By now, I’m realizing that this journal is becoming mostly about my dog. And Lin :)
Slow Mornings
“Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” -Mary Oliver
Day After Christmas
The day after Christmas is also one of my favorite days of the year. The festivities have wound down, and it becomes a day of rest and recovery after a few days of nonstop eating, conversing, and more eating. The highlight for me was working out and sitting in the sauna at the YMCA for a long while, followed by listening to Lin play her new crystal bowls with Pizza.
Christmas Day 2025
It’s hard to believe another Christmas has already come and gone. As a result of recent changes I’ve made in my professional life, this one felt especially meaningful.
This was my first Christmas fully settled into my full-time work as a coach for filmmakers. While I’ve done this work in different forms for almost 8 years now, last year I chose to pursue it full time and continue growing my company Nourish. The shift showed up clearly in my body this holiday.
In past years, Christmas often arrived with my nervous system still wound tight from high-pressure film environments and the constant uncertainty of freelance filmmaking. Even in moments of joy, rest and presence were harder to access.
This year felt different. I felt grounded, regulated, and alive. The peace of the day was able to land, helped in no small part by Lin and me stepping away from the stimulation to take a few walks and even sneak in a midday nap.
I still find myself attached to my traditional filmmaking identity from time to time, but as I look at these photos and reflect on the last few days, I feel a deeper acceptance of who I am now and the work I’m building. Coaching filmmakers has brought me closer to myself. And I will always be a filmmaker at heart, practicing whether or not it pays the bills.
What I want most in life is pretty simple: to feel alive more often then not, to move at a pace that supports my nervous system, and to spend unhurried time with the people I love.
This Christmas feels like a quiet marker of a new season rooted in growth, integration, and faith.
Christmas Eve
The day started with a banana and a journal…
Christmas Eve has become one of my favorite days of the year. It’s one of very few days each year I give myself full permission to shut out all thoughts of work and just be present for the days ahead. In my family, we call this “The Bregel Blockout.” The phrase started with my dad years ago as his way of protecting his mind from unnecessary drama, stress, or unpleasantness. Somewhere along the way, I adopted it as a small but meaningful antidote to my own workaholic tendencies.
This morning I met up with my godfather, Harold, at one of my favorite coffee shops to ease into the day and spend time together before our weekly book study. Since COVID, Harold, his longtime college friend Jon, and I have met every Wednesday to read and reflect together. Today we decided to press pause on the book and talk instead about where we grew, and where we didn’t, over the course of 2025.
One thing that became clear to me is that I feel more confident in my voice than I ever have before. There are a lot of reasons for that, but one book that’s had a real impact on me is The Four Agreements. One of its core ideas, “Don’t Take Anything Personally”, has stayed with me. I’ve felt noticeably more fearless this year in expressing myself and simply being who I am, without trying to overly manage how it lands.
After our conversation, Harold pulled out boxes of old photos from a summer camp he worked at as a counselor in his twenties.
From there, I did some very last minute Christmas shopping for our neighbors and, of course, their pets. One of our neighbors has a cat named Sam who loves to sit outside our door until we let him in and feed him. We keep a stash of cat food just for him. Our dog Pizza, often tries to hump Sam, which understandably does not go over well. Sam slaps Pizza and hisses, and Lin and I laugh every single time.
The rest of the day included an open house at a family friend’s place, church with my family, dinner together, and now ending the night sitting in front of a fire, winding down, and writing this.
And that’s all I’ve got.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays. - Jon
Christmas Hot-Pot
Tonight we went to our favorite Chinese Hot-Pot restaurant to celebrate Christmas with my bestie Paige. Since the timezones are opposite of China, Lin’s family often joins us on facetime.
Self Portrait
I was showing my friend Paige my new “blog” the other day and she told me that I should post some photos of myself on occasion. Here’s one from this morning :)
Christmas Prep
Today we went on a small adventure to two of my least favorite places: Marshalls and Target. As expected, Pizza was deeply sad to see us leave, though thankfully we were back pretty quickly. We didn’t find what we were looking for, and within minutes I was reminded exactly why I avoid those stores: the lighting, the lines, the general sensory overload.
My dad and I have had a name for what that bright, overhead lighting does to us ever since I was a kid. We call it “mall sickness.” Despite feeling very mall sick, I still managed to photograph a mannequin with no pants and take a couple self-portraits at the request of my bestie Paige.
The rest of the day felt slow and full in a good way. A new class on contemplative spirituality, church with my parents + Godfather, wrapping gifts, and eating my current favorite mock-pizza situation (cottage cheese, marinara, avocado, and Ezekiel bread). I also drafted another chapter of my book, and now I’m winding down a bit before a short two-day workweek begins.
This is my favorite time of year for a lot of reasons I won’t get into today. I’m just feeling light lately, grateful, and really excited for Christmas and for the new year ahead. If I don’t post again before then, I’m wishing you happy holidays and a gentle, hopeful start to the year. -J
Me Not Helping
Is it bad that I took photos of Lin putting up the Christmas lights and I didn’t help at all? (I swear, I was working…)
Pizza's Play Time
Today we woke up to a beautiful light snow cover. One of our favorite things to do is chase Pizza around in the snow and get her all hyped up. Followed by giving her a shower.
Photographing People
What I love most about photography is photographing people. About four years ago, I finally worked up the courage to take my first street portrait. I had always been drawn to the idea of photographing strangers, but the fear of rejection kept me at a distance. Looking back now, that fear feels almost silly. On the other side of that fear has been a lifetime of meaningful, unexpected interactions with people I never would have met if I had stayed small and guarded. Heck, taking street portraits even led directly to one of my personal film projects: HERE - and that’s the thing with street portraits; you never know where they will lead you.
In many ways, street portraiture marked a creative rebirth for me. Each time I showed up, the fear that once felt so loud grew quieter. I began to see how much possibility lived inside a simple act of approaching someone with curiosity and respect. This practice taught me more than any textbook ever could, and it quietly reshaped how I relate to people through a camera. Over time, it also gave me a deeper sense of ease and confidence when photographing or filming people I already know, as well as on film sets. Having been rejected so many times on the street, rejection itself no longer feels so threatening.
This small collection is a mix of both: portraits of strangers and portraits of people from my own life. Different contexts, same practice. Showing up, paying attention, and allowing someone to be seen.
And maybe the most important lesson of all is this: people, no matter how different or intimidating they might seem at first, are for the most part deeply warm, generous, and thoughtful when given the chance.
If you’ve ever felt the pull to photograph strangers, I’d encourage you to listen to it. Whether or not you consider yourself a photographer, the simple act of approaching someone with curiosity has a way of giving back far more than it asks.
Dominican Republic
For the first time in my life, my family decided to ditch our hometown thanksgiving plans for an escape to the islands. I hadn’t done a trip like this in a very long time, so I had a lot of fun relaxing, eating a lot, and taking photos (mainly of my wife). Expect a lot of photos of Lin in this journal, because the two of us do a lot together.
Haulin' Wood
Rolled up to my parents house the other day to see my dad and my nephew with matching wheelbarrows. So of course, I had to document it.
First Snow Day
Our first lil’ snowday here in Towson, MD.
Sights Along The Way
Most of these were taken over the last four years of my life. I’m not typically one to carry regrets, but I can’t help but wonder how different my relationship to my own story might be if I had carried a camera with me everywhere during the first thirty-two years of my life. From here forward, I’m going to try to take my camera with me wherever I go (within reason). I imagine a future where I’m sitting with future generations of my family, sharing these images and the stories that live inside them. Not as proof of where I’ve been, but as a way of remembering how it felt to be there.
Documenting Brain Surgery
It’s not everyday that I get offered the opportunity to document brain surgery. Fun fact: I should have worn shoe covers while photographing because when I looked down halfway through the day, my shoes were covered in brain matter.
Daily Dog Walk
I tend to take my camera with me anytime I’m feeling stagnant in my photography, so I imagine one of the most common albums you will find here is of Lin walking our dog, Pizza. #SorryNotSorry
Lancaster Day Trip
Spent the first half of the day in Lancaster visiting our good friends, the Rothermels.
Craig Butta
This is producer / actor Craig Butta. I wanted to test some 120 Film and these were the results.
Photo Journal Kickoff
I’ve been trying to think of new ways to share my photography outside of instagram, and the best thought I had was to revert to “old school” blogging. My ego hurts because chances are very, very few people will actually look at this journal. But, it’s a more meaningful creative exercise for me. For now. Expect quick shares and lots of photos. Thanks for following along for the journey!
