practice,,, (life)

practice makes perfect

a quote we have all heard, and definitely one with more than a little truth to it.

that being the case, what is it that you practice?


if i may suggest,,,


no matter what you have practiced before now, let nothing and no one (not even yourself) deprive you of your right to change what you choose to practice at any time,,,

practice enlarging your heart,,, see how many more people you can fit in there,,, how much more of yourself.

practice believing what you know in your heart is true,,, not what you have been told to believe, not what you believe for the sake of others,,, practice believing the wild dreams your heart once spent all day imagining,,, the ones that have since been too-often put in the childish or i need to grow up bins,,,

practice remembering the many strengths and gifts you have,,,

practice making memories worth having,,,

practice being brave,,, one day someone's son or daughter may come up to you and tell you that though you have never met, your braveness once changed their life,,,

practice the good kind of crying,,,

practice letting yourself be moved,,,

practice speaking up when your sensibilities tell you to be quiet,,, remember: being sensible usually isn't

practice new things - it's hard to write an interesting life story when your fingers keep typing the same four letters,,,

practice telling the truth - most of all to yourself,,,


my many amazing friends,,, without fail, we become masterful at what we practice - let's let go of practicing the things that don't belong to our peace,,,


may you find your peace, joy, and so much love,,, wherever you are *

jesh *

sarah & sean: two ( beloved )

sarah & sean, thank you both for sharing your trust and beautiful relationship : )

much love,

jesh : )

p.s. friends, look for another announcment soon about
my B E L O V E D project,,,

sean & sarah: one ( beloved )

hello my wonderful and patient friends,,,

i find i have so many adventures lately the time to share them here becomes harder to find, lol.

many good things in the works i'm very much looking forward to sharing,,,


among a few other surprises, i have one very special project i'll be launching soon entitled: B E L O V E D

more on the details soon,,, but i wanted to give you a bit of teaser (in two parts), courtesy of the stunning sarah & sean.

much love and many blessings,,,

jesh *

become the friend,,, (life)

so today,,, it's one of those days i won't forget.

because it's been better than other days? no,,,
did i accomplish some great task? no,,,
do i have more today than i did yesterday?

no,,, but i know what i have today,,, and that makes all the difference.

is a rich man who forgets he is rich still rich?

if he is potentially, he is not rich actually - as in acting and living with the benefit of those riches.

is there something you need to tell someone,,, something they deserve to hear, something you owe to yourself to tell them,,, but haven't yet told them?

how much is an almost i love you worth?

i think sometimes we spend so much time in our mind that it becomes easy to confuse the almosts with the real. we see it so clearly behind the closed doors of our thoughts that we forget no one else can see it.

when i say real,,, let's say i mean something that has crossed that invisible line of mind and entered the shared world. using that definition, it becomes apparent that what we have inside of us doesn't become real/actualized until we give it away/let go of it/share it.

it can be a surprising but healthy exercise to take a mental inventory: what is in you to give that you for one reason or another haven't given? and of the things you do give/make real, how many of them are really things you'd want to be giving life to?


this process of taking in and giving out in many ways is our life. we have many different names for the ways we perform this basic function, but in essence, its all the same process, isn't it?

and today,,, today,,, i remember

that no one else in the world is responsible for what i bring into myself, and what i bring out. no one but me.

an awesome responsibility and privilege, both, to be reminded of our own strength.

how incredible is the garden of the mind,,,


i have a dear friend who tells me that for many years she has felt a certain loneliness,,, that she has waited a long time to find a friend that would finally match up to her requirements and bring her fulfillment.


to her,,, and to all of us who are her sometimes,,, i say this:


become the friend you have been waiting for


you are your own garden, the seeds, the planter and the fruit,,,

this is what life is,,, go make it.


much love and many blessings to you my beautiful friends,,, may you find love in the many hidden corners of yourself, and may you be brave enough to give it away,,,

jesh *

tricia & josh (eSession)

tricia & josh, it was lovely spending a february evening with you on the ice.

hopefully you've been practicing a few of those cool moves i taught you two, lol ; ) the falling-on-your-referendum move i demonstrated takes a special dedication to master,,,

i'm glad to know you both, and am very much looking forward to being a part of your wedding celebration.

much love and many blessings,,,

jesh ; )

edmonton,,, (workshops)

hello friends,,,

thank you all for the votes, comments and emails regarding the next workshop : ) wow,,, there are a lot of people out there wanting in on the love, lol!!!

it was a close race, and we'll definitely be visiting both portland and denver due to the overwhelming interest,,, but at this time i am proud to announce we'll be holding the first workshop in my home base : )

Edmonton - life (as an artform) is open for registration!!!

this experiential workshop will be held MAY 20, 21 & 22. i'm opening only 12 spaces and expect they'll fill pretty darn fast : )

if you want in on the love, please send me an email at life (at) jeshderox.com with 'SEE YOU IN EDMONTON' as the subject.

priority will be given in the order we receive your emails.

lots o' love wonderful people,

jesh ; )

p.s. for those of you looking forward to seeing more images,,, no worries, they're on their way : ) thank you all for your patience with me!

i've been working on launching and tying together 5 very different explorative projects right now in the midst of traveling around the continent shooting and teaching,,, stay tuned for several new Collections and a few surprises over the coming weeks ; )


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palm beach, san fransisco & ?,,, (workshops)

hello wonderful friends,,,

spring is springing, and i'm happy to announce the next two dates on our tour : )

both Palm Beach - life (as an artform) and San Francisco - life (as an artform) are now open for registration!!!

these experiential workshops will be held JUNE 9, 10 & 11 and AUGUST 5, 6 & 7 respectively and will feature the amazing Lena Hyde in Florida and Jose Villa in San Fransisco as guest speakers.


if you want in on the love, please send me an email at life (at) jeshderox.com with 'SEE YOU IN FLORIDA' or 'SEE YOU IN SAN FRANCISCO' as the subject.


priority will be given in the order we receive your emails.

much love friends,

jesh ; )


p.s. there's a chance we may do one more in May,,, if you want in on the love, please tell me which of these three cities you'd prefer:





p.p.s. i've implemented a new addition to the workshops which makes it easier for all my alumni peeps to come back and share the love : ) special conditions apply, write me for details,,,


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what happened in vegas,,, (life)

,,, will not stay there. even as i write this i'm hundreds of miles above and away from the city on my return trip home. though there were several challenges i didn't count on, already i know this has been one of the most personally enriching trips of my life.

thank you to the many wonderful people who attended my speech and resonated with what i had to give. as before, i am overwhelmed by all of the amazing letters of love, hope and change that we've received. even one such experience would make it all worth it, but they just keep coming in.

thank you as well to the people who went out of their way to make complaints about me. if you had known how much your actions would end up benefiting me, i wonder if you would still have tried so hard to bring me down,,,

thank you to the friends old and new who i journeyed with this week,,, some who traveled a long way specifically to share in this. i am a richer, stronger person for knowing you, and what you have given me - your wisdom, your tears, your smiles, your presence - i will never forget.

thank you also to those i counted as friends who have now chosen a different path. you remind me exactly how important this journey i take is.


the seeds for UpwardSpiral have been planted,,, and in what most would dismiss as waste, seeds find a perfect place to begin. now it's time to wait - while nature works its magic beneath the surface.


so much love to you my amazing friends,,, my heart is full and overflowing with what is now coming to life.

may you always listen to the part of yourself that knows the way to the journey only you can take.

jesh *

reinvent the wing,,, (announcement)

wonderful friends,,,

in 7 days i'll be speaking in las vegas for the WPPI convention.

i plan to announce a new project there that may well become my life's work.

it begins, as so many beautiful things do, very small,,, but i believe it could grow to one day touch many lives.

it is not important to me that a lot of people come to hear me speak,,, just that the right ones do.


if you know such a person, please pass them this information:


reinvent the wing
monday, march 17, 2008 - 7:30pm
gold room, bally's, las vegas


if they ask you what it means,,, just ask them to be there.


finished with fear, walking through walls, ready to fly *

jesh *



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personality,,, (life)

there is something truly powerful about inner expression,,,

i love to see people add their personal touch to traditions we're all familiar with. weddings are an amazing opportunity to do this: you have an entire captive audience of people who love
and respect you : )

even in day to day life, it's a wonderful exercise to explore how we might invest ourselves in the things that we do regularly. this approach is very apparent in the way kids interact with their world and exponentially increases learning/growth rates.

if nothing else, kids have a ridiculous amount of fun, lol - surely a worthy pursuit in itself!

'going through the motions' types of interactions separate us from the sense of wonder and adventure that adds color to our life.

if we can't mean something when we do it, perhaps we should ask ourselves if it's really worth doing,,,

have an incredibly lovely afternoon friends,

jesh ; )

remembering,,, (life)

life is a funny thing my friends,,, or, if not life,
the way we move inside it.

we run so hard, chasing whatever it is our brains have convinced us is the new necessity - looking for the next fix,,, for a brief moment of respite from epic pressures that seem so real to us.

and if we get what we want,,, if it makes us forget our pains for a few moments,,, lost in a kind of self-gratifying distraction,,, then we write off the days, years or people we spent getting there as worth the sacrifice,,,

the problem is, it doesn't last long, does it? a few moments,,, and the sweetness turns sour as we realize it wasn't quite what we thought it was. so we rush off towards the next all important destination, somehow convincing ourselves that this time we'll arrive to find the satisfaction we so desperately seek.

why do we obsessively follow a pattern that has proven itself wrong so many millions of times over?


i received a poignant letter today from a friend who has spent the last few days dealing with the death of a family member. fresh from the hard but powerful lessons of loss he says:

"...we will find strength. we will not always know how, or why it comes, but it will come.  if we remain open to learning whatever lessons there are for us to learn, and do not cloud our minds with things that make no difference--anger, hate, blame--we will find great clarity, great strength, and even great joy in times that seem to have none."

and here, he uncovers a great truth,,,

we look for joy, peace and strength in things, we look for joy in times, in circumstances and in achievements,,, but they don't exist there. they exist only within ourselves.

wealth is knowing what you have,,,
we are our own richness.


i spend a few minutes playing in the living room with my family, taking a few pictures of my wife and and two sons' precious faces and interactions,,,

as i head toward the office, back to work, my beautiful 3 year old son Prevail runs to me and says, 'daddy, daddy,,, remember to take a picture of her ponytail,,,'

ah, how i revel in the brilliance that springs from a mind in flight! i pick him up, twirling him around like the unchained bird he is,,, watching the light shining from his smiling eyes.

i think,,, what if the way to joy is found not through forgetting, but by remembering?

i will not forget, my beautiful Prevail, i promise you.
i promise myself,,,


i want to be a part of a world that knows exactly how rich she is,,, will you help me remind her?


jesh *

mike & bree (eSession)

mike & bree, it has been wonderful working with you. thank you for braving the ridiculously cold (-40) weather to shoot this eSession! you are true canadians : )

for our southern friends: no it's not always so cold up here,,, but every once in a while we get a bit of a cold front ; )

much love friends,

jesh : )

sasha & teresa (wedding)

the amazing sasha & teresa were married in gorgeous northern new york state.

it was my first time in the area, and i had no idea such lush countryside was so close to the biggest metro area in the united states!!! the autumn change there is not something to be missed.

i don't shoot a lot of receptions and took advantage of the opportunity by playing : ) the last three images are an exploration in trying to capture how it feels to dance,,,

thank you both for having me, i am a richer person for meeting you.

much love,

jesh ; )

p.s. special thanks to the person who introduced us,,, you know who you are ; )

the cover of rangefinder!!! (announcement)

hello friends : )

to be featured in Rangefinder magazine, and especially to have the cover is very surreal for me.

i'm honored to have been interviewed by my friend Bruce Dorn, quite a multi-talented fellow who was wonderful to work with : )

i very much appreciate all of the kind words that have been sent from friends both old and new regarding the interview. i am deeply grateful for every opportunity to share the love.


each time my capacity and desire for giving increases, an unexpected avenue opens to help me deliver it.

i begin a beautiful journey of trust,,, with life,,,

i want to show fear for the dreamkiller it is. if people could see how thin a wall it makes, they would laugh to think it ever held them in place.

a change comes to the world. a change that was always here, waiting.


many blessings and so much love,,,


jesh : )


p.s. special thanks to Marc Weisberg for the photo of the magazine
(i haven't received mine yet, lol)


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indy & boston,,, (workshops)

hello wonderful people,,,

i'm glad to announce the next two cities for our tour : )

both Indianapolis - life (as an artform) and Boston - life (as an artform) are now open for registration!!!

these experiential workshops will be held APRIL 1st through the 3rd and APRIL 28th through MAY 1st respectively and will feature the awesome Linda Wallace in Indy and Tamara Lackey in Boston as guest speakers.


the spaces fill up quickly! if you want in on the love, please send me an email at life (at) jeshderox.com with 'SEE YOU IN INDY' or 'SEE YOU IN BOSTON' as the subject.


priority will be given in the order we receive your emails.

much love friends,

jesh ; )


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