a couple of years ago we met a guy at our local coffee shop - ugees - in west end. dave and i had seen him come to the coffee shop for ages and we knew he was friends with mutual friends. and then one day, all that changed.
we walked into the coffee shop and saw a photographic exhibition and was instantly drawn in. i enquired about the photographer and it was the guy that we had seen, but never spoken to and he was doing a silent auction of his work.
i asked dave which piece he loved and he loved this piece and we agreed, it was amazing, but it was so big and of course that means people would probably be bidding a lot and we didn't have a lot, but what i had was a great idea.
what if we offer this guy an opportunity to come over for dinner with some of our other friends in exchange for the photo. everyone wins - he gets a great meal, gets to meet some new people and we get this great piece of art and guess what, he got a great meal, got to meet some new people and we got a great piece of art.
for me, money isn't a motivator and obviously for ian, that wasn't the motivator either and for the next year or so, ian was in our world and we loved his company. ian's generosity was again on show when he donated some of his photos, in the same coffee shop, to help raise money for one of our friends. he does it in the spirit of giving.
and then, ian left us and what he is doing is summed up in this interview with velovoices which is a cycling blog and which he has kindly shared. From this it appears that he is truly following his dream. for me it's inspiring to know this guy.
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