“In your teens you feel like you can drive that car as fast as you can and you won’t come off at the bend. In your twenties, you have some near misses. In your thirties you realize you are in danger. And in your forties, I think you are just really glad if you wake up in the morning. “

Bono (page 299, from U2 by U2, the last of the rock stars, 1998-2001)

I have spent the last few hours sitting on the couch flipping through U2 by U2, a book by journalist and music critic Neil Mccormick.

Having been a U2 fan since about 11 years old there are obvious reasons as to why this large coffee table book is in my collection; the largely unpublished personal snapshots and the incredible cross section of Anton Corbijn’s photography come to mind… but primarily, I have – over the years – an increasing interest with the personal journey of Bono ‘the man’, outside of, the band.

I continue to find his ‘striving’ (for lack of a better word), to balance faith, music, family, success and (somehow combine this with an agenda for helping) those in need, to be an incredible source of inspiration.

Bono & the Edge on stage at Wembley Arena, London, August 2009. Photograph Douglas Mark Black

What are we on earth to do?
How does this affect our creative indulgences and visions?
What does this mean for the photography I take and expose to the world?
How will this affect the day that I meet my maker?
Can I be accountable for my time and actions?
Has any of what I produce, contributed to or been beneficial to anyone?
Has it helped?
Or, to paraphrase Warhol, has it just been for the indulgent 15 minutes of fame…as tantalizing as that appears?

How will all these thoughts affect today, the way forward, my photography and my life?

Does any of it matter?

“For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36