Yin & Yang
~Shared by Ron Fierstein~
I heard the news from Max just a few hours ago, as I was about to board a flight from Phoenix to JFK.
I thought about Chip the whole ride home.
He was a special man. More special than most people realize, even those who worked closely with him.
When I first met him more than 25 years ago, he impressed me, both as a businessman and as a person. But then he inspired me – his work struck a chord with me and reawakened a passion for photography that had faded over the decades.
As intense and frenetic as his professional life could be, his photography was all about slowing down, both in technique and representation.
Taking his time with extraordinarily long exposures, and then freezing the world around him with remarkable clarity and precision, Chip truly understood the urgency of stopping to appreciate those special moments and the beauty that surrounds us.
When 9/11 struck, and freaked the rest of us out, it was Chip who saw the opportunity to set up his camera at the beach, and open the shutter for hours so he could capture the paths of stars moving across the night sky without having his image ruined by those pesky jet planes that had shot across his photographic canvas every previous time he had attempted that picture.
Yes, Chip pursued and executed this unique yin and yang of his life with extraordinary passion. He personified the undeniable relationship between competitiveness and perfection. If one is motivated to achieve the latter, one must understand and practice the former.
Chip’s roster of clients may be a tribute of accomplishment in one regard, but his art, the images that adorn museum walls and the homes and working spaces of family and friends and strangers lucky enough to have discovered him, is the real lasting legacy to an extraordinary man and talent.
Chip’s mantra was to live life to the fullest, but to take the time to appreciate the magic around us. I will forever be grateful that our paths crossed so that he could convey that precious lesson to me.
And I know I’m not alone in that regard.
Ron Fierstein
Tags: Passion, Photography