Si Vis Pacem

Photo by Rob Salem. Copyright © 2017 Rob Salem/The Stormworks. I took this photo a few years ago, while working on a project that revolved around the veteran suicide crisis, PTSD, and the struggles that combat veterans face when they come home from war. Recent world events and my connections with the veteran community have...

Mountain Climbing

The Black Hills, June 2019. Photo by Rob Salem. Copyright 2019-2021 Rob Salem/The Stormworks There's a saying in the firefighting community that I think has broader applications to life, and especially pursuit of goals and dreams. "Risk a lot to save a lot; risk little to save little." For firefighters, it basically means, "We'll risk...

The Art of Loneliness

Me at Badlands National Park, South Dakota, June 2019. Photo by Scott Pretorius. The more I pursue my artistic interests—whether photography, music, filmmaking, or any of the others—the more I embrace the self-prescribed loneliness that goes with that pursuit. Loneliness as an artist isn’t a universal truth, of course. But I find in my experience...

“Thank You For Your Service”

Photo by Rob Salem. Copyright 2017-2021 Rob Salem/The Stormworks. Let's talk about the word "hero" and intent vs impact. It's a word that gets used a lot in reference to our military and our public safety personnel, from police and fire and EMS to hospital workers and everyone else that I haven't mentioned specifically. Now,...

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

A long, lonely highway somewhere in the prairies of South Dakota, 2019. Photo by Rob Salem. Copyright © 2019-2021 Rob Salem/The Stormworks. Inertia. (noun): The resistance of a physical object to a change in its state of motion, unless acted upon by some external force. Objects at rest tend to stay at rest. Objects in...

No Perfect Mondays

Aerial photo by Rob Salem. Copyright © 2021 Rob Salem/The Stormworks I’m one of those guys that likes to plan. And when planning I have a need to make the start of a thing line up with the calendar in such a way that it will start on the “first” of a block of calendar...

The Weight of Things to Come

I'm currently working on a music video. It's... heavy. Musically, yes--it's for a metal song after all. But that's not what I mean. The content--some of it shot by me, some provided to me for use in this video--has an emotional gravity to it that is making it tough to work on. I can see...

Making More of Less: The Spaces Between

  There’s a thought in music that says that the spaces between notes are more important than the notes themselves. Essentially, this is the notion that notes played are made more valuable by the silence around them. As a guitar player I agree with this notion. But I think it’s an idea the goes beyond...

What’s In A Name

On Monday and Tuesday of this week I was honored with the opportunity to display some of my social awareness and humanitarian related photo work at the 8th Annual Indiana Campus Compact Service Engagement Summit. The ICC promotes socially and culturally aware social service and engagement, with a focus on developing leaders in the field...

-22-

In 2012, the US Department of Veteran's Affairs estimated that an average of 22 veterans committed suicide every day. Recent estimates place that number closer to 20 a day, and while that represents a decline, it is still 20 too many. The -22- project is something I was invited to participate in as a photographer,...