Welcome! I am a contemplative thinker and photographer from Colorado. In this blog, you'll discover photographs that I've taken on my hiking and backpacking trips, mostly in the American West. I've paired these with my favorite inspirational and philosophical quotes - literary passages that emphasize the innate spirituality of the natural world. I hope you enjoy them!

If you'd like to purchase photo-quote greeting cards, please go to www.NaturePhoto-QuoteCards.com .


In the Spirit of Wildness,

Stephen Hatch
Fort Collins, Colorado

P.S. There's a label index at the bottom of the blog.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Each day, reserve a few hours for your higher calling. Treat those as a bubble that protects you from worldly intrusion.


"I have known dozens of artists, and most of them live without knowing where their life is going or how it is going to be . . . The normal situation is that, perhaps for years, you work away at your art, your life vocation, your life-fulfilling field of action, and there's no money in it.  You have to live, though, so you get a job.  Then, you are doing so well in your job that your employer wants to move you into a higher position.  You'll have to give more to the job than before, and you will receive a higher salary, but your new commitments will cut down on your free time . . . To keep up with your responsibilities and your fitness, and still nurture your creative aspect, you must put a hermetically sealed retort, so that there is no intrusion, around a certain number of hours each day - however many you can honestly afford - and that time must be inviolate . . . Give a certain number of hours a day to your art, and make it consistent."

Joseph Campbell

Photo: Dewdrops rest on a Pasqueflower petal, Young Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, April 14, 2012. Each water droplet reminds me of the sort of "bubble" that Campbell is talking about.

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