When you cross paths with someone whose mission is incredibly clear, it’s hard not to want that clarity for yourself. Scott Proposki is a photographer, entrepreneur, and author; his mission is to help photographers all around the world to build a business to last a lifetime. In our conversation, Scott shares stories from his journey living the photography dream—National Geographic, events at the White House, corporate client shoots, millions in sales—then losing it all in 2020, and rebuilding from nothing. We talk about the role of listening in storytelling, the importance of self-awareness, crafting a 25-year plan, doing one thing instead of 20, why photographers aren’t screwed, and why photography is more relevant than ever before.

• Scott Proposki
• Camera Focus: What Photography Teaches About Business, Life, and Success by Scott Proposki
• We Need Your Art: Stop Messing Around and Making Something by Amie McNee
• New England Patriots
• Bill Belichick on Instagram
• Watch Mr. Polaroid on PBS
• Wall Street Journal Podcasts
• Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries
• Episode photo from Envato Elements: Snow covered mountain peaks, Monte Rosa Piedmont, Italy

2026 is upon us and it’s not just a new year thrusting us toward change, it’s everything: society, culture, technology, relationships, work, life—it’s all dynamic, frenetic. Some of us start the year clutching our resolutions tightly, convinced that this is the year we actually live up to them. Others rely on the thesaurus to shift the psychological burden from resolution to something else, anything else, in order to trick our brains into actually accomplishing the things that matter most: “I don’t have resolutions, I have goals.” But it’s going to take more than hacks and tricks to comprehend the amount of change we need in our daily lives. It’s about introducing system-wide curiosity that shifts change from being the end result of an enormous task with a binary value—yes or no—to a daily process that gives us time to explore and open our minds to new realities.

• Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard
• The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn by Richard W. Hamming
• Pearl Jam – Do the Evolution (Single Video Theory)
• Photo by Nikoline Arns on Unsplash