectly I wouldn’t have ADD”. I’d love to say that I’ll never give up photography, but I just can’t. I honestly won’t know until I’ve managed to stick with it for years, or I die before giving it up.

The last part of this Un-Holy trinity of ADD fueled chaos, is actually more of a roller coaster, a positive and a slight negative, that is dealing with my emotions. I know, probably sounds dumb and cheesy, but shooting photography really has brought me better in tune with my emotions. Ones I either didn’t know I had or hadn’t felt in awhile. I’m not sure if this is so much an ADD thing, or if it’s just another pain in the ass thing I’ve had to deal with in my life. But, I’ve never been “in tune” with any of my emotions. I was a contradiction while in school, being one of the most well known kids throughout most of my years, but never feeling happy or truly connected to anyone. As soon as I left high school I went into the work force, where I quickly turned into a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type personality, putting on a friendly face and being a fun loving guy, until the right button was pushed and I’d lose all control of my calm. I would remedy this by disappearing to the comfort of the bar almost every night, which lasted for roughly 15 years. It honestly wasn’t until I started to embrace the feelings a photo can capture (see I said you’d probably think this section would be cheesy), that I realized that there was so many emotions I needed to find within myself, and explore further. Ultimately (and hopefully) feeling like a complete person.

As much as this Un-Holy Trinity is a terrifying pain in the ass, I really do think that I can overcome each one in time. I’m hopeful for a positive outcome in my life and that I’ve found a useful tool in getting there. One more thing I’ve said repeatedly to both people I’ve talked with and in conversations online, is that I can’t thank photography enough, and I don’t think anyone comprehends the volume at which I mean that.

I’m currently planning a project titled “Family Photos”, to which I hope to connect my family and my love of photography even further. It will take an enormous amount of time, effort, money, and focus. But if I do complete this massive endeavor, it will be the biggest accomplishment and way to give thanks to photography that I’ve ever managed to complete. Further more, I truly would love your company along the way.

Until next time, I’ll catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

(This weeks and last weeks photo was shot by Jimmy Humphryes “poundingthenail” on Instagram, for True Northwest Magazine’s Spring Issue)

Uncertain Times Draw Near

I didn't have the best of days yesterday, and I almost gave up on a company I've spent 11 years of my life with. Needless to say, after certain events happened I spent the rest of the day and night thinking (and completely broke down while reciting said events to my wife).

I’ve not made any rushed decisions and I don’t plan to, but it did bring to light that I may need to expedite a certain plan that I’ve been formulating for the past six months. It’s been some time now that I’ve had the thought of leaving my current job, with the intent to focus more on my photography and the business that I’ve started. That plan was to continue to build my business while working for the current company that pays me a full-time salary. That plan is also the “safe route”, a plan that has a continual safety net to it, while also being a plan that requires me to continually be undermined / humiliated / manipulated / devalued / and disrespected to the utmost level, day in and day out.

I will not rashly quit a job on a hope and prayer, or with the thought that I’ll “figure it out as I go”. But I do now acknowledge that there may need to be a plan that involves “heavy risk decisions”, over completely “planning it safe” like I have been.

For years I’ve had this gnawing, fearful, sickening and depressing feeling that’s lingered over my head, never quite figuring out what it was that was causing it. After yesterday I have a better understanding of what it is, and I embarrassingly should have known so long ago, that it’s the company I’ve worked for and the people I’ve worked under for the past 11 years. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for the few positives that have been dotted throughout my time with this current company. But unfortunately, the negative aspects and events I’ve had to endure for over a decade, have far exceeded those positives tenfold or more. It’s time for Me to start striving toward living a better life for Me, stop trying to continually please others, and waste time & effort on those that blatantly do not care about me or the value I bring.

If you had to put a title to it, I guess you could say that I’m “quietly quitting”, a phrase that I’ve also only just recently heard, and saddens me to realize that there is so vary many that are in a similar situation, required a title to be made for such situations. I had hoped that my current employer wasn’t nearly as bad as rumored to be, and that I would work under managers and higher ups that treated me as an employee should be treated. But instead I’m embarrassed to say (and to realize) that I’ve allowed myself to go through so much unnecessarily, due to being so naive. That all being said, I need to allow past mistakes to be lessons that will help me make better decisions in the future, and not worrying so much about what can’t be changed.

I may be less present on social media for a little while, just long enough to conduct some hard planning. But know that I’ll be back, this is after all what I’ve found that I love to do, more than anything else I’ve done in the past. I just need to figure out how to help it come together, so that I may use it to build a happier and more fulfilling life for myself and my family.

Until next time, I hope you have fantastic and happy days ahead, and I’ll catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle – Grimlock Media

Ready.....Break!!!

Still being in an infancy stage of my photography, and still on an exploration to find what it is I want to shoot, or better yet what it is that has more meaning to me. I’ve found lately that I’ve been enjoying the break from racing photography, and even my beloved “Midnight Photo Shoots”. I plan on going back to racing and shooting in the middle of the night at some point, but for now, it’s been so gratifying to just take my camera out on a lunch break and see what I come back with. It only takes me about 15-20 minutes each time, I don’t come back with a grandiose collection of shots, and I’ve realized that I’ve shied away from capturing images of people, instead finding new subjects in animals and landscapes (not to mention the occasional ferry boat too).

Even though I may have resisted taking a break from cars zipping by at amazing speeds, or going out in the dead silence of midnight. I feel like I needed this, I needed that complete flip of environment and subjects. Already it’s taught me new skills, and I have no doubt that as I continue, even more learning opportunities will arise. In all honesty that’s all I’ve ever wanted from a photography adventure, to learn something I may not have learned on previous outings, and not to take every event as a supremely serious thing. I’m the one that’s in control of my photography, and I’m allowed to go out and be free with it every now and then.

In the not so distant future, I have a full blown photography project that I’ll be rolling out and starting. I won’t give away all the details, but the main core of the project revolves around connecting Photography and my families. I know I’ll need to pull everything I’ve learned about photography together, and learn new things as they come up, but I’m so excited to start this project. The project will take up so much of my time, and more than likely become the only focal point of my concentration at times, so I’m happy to take this small break from the hustle and grind of automotive/client work. I encourage you to give it a shot some time as well, just take 15-20 minutes (or more if you want), explore a different location, and see what you come away with. Be it a lesson, or maybe even a new favorite photo in your collection.

As always, I hope you enjoyed todays blog, and I hope you’ll enjoy the Lunch Break photo collection as well. Have a great rest of the week, don’t forget to take a break.

Thank you, and until next time.

I’ll catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Behind the Photo #8 - World Lungs

By the time this gets posted I’ll have completed one more year around the sun, 365 days of my life will have passed and gone forever, and I’ll have started another day wondering how many more I have left.

I know that sounds pretty dark and gloomy, but don’t get it twisted, I love celebrating my birthday, plus keep in mind that I’ve had the nickname Grim since I was 18 years old (There’s a good story that goes along with that, but I want to save it for another day). I’ve always been “that kind” of person, someone that is in all three states of being, and is slightly “grim” because of it. I’ve been able to see and remember my past very clearly, letting myself learn the positives and negatives from choices and experiences. I live most of my life in the present, focusing on the “right now” events and choices I make. And where I try not to wander to far into is the future, I still navigate my way through potential “road blocks” as I like to call them, that may come up, so I can better plan for resolutions to those road blocks. But I still try my best not to “plan in stone”, have singular solutions, or get too far ahead of myself.

At a young age, around 10-11 years old, I remember I kept hearing people tell me to “enjoy it while you can, you never know when it’ll end”. Now I know that those people were just trying to tell me to enjoy being a kid and enjoy the time playing with friends, before being burdened with the responsibilities that come with adulthood. But for some reason my brain took it a complete other way, and I started to think on it more in the way of “I should enjoy EVERYTHING as much as I can, since I’ll never know how much time I’ll have to enjoy anything”. Like I said, I’ve had a grim way of thinking for a long time.

I’ve done my best to explore, learn, have fun, experience, get beyond the fears of starting something new and find joy in so many things. To the point that I often get picked on (mostly out of good nature) for never sticking to one thing, and just as often as getting picked on I blame having ADD to get out of an explanation of why I do or think about things. When the truth is really quite simple to explain, but seems to be harder for people to comprehend, more so than I ever thought would anyway.

“I want to die fulfilled and proud of the things I’ve done/tried. Doing so by living an experienced life, not a boring one.”

“World Lungs”

One of very few images in my collection that has a more haunting (or “grim”) style look to it, and absolutely without a doubt in the top 10 of my favorite photos I’ve ever shot. Captured at Dirtfish Rally Driving School in Snoqualmie Washington, on November 26th, 2022 during the first track walk portion of Northwest Rally Association’s - Winter Series. A Rally-cross event I’d been invited to come try out shooting after doing Auto-cross events for a couple months.

The moment I saw this haunting tree will stick with me for a long time I’m sure. I was walking the track looking for the best spots to shoot from, and honestly kind of nervous about how the day was going to go (literally for no other reason than because my own brain was hyping things up more than need be). There was a fog so thick that morning that I actually didn’t even see most of the “good spots” until long after the race had started. So when walking the track my eyes were more focused on the closer sides of the path than in the distance, I was all of maybe 25 feet from this tree before noticing it, but once I did I stopped dead in my tracks. All I could do was stare at this tree, admiring the beauty of its bare branches and the shape it was seeming to create. While standing there in a daze I finally realized what those branches looked like, veins, with the overall shape of the tree looking like an enormous lung, vividly in detail due to the thick fog creating a perfect backdrop. This is the only photo I’ve captured that has had an immediate title, instead of waiting until post editing was done for the photo to “reveal” it’s title to me. (And yes I know how cheesy that all sounded. But is there really that big of a difference between an artist saying the same thing and a photographer, or “painter of light”, saying it? No. I didn’t think so.)

In some strange way that I can’t come to figure out how to properly describe, that tree helped me calm down and refocus, and after doing so I ended up coming away with some of my favorite automotive shots I’ve ever captured. You see I was too caught up in the future, over thinking stupid little things like “what do I do if the light isn’t bright enough, or is too bright”, “who’s going to possibly want to pick up my work, how am I going reach out to people, do I need to set aside time to go network with people?” All it took to straighten everything out was a tree, with its horrific and grim like looks (that still seemed to be so strangely calming), and BOOM, I was back. One big breath in, one big breath out, and I was ready to focus.

I’ve had a blast writing these Behind the Photo pieces, and I hope to keep it going. If there are any other pieces of my work that you’d like to read about, you are more than welcome to comment on here, or you can find your way to the “contact me” section of this website. Going forward I have thoughts of turning these blogs into videos as well, and hope to have those out soon.

If there are any of the 10 images throughout the Behind the Photo portion that you fell in love with, you can find them for purchase in the Image Shop. As a special thank you for reading this blog in its entirety use code GRIMBLOG for 20% off your entire order.

Thank you all so much, and until next time.

I’ll catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Behind the Photo #7 - Textbook Texture

It’s funny, I’ve been getting a lot of attention lately, due to writing these blogs, posting or notifying on Instagram and Facebook about being in a magazine and getting my work displayed at a local restaurant, and because I’ve been talking about other projects I’ve been working on as well. The attention is great, since that means I’m connecting with people (my overall goal to begin with). But I still don’t know how I feel about all of it, I’m still trying to figure out where to go with my photography business, I’m still trying to keep my website organized and put together, and on top of all that I try to get out and do what it is that puts all these things together (Photography).

So when people reach out to me to ask things like, “How’d you get into a magazine? How’d you get your work displayed? What settings did you use to shoot that photo, and how’d you edit that?”, so on and so on, I almost feel bad for not being able to give them the full attention and response I should. I try my best to answer everyone without being abrasive or frustrated because I have so much going on. I also try to remember that I put myself out there on social media in the first place for the world to connect with me, for my work to be seen, and to try and build a customer base (eventually). So I try my best to respond, reply, answer questions and be tentative the best that I can, but I definitely feel like “The Grind” is, or has got to me.

Now, please don’t take these words as a complaint in any way, as I couldn’t be more excited and happy to see things “forming” or “coming together”. I’ve busted my ass, and put my nose to the grindstone, over the past year to try and start my own business, and I’m not going to let it break down or crumble now. It’s not so much a matter of lessening one thing to focus more on another, it’s about smoothing out the flow of everything, learning to shape the organization needed to build a better business, and grind out even more through planning and consistency to reach an even wider audience. Everything I’ve learned so far in regards to photography, business, website construction, and multi-media platforms has come from failing a lot, but having the grit to get back up and try again and again. So I may not be the best at anything, but I’m at least still trying to be better than I was yesterday.

“Textbook Texture”

Taken on November 24th, 2021 with my iPhone 12 Pro Max, at Norm’s Market in Lake Stevens Washington. One of the only iPhone photos I’ve taken that I’ve fallen head over heels in love with. I had just recently bought my phone, and I’d just recently purchased my first “real” camera (Sony A7iii) not too long before this photo was taken as well.

It was captured during a time where I wasn’t very knowledgable with composition or exposure, and also a time when I was exploring more editing of other peoples photos in Lightroom, instead of capturing my own. When I snapped this photo I was trying to see what things looked like from different angles, and there’s actually another shot from on top of my car. I was crouched down as far as I could go, phone upside down and placed on the ground. It took me close to 5 minutes to set up what I wanted to shoot before pressing the button. But what I walked away with almost instantly blew me away. Seeing all the different textures, fine gravel like pavement in the foreground, large stones for a wall in the middle of the image, and smooth glass/neon and metal throughout the top two thirds of the photo, it all just seemed to work so well together and without much effort.

Textbook Texture is always a great reminder to myself that there are things that are going to be rough, smooth, or different grades of coarseness. But if I can figure out how to organize them and keep them together, the big picture will come out looking amazing, at least to me.

As always, I hope you enjoy these posts and the photos attached. If you’d like to continue on the conversation, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Behind the Photo #6 - Down Natures Path

Tomorrow is Earth Day, April 22nd, and I couldn’t have planned a better image to talk about than “Down Natures Path”. Shot last year during Mothers Day, April 8th 2022, at Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens for yet another of my YouTube episodes, and during one HELL of a rain storm. I had the idea of shooting Floral Photography and posting a Happy Mothers Day video on my channel. Which turned out to be an absolute blast, even though the idea was last minute, my gear and me got absolutely drenched (always try to get weather sealed camera gear when possible), and I’d never been to Evergreen Arboretum before (so I lucked out there with a good location).

“Down Natures Path”

Roughly the 4th or 5th shot I’d taken after arriving at Evergreen Arboretum, which I usually need a few more than 4 or 5 to warm up, I wasn’t feeling to confident about this shot. Other big factors were due to how low the shot was to the ground, and not being able to see much through the rain on my screen, I really wasn’t sure if it would turn out that great if at all. But to my delight it turned out to be one of my more favorite shots of the day, second only to an image I got of a single dahlia placed in between two black iron gates that led into another section of the gardens.

To be honest, between the shot of “Down Natures Path” and the one of the Dahlia, I actually thought “Down Natures Path” was going to be knocked out of the first round of a voting poll I put up on my Facebook page not long ago. So to see it go all the way to the end, and be 1 of the 10 most liked photos that people voted for was a little shocking, awesome none the less but still shocking.

I guess it goes to show that something you thought was going to lead another way (or in this case end all together), might go a whole other direction instead. I’ve talked about this in previous posts, that I never knew where photography would take me, I had no plan or end goal, and I enjoyed seeing what new opportunities came from being open and willing to experience them. I can sit and think about the “big” events I’ve had, going from shooting local car meets to shooting Rally racing (and having no clue where that’ll keep going), driving by a graffiti mural one day which led to so many sub-paths it makes my head spin, or how a visit to go see my friend ended up teaching me lessons and providing me with photos to be featured in magazines and on restaurant walls.

But, it’s thinking and remembering the “small” events that I think I love the most, not to mention how much they’ve taught and meant to me along the way. Small event’s, like the one, have taught me not to give up if things aren’t “perfect conditions”, to enjoy spontaneity and planned events all the same way, and that a path (no matter how long or short) should be explored to its fullest potential.

Paths are unavoidable when exploring, sometimes you forge your own, sometimes you hit dead ends, and sometimes you never come across what would be “the end”.

So to all my photography friends, followers, and readers I’ll leave you with a quote from Pierre T. Lambert (one of my favorite adventure photographers), “Get out there and go shoot, try something different, try something new, and I’ll see you in the next one”.

If you’d like to watch my YouTube video “A Gift of the Original Mother, to All Mothers”, here is the link - https://youtu.be/C-jW7zNXCsA

As always, I hope you enjoy these posts and the photos I attach to them. If you’d like to continue this, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Behind the Photo #5 - Windy City Lookout / Midnight River Towers

One of my favorite photographer/creator personalities, is Sean Tucker, who has almost single handedly help me build my black and white photography style, without ever meeting each other, or holding more than a few emails. Sean is a wealth of wisdom, emotional knowledge, and (I feel) the best photography philosopher I’ve come across.

Sean put a video out a few years ago (2020 I believe) called “Does Every Photograph have to Tell a Story”, and though there probably is a lot of irony to the fact that I’m writing about the story of Each photograph that’ll be displayed at a restaurant local to me in May, I do agree with Sean. There doesn’t Always Have to be a Story, it just so happens that 99% of the photography that I shoot lends well to one.

There are actually multiple stories I could tell of my time in Chicago, I could talk about how I went to Chicago to see a friend that I hadn’t seen in years (which I have done in previous blog posts), I could talk about how I brought my camera along because I wanted to get shots to put on my YouTube channel, or how as soon as I pulled my camera out to get those shots I realized I was missing the whole point of my trip to begin with.

Anyone that watches my YouTube channel can easily see that I’ve slowed WAY down in making videos since being in Chicago, due to having that very hard hitting realization that I got caught up in the wrong reasoning for doing something. I lost sight of why I enjoyed making those first couple photography videos, which was enjoying and sharing my photography experiences with others, on top of not trying to make a big production out of things either. In those first handful of videos, I enjoyed letting the photos do most of the story telling for me, while I just put in some filler info before or after the showcases.

You see, not all of your photos need to tell a story, but it’s also ok if they do. So for this Behind the Photo entry, I’m going to do two things, first I’m going to give a small overview of each photo with an even smaller info story to it, and second I’m going to ask you to really look over each photo and see if you can’t draw your own story conclusion, let your mind be the author of these images. Enjoy.

“Windy City Lookout / Midnight River Towers”

Both images shot on the same day, October 17th 2022, 12 hours apart from each other. One during the day “windy City Lookout”, and the other in the middle of the night “Midnight River Towers” (actually more like 11:30pm River Towers, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it).

Windy City Lookout was actually less than 10 shots into my day, and honestly I got it by sheer dumb luck. I had just changed over my lens when I stood up to see just the sliver of an old mans face, drawing my camera up and without changing any of the settings I snapped off this image (along with three more, but as soon as he saw me his facial expression changed and the moment was gone). There is much MUCH more to this story, but like I mentioned above I want to let you draw your own story, and also I do want to keep some stories for myself, my own little Behind the Photo moments.

Midnight River Towers was the second to last photo I took during the entirety of my trip to Chicago, a fitting end to a trip that will last a lifetime. Taken a half hour before midnight, on top of one of the bridges that span the Chicago river, and an image that gives a pretty good depiction of no matter the hour Chicago is always alive, even if you don’t physically see anyone.

If you’d like to read more about my trip to Chicago, check out my earlier blog post called “You Blew Me Away”, and if you’d like to watch the short video I made that showcases my photos from Chicago, you can find that here - https://youtu.be/ALLvXUaml_U

Not all of my photos tell stories, but I hope that everyone that does view my photography can take away something for themselves, story, emotion, or just a pleasant image to look upon.

As always, I hope you enjoy these posts and the photos I attach to them. If you’d like to continue this, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk with you and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

Behind the Photo #4 - Solo Hope

We all have dreams and goals in life, right? Ever since we were little kids, we’re asked “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Our teachers would ask, moms and dads would ask, hell our friends even ask us at certain periods of growing up. I’ve honestly never known what I wanted to be, what I wanted to do, or where I would even start.

Now, I’d love to tell you that this is a “happily ever after story”, about how I finally narrowed down what I want to be doing when I “grow up”. But alas, I do not. I know that I’ve been more focused on photography and learning how to make a career of it, more than anything else in my entire life. But, I still don’t know what direction to go with it, how to get to a stable place within photography, or even if I’m more into photography or having it printed and talking about it. I feel like I’m destined to be in a constant state of searching, never knowing or landing on what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life. I do however have hope that I’ve found something that’ll stay with me for the rest of my life (whether it makes me a living or not).

“Solo Hope”

Shot on September 16th 2022, in downtown Arlington Washington, on Olympic Avenue.

A few years back, I think about 12-13 years actually, I use to live in Arlington with a buddy of mine (and for a short time, with a girlfriend as well). I love Arlington for how quite it is, still keeping its old small farm town charm, and not being phased or influenced by the growth of surrounding towns, just doing its own thing instead. I lived a couple streets East of Olympic Ave, and would frequently walk to the park downtown to think, especially when my girlfriend at the time and myself parted ways. It was actually while sitting on that bench one day, looking out and thinking about current (to the times) events, that I saw someone with a camera taking pictures of their dog running around, and I thought “I wouldn’t mind taking up photography to clear my mind”. Next thing I knew, I was at Best Buy picking up a Canon PowerShot. If you don’t know the significance of that very specific camera I speak of, don’t worry, it’s the camera that I found again in 2021 and picked right back up to shoot photography with, before moving to a more current entry professional Sony A7iii model.

When I captured “Solo Hope” I was out on yet another Midnight Photography walk, this time trying my hands at capturing those walks with my GoPro, so that I could showcase them on YouTube (spoiler alert, it didn’t go that great, but I came away with great photos and a good learning experience too). I’d already done walks around Bellevue, Seattle, Everett and Marysville, and I was thinking about new places to hit up when Arlington popped into my brain. If you’d like to watch the video, you can check it out here - https://youtu.be/gaYQDn2YL1a

The actual location where “Solo Hope” was shot at, use to be the old Olympic Theater, situated directly across the street from that park bench I’d go sit and think. It’s no surprise that so many things seem to link themselves in my life, considering that I’ve lived my entire life within a 30 mile radius of where I was born. But I do think it’s pretty cool to reminisce about places in time (good and bad), and connect them to the photos I take. Randomly seeing a sign that reads HOPE in a window, behind a single chair and table set up, in a place I frequented so many years ago during darker times, and meant nothing to me at the time I shot it until recently, is kind of strange. But, like I talked about in my last blog post, as I sit here and write about these photos, they seem to bring to life new meaning (to me anyway).

My HOPE for my photography future is to become a full time photographer, printer, writer, and publisher. Not just of my own work, but possibly to help other photographers along their journey as well. Hope and an openness to whatever opportunities might come my way have already given me a pretty damn amazing adventure so far, let’s see where it goes from here.

As always, I hope you enjoy these posts and the photos I attach to them. If you’d like to continue this, or any other conversation, I’d love to talk with you and take inspiration for future writings. Feel free to email me at grimlockmedia@gmail.com

Catch y’all later.

Andrew Hoyle - Grimlock Media

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