Every day, Sean Dustman takes a stroll across the Whidbey Island Navy base.
If you had been to go him, you would possibly acknowledge him by the brightly coloured shirts he typically wears, picked out for him by his 5-year-old daughter. The breakfast burrito he invariably has in his hand would even be an excellent indication.
But one of the best ways to select Dustman is to look for the person taking images of each attention-grabbing factor he sees alongside the way in which.
Though Dustman’s photography gained him the Oak Harbor Library’s featured artist slot for the month of November, his each day “burrito walks” are about greater than artwork; for Dustman, his conventional stroll is about mindfulness, enhancing his psychological wellbeing and appreciating the world round him.
Dustman, a retired Navy corpsman from Arizona, served within the navy for 20 years, together with 4 excursions in Iraq.
“I had a bunch of onerous excursions, tough locations,” Dustman stated. “I’m an aerospace med tech, and I did a bunch of mishaps and ended up doing numerous mishaps with folks that I knew.”
Dustman stated the recollections of the folks he wasn’t in a position to save haunted him after he retired. Through remedy, he realized to establish and deal with triggers he encountered, however he stated he nonetheless didn’t really feel like his outdated self.
“I nonetheless wasn’t all there, I used to be nonetheless residing life in a fog,” he wrote in his artist biography for the library, noting that the winter months had been particularly troublesome to endure since he spent all sunlight hours working in his workplace within the aviation medical information division on the Navy base.
One autumn day, he determined to spend his lunch hour exterior on the strolling trails that wind everywhere in the base. Dustman stated he took a breakfast burrito with him, because it’s straightforward to eat whereas strolling, and paid consideration to every part he noticed.
Soaking up the daylight and having fun with the island’s unmatched magnificence modified Dustman’s outlook and temperament. He determined to make the “burrito stroll,” as he calls it, a each day custom — one which he has maintained for 5 years.
“Suddenly, I seen that I began actually caring about my work and doing issues with goal,” he instructed the library. “My edges turned extra rounded and I turned extra than simply me. I had gained a stage of understanding that went past my work and into my homelife.”
The path he takes adjustments each day. Dustman stated he doesn’t plan his route forward of time; reasonably, he lets his toes carry him the place they could. Sometimes, his path leads him via the woods. Other days, he walks the shoreline.
What makes an excellent stroll, Dustman stated, is coming throughout one thing stunning or unusual. Whenever he encounters one thing attention-grabbing within the nature round him, he takes a photograph of it, which he normally posts on Instagram later.
Dustman first delved into photography again in 2003 as a unit photographer within the navy. Since retiring, he’ll {photograph} the occasional marriage ceremony or different occasion. But on burrito walks, Dustman doesn’t typically convey alongside his Canon digicam; he simply makes use of his cellular phone.
It was these cellular phone images and the story behind them that caught the eye of Oak Harbor library staff. Library affiliate Natasha Vanderlinden stated she was glad the timing labored out in such a approach that the library may share Dustman’s story throughout Veterans Day.
“I used to be unaware till Sean submitted his bio that he’s a veteran, however I’m actually delighted that we’re so lucky to have his work in the course of the month by which veterans are honored, particularly as his story is so courageously instructed and vital to share,” she stated.
Dustman’s photography will probably be on show on the Oak Harbor library via the tip of November.
