I was diagnosed with cancer about four years ago in Des Moines, Iowa. I was really sick and hospitalized twice. The second time I stayed for nearly two months. Eventually, I moved to Tucson, Arizona to be near my family who had located an oncologist we all trusted. After six months of chemo and a clean bill of health it occured to me that I needed to do something different with my life. As cliche as it sounds, it was a 'carpe diem' moment for me. I asked myself, "What have I always wanted to do, but didn't do out of fear or some other reason holding me back?" Well, I'd always wanted to buy a professional camera and take photos of the Milky Way, the night sky and the cosmos. I'd also wanted to go to as many concerts and shows as possible. Anything I'd normally make an excuse to avoid doing, I'd immediately find a way to do. I imagined combining those two changes. At first I purchased a Sony a73 and a 16-35mm 2.8 GM lens. I used them to begin a photography hobby in earnest. I'd studied for an entire year about which camera to buy and how to use it. Seriously. I read for one year about how to use the Sony camera before ever owning it. I now try to take photos every day. That transformed me into a true photographer. I later bought a 61-megapixel Sony a7r4a to go with the 24MP a73, a DJI Air2 drone, a GoPro 9 and a Ricoh GR3 -- any which combination goes with me everywhere. I do hope you enjoy looking at some of my work. Best wishes to you all. Below is a kind of scrapbook pastiche I keep adding to of all the concerts and shows I've attended since I first was told I was cancer-free after six months of chemotherapy. Well, actually, I attended one show before I was even finished with chemo -- and that one was Japanese Breakfast. I'd always loved the music of Michelle Zauner, but I especially grew attatched to her story about her mother dying of cancer. Later, I was also moved to see she'd created a book about that tragedy and grief. For me, it was music, books, art and finding a purpose through photography. And I've never been the same since. The concert photography I've taken, beginning through chemo and now four years after, I'd at first dubbed "The Cancer Tour". But now I refer to it as my "Carpe Diem" tour. You can see all the shows below in a kind of rough pastiche of dates I cobble together to keep track of the day I began to do one thing I truly love.