The danger of insecurity.

Insecurity is horribly dangerous to society. It’s too messy. We hurt people when we are insecure and do whatever it takes to feel strength, many times when it is not earned. When he hurt people, we hurt their perception of the world around them. Be VERY careful around people who are insecure, yet act like they are not, or are not doing anything to help themselves grow. These people will almost always be negative, cynical and defensive. And a defensive person who is acting out of emotion will act like a caged animal many times, and do whatever it takes to protect themselves. These people can be very, very dangerous.

When people are confident, they do things with intention. With logic and not just raw emotion. They make decisions on the actual facts, not full of chaotic emotion. If you’re paying attention, you will always be able to tell the difference between confidence and ego. Foster confidence in people and let it bloom.

Make no mistake - The world is in desperate need of confident leaders these days.

How difficulty in life creates who you become:

Failure taught me how to be successful.

Heartbreak taught me how to love deeply.

Rejection taught me humility.

One thing I have learned through this whole process, over and over again:

If you’re chasing your dreams, please know and always remember this -

You will never find anyone who believes in you as much as you need to believe in yourself. People will let you down. People will disappoint you. People are selfish in nature. People will ask what is in it for them. People will help if money or business is involved.

That’s okay - You can’t fault people for living their own individual journeys.

But you can use that information to know who to let be closest to you in life. And if you find people that believe in your dreams as much as you do, hold those people close forever.

For they are selfless and truly love you.

Getting the book - and why that allowed me to breathe for the first time, in a long time.

The other day, I got the finished book in the mail. It wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to be, for my expectations were through the roof and it would have been impossible for even the greatest publishers on the planet to create that. '

It was a very good learning experience and a constant reminder that expectation is the root of all suffering.

I felt the entire gamut of emotion that day… After having spent the last 6 months riding a rollercoaster of anticipation, self-doubt, imposter-syndrome, confidence, humility, joy and everything else in between.

But I couldn’t shake the fact that I just felt so at peace.

My emotions were all equalized (more than they had in the last 6 months) the moment I just held the book in my hands. There was nothing more to do. No more details to fret over. No more emails to go back and forth over. No more calls from the printers, the publishers, managers… Nothing.

It was just me, in my home, holding my own book. My own book. Those words alone are enough to give me complete peace and presence in that one moment right there.

What’s done was done. And now it was time to allow myself peace and to remember all the lessons I had learned in life along the way. It’s so easy to place all of the significance of this project on the final book, since that was a synopsis of the entire project.

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But, when I took a step back, I instantly remembered the big picture - and why I was so at peace:

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This project taught me everything I needed to learn in life. It taught me independence. It taught me how to interact with people.

IT TAUGHT ME HOW TO BE MYSELF. 100% of the time.

It taught me how to be vulnerable. How to be authentic. It introduced me to friends I would have never met. It allowed me to be close enough to them that they will likely be friends for life.

It helped me understand how to approach almost anyone, and stay true to myself while doing so. That allowed me to meet relationships I never would have. And even more, to be close to them and allow them to be close to me. To restore faith in the goodness of people, regardless of race and gender, and remind girls that there are guys out there that just want to talk to them, and don’t expect anything in return.

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This project has made a difference in peoples lives. It made thousands and thousands of people smile. It has given me countless moments to give an ear to people that need it so bad, and help them find some clarity in the problems they’re going through. It reminded many, many people that there is goodness in humanity. That they can open up to someone they just met. That they can trust a stranger to tell something private, and that it will never be used against them.

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This project taught me how to talk. How to communicate. How to be. Nothing more, nothing less. This project opened up literally the entire world to me. And through all these lessons, this project brought more people into my life (and continues to do so) that I don’t even know what to do with it. 

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This project has taught me how to combine art with business. How to convey passion to businessmen. How to help other artists chase their dreams, and give them a little oomf to do so with. 

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This project taught me that life is for the asking. That I can have almost anything I want, if I ask for it, and search everywhere for the answers on how to find it. 

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This project reminded me that people are really people. Transformative moments like the one with Man-Lai, in the NYC projects, with old/young… It showed me that everyone is relatively the same, and looking for relatively the same things.

Needing relatively the same things.

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This project changed me in 100 ways that I never expected when I first started. And taught me lessons that will forever make my life easier, better, more genuine, more impactful, more immersive than I could have ever expected. More than I could have found in 1,000 books. 

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Everything I learned on this project can never be taken away from me. And it will forever make my life easier, closer, more fulfilling and make me feel more alive than ever.

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This project brought you into my life - and reading my writing. And in that alone, I feel grateful. So thank you truly for just being here.

Love,

Adam

Life becomes what you ask for. Every single time.

Every single dream coming true in my life right now is happening because I interacted with the world around me. I was vulnerable. I talked to strangers. I asked for help when I needed it. I accepted help when people offered it.

Everyone helped.

I am living proof of someone who has never known what they were doing, but tried my best to keep life light and kept looking for the answers, all around the world. I didn't go to school for photography, or any art for that matter. I didn't own a real camera until just a few years ago (that I paid for with money I saved waiting tables at restaurants). And I spent most of my life keeping people at a distance, and not truly letting them be as close to me.

When I needed it most, I put myself out there. I started listening more than I talked. And trying to learn from each person I came into contact with.

I want this all to just be a reminder that the world is there to help you, not to hurt you. This is not a cliche, or something I am saying to be overly optimistic. This is coming from facing fear head on, and looking for reasons to prove if it was rational or not. This is coming from a huge sample size of people, in just about every kind of situation. I gave people the opportunity to prove me wrong and take advantage of me, rob me, hurt me, and prove that being fearful of strangers around you is something you should adhere to.

But I ended up being taken care of by every single person I asked. Every person. In every country. Rich, poor, white, black (and many other different races), old, young... And everywhere in between.

Everyone helped.

This is not a brag.

This is to hopefully implore and inspire you to start chasing that dream you've always had. This is to show you that I am no different than you. I didn't get luckier or come from a bunch of money. I started this project when I was waiting tables and living paycheck to paycheck.

Life ended up becoming what I asked for and, every bit as importantly, what I worked hard for. But I couldn't have done any of it, without the strangers I met along the way.

Just about everything is possible if you persist. I promise. I'm living proof of it.

Graveyards.

When you are really in a moment of self-doubt or lull in creativity… Go to a graveyard and walk through it.

And remember that those are all people who had one life to live. To give their 100%. And now they have passed, all of their mistakes, worries, concerns, fears, judgements, etc. have all been forgotten about.

They are only remembered now by the legacy they created during their one opportunity of life.

Use this to remind yourself how short life can be, and how important it is to use today to its fullest potential, every single day you have the opportunity to.

Rejection.

During the times of my life when I am chasing my dreams the most… 95% of that time is rejection.

But that 5% has ended up changing my life.

What we're all really looking for:

All that all of us are doing here is trying to make sense of a world that makes no sense. Just trying to find a light in the fear.

And in that, we have tremendous responsibility. For we are there to bring others out of their fears and show them the light. And remind them how they got lost.

And some of these people give you looks like they have been lost in the wild for a lifetime. Lost to the point they had given up on being found or saved.

And you are the first one that found them in the woods that didn’t want anything at all to help get them home. To be their beacon and give them your flashlight because you already know.

And now I walk through a world that feels it’s asleep, or hiding from anyone or anything that could hurt it. Because they have been lied to or manipulated or taken advantage of to the point that they don’t feel okay with just being who they are. So people distract themselves as a way to fit in with modern society and do what everyone else is doing, because that’s the only thing that does make sense in a world that makes no sense.

When, in the core, we are all just looking for someone we can open up to and trust to say our deepest thoughts - and that they will not be used against us - but rather be used to have deeper conversations, closer to our heart.

Trying to find happiness in popularity.

I think that, when you are trying to be famous, you are constantly looking for external validation as needs for happiness. But external validation is too subjective and biased, and rarely even has anything to do with you, so you end up basing happiness on a lottery.

And that’s just not conducive to joy. 

Living a Balanced Life

If you do not have a healthy balance with nature in your life, then your mind is cluttered. It will be no matter what. Nature is the way you not only cleanse your mind but also allow your thoughts to finish. So often, we start 10 new thoughts while were still in the middle of another one. And many times, we never finish a thought, allowing us to move on from it and not commit and further mental space to it. If we let too many of these thoughts enter our mind without finishing, we become overwhelmed, anxious and restless. 

I just finished 'Miracle in the Andes' and it taught me a lot about life.

There is so much wisdom in this book. These are lessons that can only be taught through life and death situations that reveal perspective, exactly how it is.

Some of the most powerful quotes:

“When I was certain all of you were dead, I knew I would never recover from the loss. It was as if my house had burned to the ground, and I had lost everything I owned, forever. And now, to have you back, it’s as if I have stumbled on something precious in the ashes. I feel I am reborn. From now on, I will try not to feel sorry for what was taken from me, but to be happy for what was given back.” (From one of the fathers of the survivors)

“Did I have the strength to trade the glamorous life I was living for long days toiling at my fathers hardware store? In the end, there really was no question. The lessons I’d learned on the mountain prevented me from doing anything but choosing correctly; I would make my future with the woman I loved.”

“In the mountains, there was never a minute that I did not feel death at my side, but the moment I stood on the summit of the mountain and saw nothing but towering peaks as far as the eye could see, was the moment all my doubts were swept away and the certainty of my own death became viscerally real. The realness of death stole my breath away, but at the time same time I burned more brightly with life than I ever had before, and in the face of total hopelessness, I felt a burst of joy. The realness of death was so clear and so potent that for a moment it burned away everything temporary and false. Death had shown its face, dark, predatory, invincible, and for a split second, it seemed that beneath the fragile illusions of life, death was all there is. But then I saw that there was something in the world that was not death, something just as awesome and enduring and profound. There was love, the love in my heart, and for one incredible moment, as I felt this love swell-love for my father, for my future, for the simple wonder of BEING ALIVE- death had LOST its power. In that moment, I stopped running from death. Instead, I made every step a step toward love, and that saved me. 

“I have never stopped moving toward love. Life has blessed me with material success. I like fast cars, good food, fine food. I love to travel. I believe life should be enjoyed, but my experienced have taught me that without the LOVE of my family and my friends, all the trappings of worldly success would ring hollow. I also know that I would be a happy man if all those trappings were taken from me, as long as I am close to the people I love.”

How to do anything you want with your life (and make money at it)...

Being good enough at any particular craft guarantees you work (as long as that craft is still marketable in our society, of course!). When you are good enough at a craft, you can dress however you want. Wear whatever you want. And can do a lot more things than anyone else in normal life can do (as long as you take care of the relationship).

So, if you want to do whatever you want for a living: Obsess over one craft that you’re passionate about. And then just be you.

My life in photography so far.

Years ago, my parents gave me my first camera. It was a $200 Canon Elph. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing... I just went around everywhere and took pictures of every single thing I could . People, flowers, cats, houses, parks... You name it.

I did this for a long time until I was working at a restaurant in St. Louis and met someone namedKara Proehl. She was an incredible wedding photographer and I'll never forget her passion for photography and people. She inspired me to get my first professional camera - which was a Nikon d7000. (It was the most expensive thing I had ever bought - $1,000). She really believed in me and even invited me to a shoot with her in Castlewood where she would be the model and I would be the photographer - and she would help critique the pictures after.

It was after this shoot where I really started to become obsessed. I kept taking pictures of everything and trying to figure out what I liked the best... But it was all just a hobby.

Then, one day, I booked my own shoot. Someone actually offered to pay me to do something I already loved doing so much. And, for the first time, I realized it was actually possible to make somewhat of a living with this hobby I was so passionate about. 

And I started to see it from a different perspective.

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Over the years after that, I refined my craft. I still took pictures of everything, all the time, and was known to always have my camera on me. Through hundreds of thousands of photographs, I started to fine tune 'mistakes'. No matter how beautiful I thought the pictures were becoming, year after year, I would look back at them from the previous year and see things I could improve on. (This process is still very much going on to this day)

While doing this, I was networking all the time and meeting people that helped me learn a lifetime of skills. I did this with no agenda - I truly just wanted to learn more and talk about what I was so passionate about. It was really during this time that I saw my photography improving - and I began obsessing over knowing everything I could about it. I was learning by just doing - by taking photographs and going through them - rather than taking classes or reading books. 

Another important part of this process was that I changed whatever I was photographing whenever I lost inspiration in it. My passion for photography itself never diminished but, when I wasn’t excited about a certain form of it anymore, I would just let it go and try something new. 

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Then I started projects with this and started just trying new things. 

By doing this, I quickly saw I was very passionate about photography ideas that had some sort of social impact. I started to see my camera as a tool for much more than just taking pictures... I saw it as a way to help people, to connect people and to bring awareness to situations that needed it. Social media was starting to take off and this really helped with this also.

Still, none of the projects ever amounted to anything (in a physical sense). They never really got noticed, I never made any money with them and they just disappeared as soon as I stopped them. They all could have seemed like a silly idea, or even a failure, but in those experiences, I learned how to separate two different perspectives: trying to create art that drew a big audience and just trying to do things that I cared about so much that I really wasn’t worried what anyone else thought about it. 

Regardless, I kept starting new projects. I would notice myself getting in a creative rut and getting depressed when I wasn't inspired so I had to keep trying new things. I tried to focus on the small successes of these projects (like words of encouragement or people telling me it made an impact on their life) rather than on a large scale. I think this is crucial for artists to do.

This year, The World I See (my 4th project), was my first project to become something. It has been published twice now by National Geographic, was a TED talk in October and will be a published book next month.

But I promise you this: Those things would mean nothing to me, if it wasn't for the hardship and difficult moments that led up to them. In fact, these results wouldn't mean a single thing if it wasn't for the relationships that are around me today, that I learned to trust and love during the times before. 

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I couldn’t begin to tell you how many moments of self doubt have accompanied me up until this point. It’s a very important part of the process and those are essential times to learn. In the endless moments of uncertainty, I grew as a person in ways I never could have without them. I developed a healthy relationship with rejection. I learned humility. I learned confidence. I learned psychology and how to use that to better understand how to make a living with this. I learned to grow close to the relationships that were truly there for me. I learned how to balance life outside of photography and travel. 

And today, and even prouder moment, I bought my first house. With nothing but money I made through photography. Something that, just a few years ago, I never thought I’d be able to make a penny at. Dreams I couldn’t have even fathomed just a short time ago. 

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The reason I write this all is to say: 

To the artist with passion but is full of self doubt and uncertainty. To the artist that is in a creative rut (or even worse, it starting to give up). To the artist who thinks that people who make a living with art just got lucky. Or are better at their craft than them.

That’s not how it works. 

Art can only get to a level where it’s possible to make a living with when you have given your life to it just to get there. Where you somehow found the strength to take just one more photograph, or paint one more painting, or sing one more song, at your lowest times. When you somehow found the strength to keep trying when it seems like no one else notices what you're creating. When you persevere out of pure passion - not out of a desire to be rich or accepted. 

That is the only way you find who you are and what you can create. 

And when you 'make it' - and I promise you will if you obsess and have passion - you will feel like you made it at even the smallest of successes. Even at just reading the words that people write about your work. When you see your art making a tiny impact on the people around you. That ends up becoming more important to you than any amount of money ever can. 

When you allow that the be the goal, making a living doing that makes a lot more sense. You’re humble enough to keep learning but your work is good enough to support you now. 

And when you make a life in that way, I promise you will feel joy every day of your life. Joy that no one else could ever take from you.

All my love.

Adam C. Schlüter

(I tagged just a few of the people who had a tremendous impact on me during this journey so far. Thank you all for making me who I am today.)

Photographing kids as a stranger is really tough. But not for a good reason.

Some of my favorite moments doing this project is with kids. Today, it’s almost impossible to get a kid to trust you enough to take a photograph because their parents have instilled so much fear into them. I am totally fine with people educating their children to be aware and smart but... It’s tipped too much to where, nowadays, parents tell their kids to be scared of pretty much everything that isn’t them. This is a very dangerous thing to happen to society and never really leaves people as they grow and mature. I meet many young adults that are still not able to trust people fully (especially strangers) because they grew up in overprotective and sheltered households and it’s destroying the fabric of how humanity works.

We are meant to be aware of our surroundings and to use our intuition to gauge if we should trust someone or not. Not use blanket generalizations that are almost always unfairly applied to situations.

When that happens, people start discriminating and having too narrow of a view of culture and race in the world. So, needless to say, it means the world to me to see a child use their brain and intuition to gauge if they should trust me or not. And even more so, to see the parents giving their children the space to make those decisions on their own.

That is the only way for them to fully spread their wings and experience life for how it truly is. 

What I do - when I'm not doing this.

This picture is an important one for me to share. Many people know I photograph weddings for a living - and do this project as my passion when I am not. When I tell people I photograph weddings, I hear a lot of ‘Must be nice! You just take pictures and make tons of money.’ And it kills me. Photographing weddings are the hardest - mentally, physically, emotionally - form of photography I’ve ever done. Portrait photography is already difficult but to add that difficulty onto a once-in-a-lifetime day is almost too much to handle sometimes.

People see us taking pictures and having fun... but they don’t see the days before where we prepare, don’t sleep well, prepare again, overthink every detail, etc. We take it incredibly seriously and fully understand the gravity of the day - and how it’s not really possible to make a single mistake at times.

So, when you do hire a wedding photographer, please keep this in mind gauging if they’re worth the money they’re charging.

And only pick someone that takes it every bit as seriously as it should be.

Fear.

Fear is a natural part of my life and something that I try to always be in control of, but it would be superhuman of me to think that I can live a life completely free of it. Fear to me is the black lining of life, the devil on your shoulder, the pain that causes you to seek that which is greater. It is the puddle of mud that you stepped in years ago, and though you have cleansed your body from the mud that was on your skin, there is still a stain of it on the bottom of your pant leg that you don’t think about until the next time you see a puddle. Then, all those feelings came back, that you have completely forgotten about because you haven’t looked at the bottom of your pants in a long time. But fear to me is not acting like that stain is not there. It is knowing and appreciating that stain because, because of it, you were able to be smarter and navigate all the puddles that you came across since then. That doesn’t mean that you won’t stir up feelings of pain when you see a puddle again… It means you are now smarter and more aware, and need that fear to work through you so you can let it go.

You need to find someone that can appreciate that stain for what it is. Not expect you to just buy new pants and forget all about it - because that stain made you the person they fell in love with.

Travel gives you life.

I’ve lived ten lifetimes since I started traveling. I’ve seen the sun from 10,000 perspectives. 

Thoughts on Self-Employment and Health

It has always been my sincere belief that, if you are self employed, the gym needs to be a major part of your routine. For a few different reasons.

First, the obvious. Being in your best physical shape will always correlate to being in your best mental shape. And being in your best mental shape is crucial towards making the right decisions in a timely way. And to really helping balance out the stress that can come with self-employment.

Second, the gym sucks. Let’s face it. Working out sucks. It’s painful, it’s long, it’s tedious… And if you’re doing it right, you don’t want to ever go back when you leave. Great. But you do go back, and you make sure that you continue going back with that mentality.

Because, the gym is a sanctuary also.

You are a different person every single time you leave. You faced an uncomfortable, difficult situation (that you did not need to do!) and you were made stronger and more focused because of it. And you bring that thinking and confidence into your daily life, and into your business, and it makes everything a little easier. Small things that could have brought stress don’t anymore. You have trained yourself to understand that uncomfortable does not mean bad. And that distinction is very important. Many times, when we’re navigating self-employment and are faced with many decisions on where to go and how to do it correctly - being uncomfortable will be a vital part of the major changes. These changes will many times involve uncertainty, inconsistency and, in the best times, it will involve a path that you have to forge on your own. To do something that no one else has done.

But you’re strong. You are in good shape. You’re healthy. You have been taking care of your body and mind. And you carry a subtle, deep confidence with you because you have trained yourself to face difficult physical situations with courage.

And you’ve been shown that you will prevail every time you have.

True love.

Her: "We just celebrated our 58th wedding anniversary."

Me: "Wow. Do you remember what you did on your first date?"

Her: "Of course I do. It was on our first date when he asked me to marry him."

Pamplona Thoughts

See, I think this is the thing. I believe in love. I believe in true, deep, unescapable, fill-you-with-butterflies, scare-the-shit-out-of-you love. Love that causes you to lose control over your thoughts. That cause your logic to go from concrete to a pool of jelly. Voluntarily. It rewires you. It causes you to see life in full color when you’re safe in it, and black and white when you’re scared of it. But I believe that - if you can get over the hump over initial understanding - your whole life can be fuller, stronger, more beautiful - because you did the hard work.