I've been very lucky, getting to travel the world with

Hear the humble yet radiant words of Rob Machado, surfer, wanderer, and seeker of beauty, who said: “I’ve been very lucky, getting to travel the world with professional photographers. I’d grab their equipment, get a few lessons, and start firing shots.” These words are clothed in simplicity, yet they contain a profound wisdom about opportunity, curiosity, and the courage to create. Machado does not boast of mastery, but honors the blessings of chance and the willingness to seize them. His voice reminds us that greatness often begins not with perfect preparation, but with gratitude, openness, and boldness to act.

To call himself lucky is to recognize the grace of life—the unseen hand that grants doors to open. Many pass through this world blind to their fortune, believing all things owed to them. But Machado’s words reveal the heart of the wise: he knows that life’s gifts are fleeting and precious, and that to receive them requires both humility and readiness. To walk beside masters of the craft, to borrow their tools, to learn from their wisdom—this is not entitlement, but fortune, and he names it truthfully.

Yet luck alone does not capture the essence of his saying. For when opportunity appeared, he did not remain idle. He seized the equipment, asked for lessons, and dared to “fire shots.” This is the hidden strength of his words: chance may place treasures at our feet, but only action, curiosity, and courage transform them into experience. How many lives waste their fortune because they never lift their hand to grasp it? Machado teaches that fortune is a doorway, but it must be stepped through with boldness.

History provides a mirror. Consider Leonardo da Vinci, who as a young apprentice in Florence did not only watch his master Verrocchio at work. He seized the brushes, sketched with fever, studied mechanics, anatomy, and the play of light. Surrounded by genius, he did not shrink but leaned forward, learning by doing. His destiny was not given solely by luck but by his willingness to grasp the tools of his time and dare to create. Like Machado, Leonardo shows us that greatness is born at the meeting place of fortune and effort.

Machado’s words also carry an emotional truth about learning. He did not wait to be perfect, nor to be called a master. He embraced the humble state of the beginner: asking questions, taking a few lessons, fumbling perhaps, but always moving forward. This is the ancient way—the path of apprenticeship, where humility and action lead to growth. The masters of old knew that knowledge is not inherited whole but gathered piece by piece, often by daring to stumble before learning to soar.

The lesson for us is powerful: embrace the opportunities life gives, even if you feel unprepared. Do not wait until you are perfect to begin, for perfection never arrives. When chance places tools in your hand, use them. Ask for guidance from those who know more, but do not wait endlessly for permission. Begin, as Machado began, firing your own shots. Every attempt, even flawed, is a step into mastery.

Practical wisdom follows: look around your own life. What “equipment” lies near you, unused? What teachers stand quietly by, waiting to be asked for a lesson? What opportunities have you called “luck” but failed to seize? Begin today. Pick up the brush, the pen, the camera, the instrument, the idea. Be humble enough to learn, bold enough to try, and grateful enough to call it fortune. In doing so, you will transform chance into destiny.

So let Rob Machado’s words echo in your soul: “I’ve been very lucky… I’d grab their equipment, get a few lessons, and start firing shots.” This is not only the story of a surfer-artist, but a timeless teaching: life will offer you moments of grace, but you must meet them with courage and curiosity. Do so, and your journey, too, will bear the mark of beauty, carved not by hesitation, but by the daring of one who chose to begin.