Ben Larrabee's Blog

I realized fear had prevented me from pursuing my true passion, photography. I was afraid of appearing to be too idealistic – just like my dad, whom I had criticized at times for being unrealistic. I didn’t want to fall into the stereotype of the impractical, spaced out artist. I was worried that I might not be able to support my family, that my in-laws would be upset with me and maybe we’d even lose our house, I believed that photography was what I was meant to do. I felt passionate about it.

In the words of Joseph Campbell; a professor of mythology at Sarah Lawrence College: “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living . . .” or as I remember an interview with Bill Moyers “a life spent making money and not following your bliss is a wasted life.”

I’ve been following my bliss for the past 17 years. As my brother once advised me, “if it’s the right decision nature will support it”. I’m grateful that photography has proven to be a very successful bliss for me. I am able to explore the authentic details of people’s lives and create intimate, revealing photographic portraits that serve as reminders of what is beautiful and enduring in my clients lives. I call my images healing images, Moments of Grace.

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers, edited by Betty Sue Flowers. Doubleday and Co, 1988,
p. 120

Eileen #4, 2004

Couple, Santa Barbara, CA

When I graduated from RISD in 1967 with a degree in photography, I wondered how I could make a living. I didn’t want to teach or be a commercial photographer. The only other thing I new anything about was graphic design. So I decided I would make an income as a graphic designer and photograph on my own. I started my own design firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts and enjoyed success, winning awards and earning national and international recognition for my work. I kept photographing and set up a darkroom in the front hall of my apartment.

I had a vision of a five-year plan for my career while I was on a four-month meditation course in Switzerland. It included getting a Masters Degree in Graphic Design (Yale) working as a designer for a large corporation (Westinghouse) and for a large design office in NYC (Vignelli Associates) and then starting my own design practice (Larrabee Associates). I did all of this, only it took me ten years instead of five.

In 1993 I decided to take a chance to pursue my photography. I had been chanting in Chinatown, New York with a Tibetan Rinpoche. This experience of chanting along with my daily practice of meditation and Agnihotra led me to the point where I couldn’t go deeper in my practice without first answering the question “what’s my purpose on the planet?”

Trudie, Deer isle, 1997

Sisters, Bedford, NY