Towards the end of 2013, I was intellectually diverging away from the snapshot style photos that I was taking since I bought my iPhone 4s. These photos were becoming ubiquitous in social media. Most people had phones with very good cameras and good photos were becoming common place.

It was also during 2013 that I was discovering my aesthetic with DSLRs. My go to set up is a full-frame Canon 6D with an old Nikor 28mm prime lens in its all-manual glory: manual focus, manual apperture and no zoom. My journey with this set-up, and with my experience taught me the emotional world captured through photography. Photographing was transcending from a documentary and social media sharing venture to an emotional exercise for me.

I think about this time often. This is one of the times I have come close to Pirsig's idea of quality -- the intersection where reason and emotion meets. The physical set-up of the camera was key, but the photos that came out of it were so much more than the sum total of the parameters of the photograph.

That time has gone. I met my now wife, Heather and switched most of my emotional focus towards our relationship. Then my lovely Laya died. Sighthound Studio finds its name from her. These things change our minds. Neither for better, nor for worse. Just change. I don't pick up the camera for photography any more. Heck, I raraly use my iPhone to take pictures. The Canon and Nikor lens set up is not just a tool to record video for my YouTube channel.

My time spent thinking, feeling, and loving photography will always bring fond memories. I am better off for having lived through that time.