Yesterday, I sent a friend a quote I read on another blog:
“Think of all the beauty still left around us and be happy.” – Anne Frank
Today, I picked up a couple of the magazines that have accumulated in the last few months, that I’ve been too busy to look at, and read a headline about having purpose in your photography. I’ve tried to do that with mine, of the mustangs of Spring Creek Basin. I couldn’t quite read the article.
Then I picked up the latest issue of News Photographer. Though I no longer take photos as part of my job, I keep my subscription. The story was by an American photojournalist embedded at a NATO hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I read most of it. The photos are intense. One small part of the opening photo, spread across two pages, stays with me, a nurse or doctor, looking over her shoulder at something behind the photographer … her hand under that of the man in the bed; he doesn’t seem like he could possibly be aware.
At the end of the article, after a particularly difficult day, the photographer spots James Nachtwey, war photographer, and stops to speak with him, to tell him about his influence, the reason he’s standing there, at a NATO hospital a world away from his home. The article ends with this quote:
“If you go some place for a purpose, you want to fulfill that purpose. It requires you to keep yourself together, and pay attention and concentrate and get the job done – well.” – James Nachtwey.
That’s exactly – exactly – how I felt at the roundup. A dear few, much respected and loved people helped me keep it together; I would have been lost without you. I would have been lost all along without the purpose of the horses. To all of you helping with that purpose … I thank you again and again and again …
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
TJ,
JUST WANT TO SAY THANKS FOR YOUR DEDICATION, COURAGE, AND WILLINGNESS TO SHARE. SHARING THESE PHOTOS IS A WONDERFUL PART OF THE WHOLE THAT YOU ACCOMPLISH BY LIVING YOUR PASSION. WE ENJOY TALKING WITH YOU ABOUT THE SPRING CREEK HERD. YOU ARE A VERY GOOD LISTENER AND ALWAYS PLEASANT TO CONVERSE WITH. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU IN PERSON AGAIN. MAYBE IN THE SPRING.
I hope we can definitely meet up in the spring in the basin! Thank you … I look forward to hearing more about your boyhood, Roy, in the upper Disappointment!
Though one’s heart breaks, one must do the thing that you think you cannot do. You did.
Ditto those 2 comments above. It’s nice to know we helped you get through it, in some small way. I hope the mojo sent helped. Your welcome! And Thanks many times again for all you do.
Thank you, TJ for all your efforts. It’s a shame that all the horses can’t stay free, but you did your best for them. If you do your best. it’s all that anyone can ask of you. Thanks again.
Thank you all …