We all have those special people that we have interacted with in our life that have left their marks on us.  It may have been a coach, a minister, an uncle or a teacher.  As look back over my, I can point to a few of those special people that have impacted my life.  It goes without saying, my parents top the list.  My friend’s dad, Carl helped foster my interest in all things photographic.  My college buddy, (whom remains a great friend), and a great photographer, Dick Patrick.  And of course, there is always “that one teacher” that we all have.  You know the one, he made a connection, inspired you and set you on a path that changed your life.

My “one teacher” was Andy Hutmacher.

Mr. Hutmacher was the teacher of our Yearbook class.  We were in class to learn how to write, design, layout and produce our high school yearbook.  When I signed up for the class, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I was interested in photography.   Little did I know, the fall of my junior year, how that class, and that teacher would impact my life.  Mr. Hutmacher taught English, but he also taught the Yearbook class.  But he was also photographer, and he was really good.  When he saw my interest in the medium, he went to work on me.  He not only taught me the basics, exposure, perspective and all the darkroom techniques to get me started, but he inspired me.  I think just about anyone can teach the technique, but he could draw more out of me that I thought was there.  While he was, and still is, for that matter, a great photographer, I only saw a few of his photographs.  He didn’t teach me by showing me examples of his work, he taught me by showing me my work.  He only taught at my high school for one year and I only had him for one class.  But that one year and that one class changed my life.

I think people get into teaching for very idealistic notions.  They are going to change the world, one student at a time.  The dream is to touch at least one student and change their life, set them on a direction of success and inspire them to achieve more than they even dreamed they could.  Mr. Hutmacher did that for me.

Words can not express the impact he has had in my life, but I’ll try…

Thank you, Andy.

I haven’t been in contact with him for at least 30 years.  But low and behold, I sent birthday wishes to friend, (more like my big sister), and she told me she ran into him.  They chatted and she sent me his email address.  I emailed a quick note and he responded.  He has retired from teaching and now does portrait photography in the little town that I grew up in.  It just made my weekend to touch base with him, and it inspired me to work a little harder and shoot some more images.  It was a great way to start the weekend.

But a strange thing happened.  More inspiration, not from a past mentor or some great photographer  in the modern world that I admire, but from a 14 year old kid.

I went on a climbing trip with our Boy Scout Troop, always a good time.  On the way up, I had Dylan in my car.  I have known Dylan for a few years now, through our Scout Troop.  He loves photography and has actually assisted on a shoot, and will assist another shoot in a couple of weeks.  We spent the 2 and a half hour car ride talking photography.  He took out his camera and started shooting the sunset through the moving car windows.  Then he started shooting photos of cars coming at us and passing by.  He shot long shutter speed, short shutter speed.  He changed up the white balance and saw what it would do.  I don’t know how many photos he shot, but as I watched him shoot and we talked about color and shutter speed and lenses and the great feud between Nikon owners and Canon owners, I saw his excitement.  Actually, I started to share in his excitement.  I started to drift back in time to remember that feeling.  The feeling of experimenting, of finding something new and of discovery.  It was the same feeling that I experienced so many years ago with Mr. Hutmacher.  It was me and him again.  Talking about pictures, cameras, the quality of light and possibilities.

This weekend I found inspiration for my old mentor and the memories of what he did for me way back then.  I also found inspiration from a young photographer that reminded me that creating images is exciting.

Inspiration can come from anywhere.  Even buried deep in our past experiences.  We just need something to nudge it to the surface.  The object, as an artist, is to see that inspiration for what it is and jump all over it when it hits us.

And for that, I thank you, Dylan.