I’ve been lucky in my life and have had a number of people kindly take me under their wing to help me with various aspects in life. For their kindness I salute them and thank them for taking the time and having the patience to help me. It’s interesting where a mentor can come from, and what they can help with.

When it comes to photography I consider my Dad and Uncle to be my two greatest mentors, as they have been around me the most and have invested the most time. Without my Dad especially I wouldn’t have the setup/gear that I do have.

Interestingly enough, since I have joined Twitter I was lucky enough to run into @Vasko_Photo, this guy Rocks! If you have twitter, follow him. He has awesome talent and I think captures some of the most beautiful aspects of some of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. His site: www.thephoto.ca has his work, and I’ll tell you now, it’s impressive. See for yourself and contact him, definitely the most helpful photographer I’ve run into outside of my family. In addition to taking awesome pics, being cool and funny, he’s a great example of how to be respectful and friendly on twitter. I don’t know of many other people who thank folks for following him and are responsive to mentions and questions. Following his example on my twitter accounts has definitely added to the example and is definitely fostering good relationships that will help both personally and professionally.

Mentors are special and awesome. Everyone hopefully has had a mentor in their life, sometimes they may be more stick rather than carrot, sometimes they may be all stick and no carrot whatsoever. The important thing is being open to learning from someone. On that note, you can learn from almost everything or everyone, regardless if you consider them a “lesser” person or function from you. Rank or status need not always apply to someone who can mentor you in things of life and philosophy and creativity.

I love the opportunity to act in a mentoring role, it’s satisfying to help and inspire, and I love the challenge of refining myself in the process. There truly are lessons one can only learn by teaching.

~Paul
@daemonb1
@photodaemon