It’s funny because I know a lot of my good ol days are behind me. Nights out with friends before we all had responsibilities; Trips to Miami, Vegas, and LA when our biggest worry was whether we’d get into the club or not.

In a lot of ways the good ‘ol days have somehow managed to stretch from 20’s to 30’s and now into 40’s. In a lot of ways, the good ol days even incorporate some of the note so great days.

You see one of the things I’ve been practicing for the better part of the last year is writing how supremely lucky I feel on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s in the morning, sometimes afternoon, or sometimes right before bed but I take a couple moments just to jot down all of the things that come to mind that I’m thankful for that day.

I’m sure you’re not surprised to know not many of them are about a watch, a car, or some new tech I just bought…it’s all the people. Always family, always friends, always the people who make up this beautiful life I feel so lucky and blessed to occupy.

It’s a funny thing when you reach a place in life where thankfulness fills your heart. In truth I never imagined I’d be the kind of person who took time to express gratitudes or thankfulness for the abundance that is my life but I guess time has a way of surprising us all.

If I could change one thing about Andy’s quote it would be to amend it to be something more encompassing and much shorter.

We’re always in the good ‘ol days.

Sure life is hard. You have good days and bad days, good years and bad years, but 100/100 times if you were given the opportunity on your death bed to go back and start at the beginning you would. For sure I know it 100%.

I guess what I’m trying to say as a supremely thankful person is take a couple minutes each day and just be thankful.

As I get older and the calendar quietly adds another year to my tally I find myself quantifying life a little more. Ok, maybe a lot more.

Who would’ve thought I’d photograph a runway show? Or Vampire Weekend? Or an Army football game? Create personal projects out of thin air that I’m remarkably proud of?

Who could’ve imagined I’d record over 150 episodes of my podcast?

I’ve learned a lot in my 40 years, and I’ll share some of it here. But before I do, let me say this: don’t wait for a birthday—or a loss for that matter—to appreciate the people and experiences in your life. Birthdays make reflection easy, but my hope heading into year 40 is to do this more often, without needing a reason.

Forty years is a long time. And somehow, it feels like nothing at all. There’s that duality of life thing again.

Every day is a steppingstone toward an inevitable finish—and one I find myself no longer fearing. There’s something strange and freeing that happens with time: the more of it you put behind you, the less you worry about what’s ahead. (sometimes)

There’s a calculable number of days to my life, I can count them:

14,611

A number. Big? Kind of. Small? Maybe?

Inside those days exist countless moments I’m only now learning how to recognize and process. How many times have I laughed until it hurt? Cried until it was over? Tried and failed—and tried again? Too many to count. But those experiences have left behind a few truths worth sharing.

Tell people you love them. Often. Always.

Take chances. Don’t live afraid of risk.

We have one real enemy in this world—and it’s time, not each other.

There’s a quiet beauty in arriving at a point in life and realizing you’re finally prepared. And at 40, today—through every high and low—I’m ready for whatever comes next. That’s a foreign feeling for someone who spent the last decade trying to figure it all out. But standing here now, I get it. I understand what life is about.

It’s about people.

It’s about chasing dreams.

It’s about winning big or winning small.

And being ok when you lose as it is inevitable.

I only wish I could bottle this confidence—this comfort in my own skin—and save it for the days when I forget what this feels like. I wish that this feeling of safety I have built inside of myself could be something I teach and impart to others. But alas I feel you can only arrive at this junction via time. It cannot be taught.

So here’s to year forty—not as a finish line, but much more like a new beginning. I’m not chasing certainty anymore. I’m chasing presence. Showing up. Paying attention. Loving deeply. Taking the shot even when the outcome isn’t guaranteed.

If the next chapter teaches me anything, I hope it’s this: that a life well lived isn’t measured in years or achievements or a house full of stuff, but in how fully you were there while it was happening.

For a while I’ve felt like from a photography perspective I had been spinning my wheels. It kind of felt a bit Groundhog Day-ish when it came to the things I was shooting and creating. But last week when I was going through my photos from a recent shoot I stopped for a moment and admired something I shot.

For the record, this was new to me. Most of the things I shoot I think are fine but they lack depth. I came across this photos and for the first time in a while thought well shit that’s not half bad. I’m not entirely sure how often this will happen in my career but in the meantime I plan on sharing more of my work here with the occasional musings on my feelings of the work. I think it could prove helpful to connect words with pictures and maybe inspire me to create more.

Mynxii White is an award-winning director, photographer, and cinematographer represented by Chromista, the production company founded by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. Known for her cinematic vision and emotionally resonant storytelling, Mynxii has directed major campaigns for Cartier, Bvlgari, Leica, and V Magazine, where she serves as the publication’s primary film director.

Her work has been featured in Vogue Italia, Elle Japan, Flaunt, and countless other publications. Most recently, she directed a short film for McLaren and OKX, celebrating the launch of McLaren’s 2025 Monaco Grand Prix livery, blending her signature visual language with the world of Formula 1. Over the course of her career, Mynxii has collaborated with iconic figures such as Laura Dern, Kirsten Dunst, Penélope Cruz, Jennifer Aniston, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, and Ariana Grande. She currently serves as the Global Editor at Schon! Magazine and continues to create work at the intersection of fashion, film, and contemporary culture. ⁠

https://www.eamgmt.com/mynxiiwhite⁠ ⁠

https://leica-camera.com/en-US/lfp-her-legacy-mynxii-white⁠

Travis W Keyes is a Photographer, Filmmaker and Content creator specializing in cinematic portraits.  He currently serves As National President of American Photographic Artists, a member of Adobe's Lightroom Advisory Board,  National Association of Broadcasters Creator Council, Harlowe Ambassador of Light and Sony Alpha Camera advocate

www.traviswkeyes.com

https://www.instagram.com/twkeyes/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/traviswkeyes/

https://linktr.ee/twkp

Andrew Vanwickler is a New York City-based artist renowned for his creative storytelling through photography, filmmaking, and design. With over 16 years of experience in media, he has held various roles at Disney, ESPN, and ABC, culminating as the Director of Visual Content for ABC News. Recently, Andrew has led Harlowe experiences and collaborates on workshops that inspire creativity and promote authenticity. His work embodies a strong commitment to embracing your true self and expressing individuality through visual narratives.

Follow Andrew on Instagram @avwpictures

www.avwpictures.com

Kiran Karnani is the CMO of Harlowe, where she leads brand strategy, creative storytelling, and community engagement with a focus on creating authentic brand experiences. Formerly the Vice President of Marketing for Leica Camera, Kiran founded the Leica Women Foto Project to support and elevate underrepresented voices in photography. She has served as a juror for international photography competitions and was recognized as a Global Icon by Retro Kolkata Magazine for her contributions to the creative industry. At Harlowe, she remains dedicated to shaping brands that foster authentic connections, inspiring and empowering anyone who chooses to express themselves through light.

Make sure to like, subscribe, and tune in for all new episodes of the podcast!

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I’m lucky that my birthday is in December. I like it because the proximity to New Years gives me a special kind of timing to look back on the last year and take stock on how it was. I gotta be honest, the last 4-years since Covid have felt like a rollercoaster that I’m just starting to hit the slow part of. So much of the last 4-years have felt out of control that 2024 has been the biggest blessing I could have ever asked for.

Creatively speaking the work I’ve done, and the comfortability I’ve developed in my shooting style/process has been super rewarding. Earlier this year I moved into my own studio for the first time and I think it has taken the entirety of this year but I’m finally producing work that I think shows the growth I’ve experienced since starting my career as a photographer.

Also (spoiler alert) I’m writing again and if I’m being honest I never thought I’d get back to this place.

Writing has always been such a crucial outlet for me and having spent the better part of the last 5-6 years not doing it, finding it again has been one of the great joys of this year. I’ve usually done a good job taking my life and the important moments and jotting down thoughts and feelings about it but for a while I lost that. Finding it again has felt amazing.

Remarkably, for me, this year has been both extremely successful and also extremely difficult (as most years are). There’s this inherent duality in life where things can be amazing but also shitty. Good days, bad days, weeks, months, etc. They all have culminated into a good year. I’m thankful for all of the hard shit I experienced this year because in the process of looking back on it I’m able to find perspective for what I want out of my 2025, and the future in general.

So often I feel like I’ve put the future on a pedestal. I was looking forward to stuff so much that I didn’t look at the present. This year I set a bunch of goals for myself and honestly accomplished a lot of them, some I didn’t even get close to. Regardless of my successes or perceived failures for my 2024 goals, I was able to find so much happiness in becoming a better version of the person I want to be. That in and of itself makes anything I didn’t achieve an afterthought. The truth is, as you get older (at least for me) you get closer and closer to the person you want to be. For me 2024 was a giant leap forward into the man I want to become.

I think the single greatest gift I’ve given myself this year is the comfort I feel in my own skin. Granted this isn’t just some feeling I decided on X date to bestow upon myself, but at some point this year I gave myself the peace to appreciate the person I am. It may not sound like a lot but for a person who relies quite a bit on external validation for things like work, feeling like myself and doing what I want has been tremendous. That comfort has given me clarity to view my life in a way I don’t think I’ve been able to before.

As a human it’s so easy to lose sight on the things we accomplish. There’s always something else to aspire for, something more to achieve or lust after. I don’t know if it is because of social media or we’re just inherently wired to never be satisfied but this year is the first year in a very long time where I stopped and smelled the roses.

This year I went to Paris. A place I’ve been dying to travel to my entire life and I finally fucking went. So much of the last call it 10-years I’d not been traveling because I always felt it was lame or sad to travel the world alone. Let me tell you, I was extremely fucking wrong. I had no idea what a transformative experience traveling alone could be. That one week trip turned into a gigantic inflection point of my life and I’m disappointed it has taken me this long to take that leap.

So what’s my advice to myself and to you for next year?

Stop worrying about the wreckage of the future.

I think I’ve spent far too many sleepless nights worrying about what will be, instead of creating a life for myself that I want. Worry is a young man’s game and having hit the 50 yard line of life I’m mindful on the limited amount of days we get to experience. I know it sounds overly dramatic but if 50% of my life is gone, I want the next 50% to be used to the max.

For now, it’s time to live life the way I want and on my terms. It’s time to create the things I want to create, travel the places I want to travel, and experience anything and everything I want.

So 2025, I have a lot of high expectations for you and I’m incredibly excited for what the future holds.

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On today’s episode of The Wrong Advice Podcast I chat with David “BS” Bradshaw.

David is an artist/artist-educator, stunt rollerblader, and celebrator of progress repping Brooklyn, NYC. An accomplished songwriter and champion freestyle rapper, BS has performed with Broadway’s Freestyle Love Supreme, released music through Tommy Boy Records, and co-presented at Harvard University’s Can’t Stop Hip-Hop conference. BS is also the founder of Freestyle Fitness NYC, a freestyle rap education initiative where adults can play, be their authentic selves, and celebrate progress in community. Make sure to check out David’s socials below and his new single “Wave Back” is out now!

TikTok: @trustBSofficial

IG: @trustBS @freestylefitnessnyc

⁠www.trustBS.com⁠

Splash page for latest release “Wave Back” (spotify/applemusic/dsp links ): ⁠https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/bs19/wave-back-feat-jackson-whalan⁠

I often come upon moments where my own expectations of how a given situation is going to play out will vary differently from the reality of what happens. I have in the last month or so gone through a massive experience when it comes to the expectation versus reality paradox as I call it. I had an extremely long 10-month pitch for a project that I lost.

Over the course of the last year, I have been working on something that was going to be huge for me, my business, and take things to a whole new level. My expectations for what I could conceivably accomplish were going to dramatically get blown out of the water and I could, once this project came to fruition, expect my life to change dramatically. For some reasons I can’t get into the specifics right now, but a long story longer, after 10-months of negotiations for a project that I had signed on the dotted line for, unexpectedly the entire situation blew up a mere 4-days before the project was due to begin.

This has for lack of a better term, fucked me. Sort of.

Over the course of the last year I dreamt about the positives that this project would do for my me and my career and even my own confidence for myself as a person and an entrepreneur. I worked my ass off tirelessly and for no monetary compensation to get to the finish line to ultimately be denied and devastated. Not for lack of trying obviously, and certainly not for my lack of desire to achieve this, but nevertheless the project is now dead and I’m left reeling and trying to pick up the pieces of where and how things went wrong.

In some ways I’m still numb to the failure but encouraged by how I’ve continued to handle this situation.

The funny thing about expectations and reality is that even when they don’t align, sometimes you can end up in a net benefit position. It may be hard to see it in the immediate aftermath, but much like when Tom found out the woman he loved was engaged to another person, I’ve reached the reality portion of this story and am in a few ways excited about what the future may hold.

So often with failure we try our best to hide our disappointment, or not even acknowledge what has happened. We take the L, put our heads down, and move on to the next chapter. For me, I wish we were more forthcoming when we failed in life. Whether it’s relationships, or work, people can learn a lot from the commonality that is found in failure. We all have hopes and dreams and expectations of how our lives are meant to be, and we all have for better or worse, don’t always meet those expectations we’ve created for ourselves. It’s in these failures where I feel we ultimately learn the most about ourselves. It’s through these intense moments of defeat and despair where the real growth possibilities in life happen.

The cause for my glass half full mentality I have on this particular failure is simple, I believe that what’s meant for me will find me. And ultimately I won’t give up till all of my hopes and dreams come true.

As the sting of this failure dissipates, my own expectations for my next chapter increase and become clearer. It’s only when you start to process the reality of a situation where you can see the wonderful lesson for what it is, take it, and grow from it.

As I slowly move back into the groove of rebuilding and growing I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the chance to look back at all I’ve been able to accomplish alone these last 4-years and be excited for everything I have yet to try and succeed at. In the end, failure is simply life moving you into a new and yet to be determined direction. For me, I’ve moved beyond the initial sadness of the failure to the optimistic portion of this lesson and I for one am extremely excited for what comes next.