Crossroads... (#3)

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a little bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to things I'm interested in.  Cars, boats, motorcycles, biking, skating, surfing, sailing, radio controlled airplanes, photography, backpacking, shooting...  It is a long list, really long.  Unfortunately my time and money isn't as long as my list.  Maybe someday I'll create something that becomes wildly popular and produces enough income to be a full-time adventurer.  But for now I have to create a hierarchy of importance.  Decision time.

BMX (Bicycle Motocross) used to be on top of that hierarchy, it had a long reign in fact.  I rode BMX bikes from the age of 5 until 22.  Really getting serious around my sophomore year in high school.  The JV soccer team cut me and I pretty much swore off team sports and jumped on my bike.  That same week I completed a four foot tall launch ramp and landing, shoved it into the street and started jumping.

Working all summer for my dad, I was able to save up the $575 it cost me to build my "dirt jumper".  A beautiful chrome GT Fueler with Profile three-piece cranks, 48 spoked double walled rims.  It was a beast. When we moved to northern California it was all about racing.  My Fueler was cannibalized for the cranks and a very expensive 20" racing machine was built.  It's pretty amazing how much money I spent on BMXing.

Now, as I'm sure you have gathered if you have read the past blogs, photography is right up there in importance to me.  When I think about it, I was always the one trying to get pictures and video of my  friends when we were riding.  Maybe photography has always been that important to me but I just didn't recognize it.

Here is where the decision comes in.  I have a limited amount of fundage to spend at will.  So if I buy a bike, I have to wait to get camera gear.  What makes this decision difficult is that the emotional satisfaction of creating images is nearly identical to the satisfaction of riding.  The riding requires more physical work, but when you manual through a rhythm section, flow through a skatepark, or float a simple table-top over a smooth double, there is a feeling that you just created something pleasing.  It is art.  People enjoying watching it, you enjoy making it.  Just like photography.

So last night,  I was telling Michelle about my dilemma and she said I should go after photography.  Initially I resisted and stuck to my guns about buying a BMX bike.  But last night I couldn't sleep.  Sad, I know.  Seriously every time I woke up, which was often, I was thinking, "BMX or Photography".  Part of what I am afraid of is that if I don't get a bike now, the opportunity will never come again.  Talk about an irrational fear!  So after that sleepless night.  And this blog.  I think I am going to stick to photography.

Maybe I can do some stuff for the local BMX track with my photography.  Plus I have a son I can live vicariously through...

-dg