Celebrate what's right with the world | Dewitt Jones | TEDxSouthLakeTahoe

Are you discouraged by what's happening in the world today? Then watch this. In minutes, you'll rediscover the wonders and possibilities that surround us everyday just waiting to be noticed and celebrated. Find out for yourself why former National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones is considered by thousands to be one of the most inspiring speakers on the planet. Dewitt Jones is one of America’s top professional photographers. 20 years with National Geographic, 10 years creating national advertising campaigns, 2 documentary films nominated for Academy Awards. 20 years speaking to audiences around the world on vision, possibility and celebration.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

I spent a large part of my life
as a photographer

for National Geographic.

World's greatest job.

Well, that job-- it changed my life
in a very surprising way.

And that's the story
I want to share with you tonight.

It began long before
I ever picked up a camera.

My family had taken
the magazine for years.

By the time I was able to read,
I’d grab when it came into the house,

I'd take it upstairs.
I'd read it at night.

My Dad would say,
“Turn off the light, Dewitt. Go to bed!”

I’d turn the light back on.
I'd get a flashlight.

I'd stay up and stare at the pictures
in this little yellow book,

pictures that showed me the possibilities
the world had to offer.

I never thought I’d work for them;
I never thought I’d shoot for them,

but they were already changing
the way I looked at the world.

Because the Geographic
has an extraordinary vision--

so simple yet so profound.

What they charged me with,
every time they sent me out,

was to celebrate
what was right with the world,

rather than
wallowing in what was wrong with it.

That’s why we keep
these little yellow magazines.

It’s a national sacrilege
to throw one away,

you know that.

(Laughter)

If all the Geographic's in the world
disappeared at one time

half the houses
would fall in on themselves.

(Laughter)

Because they’re supported
by big yellow columns in the basement.

(laughter)

Why? Because they celebrate
what’s right with the world.

When I first began at the Geographic,

I had no idea how powerful
that vision would be,

how much it would change my life.

But our vision controls our perception,
and our perception becomes our reality.

From the highest mountains,
to rivers drenched in sunlight,

to waterfalls and rainbows.

Everywhere I looked there would be
amazing beauty for me to photograph.

And, you know, in the Geographic’s view,
man was not something separate from this

just as magical as anything else
on the planet.

And the more I just went out
and celebrated the best in humanity,

the more I could see it.

I could see it, and I could see it
in the faces of those at work,

or the body language of those at play,

those in their youth,

or in their age.

I thought this would be a good picture
before he smiled, right?

(laughter)

I could see it. I could see that light,
that light that shines not on us,

but from within us.

From within us when we have
the courage to let it out.

It was the same light
that I'd seen in nature

that didn’t seem to have
to trust to expose itself

but just graced us every day
with the delicacy of a flower,

or the light of a breaking storm.

And yet the more I shot
for the Geographic,

the more I found this strange
conflict growing up

between the world view of the Geographic,

and the world view that
I’d been raised in since I was a kid.

You all know it-- the law of the jungle--
Eat or be eaten. My win is your loss.

Second place is the first loser!

(laughter)

I once saw that on a T-shirt.

That is a very depressing way
to look at life.

(Laughter)

Far too many of us
do see the world in that light--

a world based on fear
and scarcity and competition.

But that’s not what nature was showing me.

Nature was showing me

incredible beauty and possibility
standing just beyond the rat race saying

“Hello, Hello…”

I mean, come on.

Mother Nature never stood
in front of a forest and said,

“There is one great photograph
hidden here.

One photographer will find it
and the rest of you

will be hopeless losers.”

(Laughter)

Nature said,
“How many cards do you got, Dewitt?

Bring it on. I'll fill it up.

I'll fill it up with beauty
and possibility

beyond your wildest imaginings.

Right down to my tiniest seed.

And that was just a much more
elegant philosophy,

a much more compassionate way
of looking at the universe.

And at some point,
I just decided to embrace it.

I just decided that if I had a choice
between a world based on scarcity

and fear and one based on possibility,
then, man, I was choosing possibility.

And no matter how dry and desolate,
how bleak and devoid of possibilities

the situation might seem,
if I could just celebrate

the best in it--
in this case just by dropping down

into that slot canyon and looking back
the other way--

I could find a perspective
that would transform the ordinary...

into the extraordinary.

Through that lens of celebration,

I could see one of nature's
most important lessons--

There's more than one right answer.

There’s more than one right answer.
There are a thousand ways

to come at any challenge
to find that extraordinary view.

And I know it so easily
from my time at the Geographic.

They sent me to the town
of Smith River in Northern California.

They raise about 80% of the Easter lilies
in the country around that village,

and that's the story I had to tell.

And I’ve got a perspective where
I've got picked lilies and unpicked lilies

and the boy picking them.

One right answer. Pretty good one.

But as a photographer,
I never think of stopping there.

I took this picture;
immediately I grabbed another lens,

walked over a couple rows,
knelt down and found another right answer.

The same parameters
of the problem now seen

from a totally different point of view,

and my favorite right answer
that day was this one.

This is an advanced levitation technique
that I picked up along the way.

(Laughter)

Three right answers.
So many things begin to change

when you come at the world
from that perspective

of more than one right answer.

First of all, you never look for just
one right answer. There’s always more.

But then as you begin to find
more and more of them,

you just get more and more comfortable
with reframing obstacles

into opportunities.

Geographic sent me
to the Selkirk Mountains

Of British Colombia. Gorgeous area.

I'm wandering around,
I find a field of dandelions.

I should have been ecstatic but I wasn’t.

I don’t know why.

Instead of grabbing my cameras
and running into it,

I took a snap shot; I said, "I don't know.

The light’s not quite right,
I’ll come back tomorrow”.

I didn’t engage.

We all know what happens
when you don’t engage.

Tomorrow turns into the next day,
the next day turns

into the next week, and by the time
I got back to that field…

No more dandelions. I had puffballs.

I wanted dandelions, I had puffballs.

And I was just about to leave
when this little voice in my head said,

"Dewitt, what’s here to celebrate?
What's right with this situation?

You wanted dandelions, you got puffballs!”

Puff balls, puff balls-- pretty soon I'm
down on the ground with the puffballs.

I'm rolling around with the puffballs.

I'm on top of the puffballs.
I'm underneath the puffballs.

And all of a sudden-- Whoa!

(Laughter)

Whoa! That extraordinary view.

It always seemed to be there

when I had looked through
that lens of celebration.

Extraordinary image,
but I can already hear

the cynics grumbling,
“Dewitt, you’re such a pollyanna,

(Laughter)

The world is in flames--

war, terrorism, poverty, global warming.
And you’re shooting puffballs!

(Laughter)

Well, to the cynics I say,
“Change your lens!”

Celebrating what’s right
is not a perspective

that denies the very real pain
and suffering that exists on this planet.

Rather, it’s a perspective that puts
those problems into a larger,

more balanced, context.

A context when we can see
that there’s far more right with the world

than there is wrong with it.

When I put on that lens of celebration,

when I really allow myself to see
and connect with the beauty of the world,

I feel like I’m a cup that’s so full
it’s just about to overflow.

I feel… I feel like I’m falling in love.

That's what it feels like.
I mean, think about it.

Think of a time when you've been in love,
and you get up in the morning

and you stagger into the bath, and you go,

"Ah, the toothbrush, what a miracle!"

(Laughter)

It's followed by the soap dish
and the towel.

The whole world is beautiful,
and you are so full and so fired up.

And that doesn't surprise me,
because when we're in love,

we're in touch with a source
of incredible energy.

We call it-- Passion! Passion!
What most of us

wouldn’t give to be connected
to the energy of passion on a daily basis.

Well, extraordinary visions do that,
they release passion.

So no matter how strange
a situation that I walk into,

the first thing I'm going to ask,
”What’s here to celebrate?

What am I falling in love with?”

In this case it’s easy,
because that happens to be

MY daughter...

Most dads would help
their daughter in this situation.

(Laughter)

But it didn’t matter.

Whenever I could get a lock on
what was right with the situation,

then I was passionate,
energized to enhance that

and get rid of everything else.

Instead of starting-- as we so often do--

by griping about what’s wrong
with the situation--

what’s right with it?

Because that connects us with our passion.

That energizes us!

Celebrating what's right
gives us the energy

to find that next right answer.

As Michelangelo once said,
“I saw an angel in the stone,

and carved to set it free.”

"I saw an angel in the stone…
and carved to set it free.”

Everyday we get to choose
what lens we see the world with.

It's our choice.

And you know, the more I do that,
the more I choose the lens of celebration,

the more I find-- both in my photography,
but way more important, in my life--

that the difference between a good frame
and a great frame is far, far closer

than I ever would have dreamed.

Good frame. A morning glory
on the beach in Maui,

10 inches away-- Great frame. Great frame.

Good frame. A cowboy in Bryce Canyon.
Believe it or not named Binky.

(Laughter)

I’m taking Binky’s picture,
and I’m loving it,

but then I just backed Binky up about 30
feet into the doorway of the barn,

Great frame. Great frame.

Good frame. The Golden Gate Bridge
at sunset with the new moon rising.

Man, how does it get any better?
15 minutes later… Great frame.

Change your lens, change your life!

I lecture all over the country...
to all different kinds of people.

And you know what? They all hunger
for this lens of celebration.

They all want to try it on.

We all have it.
It’s right there waiting to be picked up.

Why don’t we do it?

Maybe, it’s because every day
the internet and the media bombard us

with all that’s wrong with the world.

And it’s so easy to buy into it.

It's so easy to stare into that darkness.

But wouldn’t you rather focus
on the light rather than the dark?

Wouldn’t you rather focus on what’s right
rather than what’s wrong?

That’s the change we make when we put on

that lens of celebration.

Do I have that lens on all the time?

No, come on, I’m human.

But a long time ago
I was given a touchstone,

a touchstone and a guide
that should I ever I take it off,

help me put it right back on.

I’d like to give both
of those to you tonight,

by telling you the story
of how they came into my possession.

I was photographing on an island
off the coast of British Columbia.

And it wasn’t going well.

(Laughter)

The weather was gloomy,
so were my pictures,

but I was getting ready
to go out there again.

I got a big camera bag and a huge tripod--
and I looked up, and on the steps

of the lodge where I was staying,
there sat a five-year-old boy,

a five-year-old boy
with a very big smile on his face.

He looked down at me and said,
"Do you have a camera?"

I was festooned with cameras.

(Laughter)

I said, “Yeah, I got one”.

And then he raised his hand
and I realized why he asked

because he had a magic camera.

It was yellow. It had a blue lens.
It had a red eyepiece

and a turquoise rewind knob
with a little straw coming out of it.

He said, "Can I photograph with you?"

Well, that was about the last thing
I wanted to have happen,

but I didn’t know how to say no,
so I said, “Come on”.

So we went down into the woods,
and I got my first shot.

And then this kid was so cute,
he squeezed in front of the tripod

like this, backed up against it,
raises it, (click).

- Did you get it?
- Yeah

(Laughter)

And again-- that smile.
Well, we kept going.

Me shooting and grousing,
him shooting and smiling.

And it started to rain.

It started to rain.

And I was setting up what I thought
was the last dismal shot of a dismal day,

And he's just sitting
next to me in the grass,

looking very intently at all of my gear,
and finally he raised his face toward me,

and he said, "Does your camera
have juice in it?"

(Laughter)

I said, "No." He said, "Mine does."

(Laughter)

Sucked on that little straw.

(Laughter)

His question almost knocked me over--
“Did my camera have juice in it?”

No, mine didn’t, and his did.
I was the one with the wrong perspective.

I was the one who’d lost the passion
to find that next right answer.

There wasn’t anything more to say,

I went out and bought myself
a juice camera.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And every day, Adam and this camera

remind me to celebrate
what's right with the world.

And every time I do--

Every time I allow myself
to fall in love with all of it,

I really do see a world of light
and possibility.

Come on, you’ve all seen it --
not just in the faces of your children

and your grandchildren,

it’s out there all the time.

And, you know,
the beauty of that world-- our world,

shows us a wonderful example
of how to live, of how to love.

Of a banquet laid, of a cup overflowing.

And I know that
if we let that beauty fill us up,

that we, too, will overflow,
and it'll come out in everything we do.

In the ideals we hold,
in the passion and compassion we feel,

in the love we are no longer
afraid to express.

That perspective, that lens,
it will change your life,

as it has changed mine.

See that vision, my friends,
and celebrate...

what’s right with the world!

Thank you very much.

(Applause)

Thank you.

(Cheering)