“Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.”
– Ansel Adams
Rhonda
Every now and again, it is a refreshing thing to sit and watch a good story-telling absent the mindless violence, sordid sex, and profane-laden vocabulary. Well, two out of three ain’t bad. Such was the case when I got to watch “The King’s Speech” earlier this week. I didn’t know how well I’d receive the tale, but every now and then a recommendation for its worth found its way to me. The latest came from a elderly couple that I met while ordering a bagel and coffee in a Dunkin Donuts. The man was a retired baker. I do not know if his Mrs held a profession in her time, but she was very high on this movie and made the fact known.
As I said, I did not know what to expect from this showing, but it honestly spoke to my heart in that it revolved around my own mother’s profession. I called her up to admit my amazement at the ability of someone to make an Oscar-worthy movie about Speech Therapy. Mama worked as a speech therapist early in her career, but it evolved into teaching children with learning disabilities and capped her career as director of the Headstart program where I grew up. Many people fail to ascertain the area of my upbringing and are surprised when I tell them I hail from Texas. I’ve been told I don’t sound Texas and on several occasion, that I don’t even sound Black. Most of that talk is from grounds of ignorance, as they don’t truly mean that I don’t sound Black as much as they really mean, I don’t sound uneducated. The fact of the matter is that growing up as the eldest child of a speech therapist will most times leave you absent of any tell-tale accent of your homage. Oh, I’ll grant you that over the years, I’ve picked up a little tone and inflection in my voice. I don’t speak quietly. Ten years in the Army barking orders to infantry ground pounders will do that for you.
I loved my time served though. My hand surgery has left me thinking back to those days quite often now and the memories seem much more clearer and vivid. I made a special effort to try to let go, sell off much of my gear, and let my Army days be behind me. They’ve come flooding back and I tell you I am in awe at some of the things my friends and I had to endure. I was having lunch with Felix today talking to him of this matter. I miss blowing things up. I miss holding a rapid fire weapon in my hands and watching tracer rounds streak through the air at a rate of 1 every fifth round because otherwise you heat up the barrel too much. (I’ve had to crack heads catching one of my joes linking a belt of all tracers.) I miss sitting back to back with my RTO in the middle of an LP/OP while the men in the perimeter try to stay awake in their two-man positions with dummy cords strung back to me from each of them. The North Koreans pump Korean opera through loud-speakers stories tall and almost a click away to lull you to sleep as well as mask the sound of their own movements. I do miss it.
Peace from a position of strength. It is this dichotomy that tug at me for the moment. I miss the weaponry of my days in the Army, yet I can appreciate a good movie absent all of it. And it ended with one of my favorites – Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, 2nd Movement (A Major Op 92. Allegretto)
Art [ahrt] –noun – the quality, production, expression, or realm, according toaesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. – Dictionary.com
Current scar, center of palm
A milestone! This is my 200th blog post for Photo Anthems Blog. I don’t really have anything special that I had planned out to commemorate this feat. I didn’t even realize it til I was getting ready to do another post. So, no fan-fare. No pomp and circumstance. No fireworks, sparkles, confetti, or song. I do give you more images of Dominique and that’s better than all of that stuff.
The hand is getting better. (Somebody tell me the left pointing chevron scar looks cool). I’ve still got rehab, but at least the bandages are off. I keep something on it to protect it just because if I don’t, I’ll forget about it and do something stupid. I have a history of re-injuring recently injured ailments. Sometimes, its just because I push my recovery. Well, most times, actually. For this time around, I hadn’t had the bandage off and sutures out for an hour before I forgot about it and…well, lets just say it was a painful rest of the day. The meds weren’t giving me ANY relief, if that gives you a further clue. So now, I figure something preventative on it to remind me of the consequences of forgetting might be an exercise in wisdom.
I’ve recently deactivated my account at deviantART. So in case you’re looking for me over there, I’m out for several reasons, but mainly it simply wasn’t a good fit for me anymore (if it really ever was, that is). I can’t say the site has done much in terms of promotion for me. And for me, it really wasn’t about all that. I liked that it was a good place to look at new art of talents I came to admire. I’ve made some friends there as well. Virtual though they may be, there was mutual respect and admiration. The main kicker for me was that I was REALLY getting tired of looking at lewd, crude, nude art that was nothing of the sort, whatsoever. Yes, I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art, by definition is a subjective term that has yet to be defined universally. I know for fact, that there are some people who disagree with my own artwork. I understand and respect that. For me, dA was just getting beyond my personal tolerance and appreciation. In that world, you have to take the good with the bad and to me, the bad was outweighing the good. 32 to 1.
There was also too much stolen art. I found myself getting riled up every time I was able to discern who was presenting their own work and who was just copying web images and including them in their own profiles. The assumption is that you create your own profile and share your own work. Often you’d read some of the comments where other’s recognized the stolen work and the profile owner admitted to it, but didn’t call it stealing because he never put his own copyright notice on it. He was just “sharing”, but also never crediting the owner. All too often these would be pornographic images or women spreading themselves. One user in particular justified his actions as such. ” When I post my own work, nobody visited my page or left comments. I posted these shots I found on the web and I’ve gotten a thousand hits in a few hours.”
I don’t thing the dA moderators or administrator do enough to protect artist’s work and they certainly don’t police the site for violators of their own rules quickly enough. I’d see lewdness on display for days on end before or IF its ever taken down. I think it was maybe about a year or so ago that I began to notice more pornography businesses creating profiles and promoting their websites to get you to click over for MORE porn. It was quickly becoming an environment that was no longer conducive to my own interests, entertainment, or appreciation. Several true artists I will miss and I actually hope I am missed as well. I can still be followed on my blog, however. I can’t say being a member on deviantART was worth the time I spent on it over the last 3 years. Maybe I’ll change my mind after I check back in a year or so to observe any changes. For right now, I’m moving on. To those of you who followed me, I’d really appreciate you following me on this blog. Keep in touch. Drop me a line
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
With Matching Bandage
One of the reasons I went camping the other week was because I knew I’d be somewhat limited this week. Last Wednesday I had surgery on my left hand to remove a small metallic ball that was lodged in my palm from my service time in Korea back around ’95. At the time, I didn’t notice a whole lot of pain in my palm, per se. My middle finger and wrist is another story, but I just never made the connection. Last year it began to get pretty bad. There were several times the pain almost brought me to tears. It got to a point where I absolutely could not stand it, but it took a very long process to get me to this point today.
Test after test, the waiting game continued. I often hated being around friends because I knew my pain could make them uncomfortable and it was definitely a feat for me to keep a smile on my face and act like nothing was wrong. I remember visiting my kids in TN when I got to see my grandchild for the first time. My mother and I got a hotel room for the week. The pain was unbearable and I had to take special care when holding my then one-month old grandkid. I didn’t want to take away from everybody’s moment of welcoming a new addition to the family for worrying over me, especially when nothing could be done at he time. I had a similar moment like that at my friend Felix’s house. Hopefully, this will be an improvement.
Model, Dominique Jan 2011
The day after my camping trip, I got to photograph Dominique, the model exhibited in this post. As challenging as this shoot was, we got several great shot while she visited Vegas. The main challenge was the cold. It was in the low 40’s when we started, but she really wanted to do it…that is, til the wind started howling on her naked butt! She was a real trooper, though and I did my best to keep her reasonably protected. The car was left running nearby and she kept a blanket on til right before I released the shutter. We’re already making plans for her next visit.
Model, Dominique Jan 2011
Model, Dominique Jan 2011
I thought this was sort of interesting. I came across this news article by Liz Goodwin for The Lookout, a Yahoo news blog: “New Yorker searches for owner of remarkable blizzard photos“. Sometimes its sort of odd to see the different crusades or causes that motivate people to act. In this case, New Yorker Todd Bieber spots a roll of undeveloped film in the snow. He develops it and is fancied by the snow and blizzard scenes of his own city. Then he’s struck with this idea for a mission-quest thing to find the original owners of the film. The guy makes a video that he posts on YouTube and it goes viral. He gets very introspective as he narrates a story about his life and how his search for meaning leads him to the roll of film, critiques the images, and relates them to the owners. Its not a bad video, really. People from all over are trying to help. Even Time Magazine got in on the coverage. Personally, I like the idea. But subjectively, I have to wonder… Was this guy simply primed for a new cause in his life? Homelessness, politics, environmental save-the-planet stuff just never quite moved him, but a lost roll of film became his call to action? And I wonder how many marketing gurus have researched what concepts have the highest propensity to go viral. What’s the quantitative figure that defines virality anyway? I guess the most surprising thing about the whole affair is that tourists are still using film.
“I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?”
— Og Mandino
The view outside my tent, Valley of Fire State Park, NV
So this is my first post of the year. So how about it? Who’s already broken those New Year’s resolutions? Me… I want to post more this year. Bad start, I know. The month is half way over and I’m just getting on the boards. I’ll get there. You just keep following, reading, and commenting. Feedback helps.
Another view out my tent
My tent!
Moving on. Something that I was wondering about today was what can you tell about a person by looking at their favorites and likes …whether on dA, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever. It sort of threw me off guard once when I was perusing the galleries of some of my fave people on dA. I decided to take a look at their Favorites gallery and was surprised to see that many in their collection was nothing like what they might do themselves. Now I look at everybody’s Fav when I visit their profiles. I unconsciously began to think about what kind of person he or she is. Am I making judgements, maybe so, but I don’t think its any different than what we normally do anytime we meet somebody. We check ’em out from head to toe. How are they groomed? What’s their style of fashion? Do they have all of their teeth…whatever. The point is that we do this all the time. Even when we read about someone or hear about them. We try to imagine what they are like and sometimes fill in the blanks whether they are accurate or not. How many among you began to dislike an actor/actress because they play some sort of sick, deviant role in a movie. You start to associate what you see on film as their real lives. And you can flip that scenario to a person who plays the perfect angel in a role, but in real life, they’re butt-heads.
Me!
Fire Canyon Overlook, Valley of Fire State Park, NV
But I also wonder if we’re giving out too much info about ourselves on these social networks. Well, let me re-say that… I mean to say, I KNOW we are giving out too much information about ourselves. So the statement begs the answer to the question of why do we do it. In our own realities, we are much more private. We keep the drapes pulled at night. The doors are triple-locked. We have locks inside the house for our bedrooms and bathrooms. The car is not left with the key and we don’t write the PIN number on our debit cards. So why do we choose to divulge so much info on social sites? Marketing companies such as Amazon encodes cookies on your computer that reports on stuff you often look at. Facebook captures information about music, movies, and products you “like”. Yeah, they do it so well, they have increased their worth to $50 billion. So why did Goldman Sachs and friends, just jump on the bandwagon to the tune of $500 million in stock purchases? Obviously they all feel like they are going to make big bucks on this. Since FB is free to you and me, where does it make its money? Advertisers, who pay to know what you are likely to buy and are willing to dish out the big bucks to a company who gives them lots of accurate and timely data on YOU.
Looks like I’m starting the new year out on a rant. No worries. These will be few and far between. Oh, I started out my new year camping…what’d you do?
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
– Albert Einstein
One Christmas song I really like is “Happy Christmas (War is Over)”, by John Lennon, who ironically proclaimed he was more popular the man the Holiday is for. For years, I never knew what the kids in the background were saying and just now decided to look it up. It sounded good, that’s all I cared about. So I looked up the lyrics and discovered they sang:
May 2008 Art Nude Workshop, Model Tiffany
“War is over. If you want it. War is over, now.”
Its very beautiful and melodious. I just couldn’t understand what the words were. Ironically, as a soldier, I can still relate to the words. I’ve never been a soldier who craved conflict. I believe, with all sincerity that I was good at being an infantry soldier. I trained may ass off and did my best to make sure those under my charge were technically and tactically proficient, as well as highly motivated with the intestinal fortitude to accomplish the mission. I did the job with the understanding that somebody had to do it. Somebody’s got to stand in the gap and every since I was a kid, I’ve felt like that responsibility was mine to shoulder.
According to Wikipedia in the following quote, this song was written as protest to the Vietnam War. [Ha! Its now playing on my internet radio!].
July 2008 Art Nude Workshop, Model Faerie
“The lyric is based on a campaign in late 1969 by Lennon and Ono, who rented billboards and posters in eleven cities around the world that read: “WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko”. The cities included New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Helsinki. At the time of the song’s release, the US was deeply entrenched in the unpopular Vietnam War. The line “War is over, if you want it, war is over, now!”, as sung by the background vocals, was taken directly from the billboards.” – Wikipedia via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_is_over;
I’ve never been a protester over our own wars. I haven’t felt that soldiers have that luxury. There’s definitely a time to speak up about orders that aren’t lawful, or when you utterly feel that your commander is too stupid to be in charge. So far, that hadn’t extended to the Commander in Chief. He doesn’t make those decisions alone. That’s one place were a soldier’s got to have faith that those involved are NOT stupid. Now I’m speaking in general terms. I am by no means trying to defend, justify, or explain why were are at war now. I don’t want that debate, here. I’m just looking at the paradox of a meaningful song to me that’s was originally made in protest by someone who may or may not share my beliefs in terms of my faith or my former occupation. I find that interesting is all.
Sept 2008 Art Nude Workshop, Model Clarissa
Another song that comes to mind is Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time is Here”. You may remember that melody from the Charlie Brown Christmas specials. Either a friend or a relative made an observation that the reason I like that song so much is because of my somber disposition during Christmas. Its not the first time that someone has told me I get moody around Christmas. Moody…? I’d much rather say I’m sentimental, maybe even nostalgic. My Christmases as a kid were the absolute most meaningful days in my life. Christmas at my grandparents in my early years were particularly special, but then we started having Christmas at my own home. I recall an occasion once were I heard something on the roof and looked up out the window. I swore to my mom that I saw a dear hoof slip of the edge of the roof!
Dec 2008 Art Nude Workshop, Model Sarah Jane
After having my own kids, I can recall at times having to be the one to wake THEM up! Me…I could go all night without sleeping as a kid. When I did sleep, I was up by 6am at the latest. As a solider, I was blessed enough to spend most of my Christmases at home. It was late in my career when I was deployed away a few days before Christmas and I spent Christmas night in a barracks room, alone and on the floor wrapped up in my poncho liner, (affectionately referred to as a “Woobie”). I was reminded of a poem in circulation that was supposedly written by a marine in Okinawa. Regardless, THIS WAS ME, on that particular night. And I hope you all take a second to remember our troops still deployed away from home. Whether you realize it or not, that joyous feeling you get when you share that quality time with your family is at the expense of their’s! You don’t believe, me? Ask my kids…
Little Known Facts about “The Nutcracker”: When the ballet debuted in Russia in 1892, critics sounded off. Some felt the score was bland and the choreography was weak. Like a fine wine, time has been kind to the ballet.
Dave Rudin just posted on his blog about his trip here in Las Vegas. He’s actually got one of the better pics of me on his latest blog post. I don’t have a single pick of us. I had anticipated on getting to see him more than the once for breakfast that Saturday morning, but that was it. Even than, I had to make short to tend to other business, but we got in a few hours at least. Its always good to have him here.
The weekend after Dave was here, another good friend of mine also came to town. Cameron and I served together some 15 years ago at least and have stayed close since then. He got to spend 5 days here with his fiancée. Right now, he sort of looks after my young’uns even though they are all grown up. He’s got his own kids who are quite young. He got to see several of the sites of Vegas and he brought me along on several. I think the best highlights was in seeing Hoover Dam and getting to enjoy Phantom of the Opera on our last night.
The weekend Cameron got here, I had RSVP’ed for a hike out at Valley of Fire. It was some big time scrambling, which I loved, but its hell on my knee when you gotta wear a metallic brace. Trust me, I paid for it in pain-killers that night. Some of these hikes are hard on me, but if I wasn’t doing them, I’d go plumb crazy and that’s no joke. So I’ll do them while I can. I have to go be out in nature from time to time.
That reminds me… I was glad to hear that the knuckle-head(s) who defaced ancient petroglyph out at Red Rock Canyon, just west of Vegas, were caught. Tourists travel out there by the thousands to see some of the most beautiful rock formations in the world. But then we’ve got stupid people. I really don’t understand how stupid you have to be to not know that you can’t be that stupid enough to spray paint ancient artwork. Fortunately, they caught the guy, but they think its gang related. He’s 17…still a minor. I’m curious to see what they do to this kid and what precautions they’ll take to prevent future stupidity like this. You can’t do security checks on everybody for spray paint cans. So are they going to make an example out of this kid? And if so, how so? They’ve got to create a deterrent of some type to make people respect our parks and natural areas. Til now, people have simple known to leave natural areas alone. Stupidity knows no bounds.
No pics this time. Enjoy this “How it Should Have Ended: Holiday Special”, instead.
“Before you walk off into a river, check your pockets. You may need to remove your iPhone!” ~ Me
As always when its been more than 2 weeks since I make a post, there seem to be lots going on. My friend Unbearable Lightness has certainly been getting some attention in her world and that’s putting it mildly. She’s fed up with dA and yesterday she “came out”. Not about being gay, but rather came out from behind her alias and has revealed her true identity as Dr. Carla Johnson. You can read more about it HERE.
Recently, I’ve had my hands full in photo projects, but its slowed down a little now. For the first time, I think that’s a good thing. I need the time to prepare for some other endeavors and shooting and editing will have to wait for a spell. I’ve taken up helping teach a photo works to a few people, one of which is an aspiring young woman whom I recently met through her dad. He and I had been in conversations recently and we both have daughters who are starting out in photo. Its a good thing to teach every now and again. Its always the right thing to give back, but it also helps you stay sharp as well. For me, it brings to my attention the unconscious things I do naturally and makes me think about ways to improve the way I see things. Its also sort of refreshing since I am no longer running my art nude workshops. This is another way to help aspiring photogs. Someone once argued that I am potentially creating my own competition. Well, that may be, but I know I feel better giving back and its part of my good nature to teach. I don’t see how I can go wrong with that. Granted, there are some that abuse my hospitable nature. They look at what I do and use it to their own design and interests. This has happened to me a few times and at times from people I thought were my friends. I try not to worry about that. All I can concern myself with is getting better, developing healthy relationships and partnerships, and letting the rest of the cut-throat riff-raff do their thing. I’ll control whats in my power to influence and with the help of God, I’ll be content with that.
I lost my phone on a recent hike. The scenery was so beautiful that I walked off into a river with it in my pocket and was none the wiser til I was chest deep. I tried not to let it spoil my day and it eventually worked out. My initial concern was that I may have had to wait a month for my phone upgrade, since the iPhone is not insurable. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to do without my phone. It took me about 2 days before I got a new one. I wanted to let my iPhone 3G dry out as best I could. I kept it in a bag of rice for those few days before I took it in to an AT&T store. I can’t say AT&T have been my favorite carrier. Verizon was much better in my opinion and I had been with them for 8-10 years. I only switched 18 months ago because their phone selection sucked. I only see one Service Rep at AT&T and he’s always left me satisfied. The 3G worked momentarily, but it wouldn’t hold a charge. So I upgraded and got the iPhone 4G. I didn’t even know I was already eligible for the upgrade, so that was good. All is well now.
“Growing up in the war, listening to Churchill’s speeches, being bombed in Glasgow every night – that brought me to photojournalism. It was the drama – I wanted to be close to the center of things.”
“I was next to Bobby (Kennedy) when he was shot. It was hideous. Part of me wanted to crawl away. I couldn’t. That was when I had to deliver. I was saying to myself, ‘Don’t fail now, fail tomorrow.'”
The Kennedy thing – I still wake up in the night and think about it. I even remember the f-stop. It was 1.4″
– Harry Benson – Vision – Lowepro 2004/2005, page 29
Just puttin’ this out there, but if ya’ll are thinking Christmas work and photos, ya-betta hit me up now! Most people aren’t thinking about this till sometime in December. Granted, I wouldn’t mind the sudden rush of photo work, but you can make it easy on me at least.
So, Anyway! This past Wednesday evening was an interesting one. Harry Benson came to the Community College of Southern Nevada to talk about his photos and life’s work. I’ve seen his work before…who hasn’t? However, what made this particularly a blessing to witness was the story behind his work. Its one thing to see his shots in a book. There might be a caption or a title accompanying the imagery. You get a sense of what’s going on, where they are, maybe the different parties involved if its not already apparent. I went in expecting to hear about a man and his career…how it made it, his challenges, and his heart-breaks. I envisioned the man addressing us from a podium giving an hour long speech that he has probably done several times already that week. Well, part of that was accurate. He did come up to the podium and began a slide show of his images. But it wasn’t just a man talking about what he’s done. It was more akin to listening to your grand dad tell you about his exciting adventures that maybe you’ve already heard him tell many times before, but still enjoy hearing again.
You got to hear the story behind the shot. Some of it was as of a result of his own intuitiveness. However he also told us of how he once almost went to a bar or club with some friends, but instead felt inclined to go to the Ambassador Hotel. Robert Kennedy had just won the California primary. He told us of how it was too crowded to leave the way he came, so he decided to head out through the kitchen area instead. The rest is history. Just like his photographs, none of his stories were boring. You laughed, you cried….well, maybe not cried, but you could definitely feel the collective emotions in the auditorium no matter the mood. He was superb in his presentation and he continued to engage his audience, particularly doing so with interjecting jokes about his friends, Stacey and Michelle.
After the session, I was one of the final people to get to ask him a question. In the end, I got to talk to him for a bit and gave him a card. I had asked him to reflect on why we never see more introspective work of himself or those personally close to him, given that he’s shot so many famous people. We never saw him or his family in any of his published work, despite the fact that he’s so famous as well. Then I asked who would be the photog to shoot him, should he desire it, much the same way lawyers warn against representing themselves. His reply was sort of astonishing. He said, “I don’t know. Maybe YOU!” Trying to be as quick, I responded with, “I don’t know about that. I might be able to work you in before Christmas though!” In reality, I’d love to follow him around over the course of a few years just photographing him doing his thing whether that be working, or chilling out with the family. Great biographical work for some of my Legacy projects. I don’t think I could do him justice writing it, but I know I could handle the pics department. Yeah, we need to get on this, HARRY!
I hadn’t been away that long so quit trippin’. Besides, I know I’m not your early morning cup of coffee that you can’t start your day without, so I ain’t trippin’ either. I do miss reading and following up on some of the other blogs I track, though. I hadn’t been up on the boards as much lately, so I think I’ve been out of touch with some of the people who usually hear from me regularly even when a few weeks pass on my own posts. As I’m sure is the case with many of you, lots has been going on.
It’s certainly been a while since I’ve had to do so many photo editing as I’ve been doing lately, including for other photogs. I’ve had to just walk away from the computer from time to time and just do something other than shooting or editing. In those cases, I try to not even think about a camera, pictures, or the work. I go see a movie, do a hike, or just try to hang out with somebody that is not affiliated with photography. J.L.Wolfe is an actor and photo enthusiast who has been my friend for the last 3 years, but we hadn’t seen each other in ages. We kept planning to hook up, but just didn’t, for whatever reason. I gotta say it was so good to see him again and our catching up was one of the…well, I don’t know how to really describe it, but I left there feeling a stronger kindred. You’re right, I’m not going into details, but having a beer, some burgers, and excellent conversation with him was absolutely great. He’s a very wise man and we must have been there for 3 hours sitting in a late night Japanese burger joint catching up. I left there feeling like some healing took place. It was marvelous. John is cool.
I need to catch up with my buddy, Felix. He used to be all over my blog talking about the latest adventure we’d gone on, or something we’ve done. That hadn’t been the case of late. He’s gotten busy and so have I. I think he’s one of the best natural photogs I know. We have some different styles of shooting but often some of the same ideas. I was really happy when he called me up, a few weeks ago. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t talked in a long time, but I was already on another important call, and elected to get back with him. I then got a text message to call him right away. At that point, I figured, I needed to get back to him right away in case this was urgent. There was no emergency. Felix was just going on and on about how much he liked this latest shoot of mine. I kid you not…it must have been a little longer than 20 minutes with him raving like a mad Mexican on this shoot I did and how the shots got better the more advanced through the gallery. THAT was a first! Felix has liked some of my work before, enough to where if he needed a back-up, he’d call me. But this was just too funny! I admit it almost made me choke up a bit. Its always a good thing to be admired by one’s peers, but even more so from ones you respect so much. Thank Felix.
After what seemed like months, I finally got to work with model, Outdrbeauty. We got together a little more than a week ago and put together a shoot. I got some pretty decent shots, but we ended up losing the light due to the time change and the sun setting faster. Because of her work schedule, it couldn’t be helped. Then when we finally got on location, there were more people out than expected. I hadn’t shot out in this spot in 2 years and since then, there have been developments. John, in fact, had told me about some of it before hand, but I really had no clue til we got out there. People kept walking into out shoot. We decided to pack it up, but on the hike out, there was a light in the clouds that was simply a must-do. It simply did not matter that a guy with his dog was right behind us, but in the time it took her to get naked again and for me to get out the camera, we lost the effect. It was gorgeous. I got “a” shot, but not “THE” shot. She and I will be hooking up again soon, hopefully in the same area before it gets too cold, to finish this shoot. The shots you see here are some quick edits I did in hopes of continuing again later.
One other thing that has kept me from writing is the nature of the way I write. I tend to write with my emotions on the keyboards and there have been a few things that have just been too raw to put out on the net. Some emotions are just too strong and some of it had nothing to do with photography. So rather than getting into an opinionated rant, I just held my tongue…or fingers, as it were. A few cases had to do with bad experiences and pain suffered by a friend as well as one who was not a friend, but rather whom I was affiliated with. Tragedy and loss haunt us all at some point. I will indeed blog about some of it at some point real soon, but to do so, so immediately might end up hurting some feelings or put people on the spot. So wisdom and consideration might dictate a need for some patience. I try to concede to wisdom every now and then. Timing is important.
Trying times lie before, but I take solace in the fact that trying times have also been overcome behind me as well. Despite all, I’m still here…
“Being taken for granted can be a compliment. It means that you’ve become a comfortable, trusted element in another person’s life.”
~Joyce Brothers
“Ummm…No. Not feeling that one.”
~ Me
“Do you REALLY wanna keep tickin’ me off?”
Where to start….? You ever get that feeling that you’re being attacked on all sides via a series of unrelated circumstances? Its maddening is it not? I made a comment that I felt the need to check my bathroom mirror to make sure “PUNK” wasn’t stamped across my forehead or maybe some other word that identified me as a push-over that like to take it in the rear with a smile. Often, I am sure people mistake kindness and goodness for weakness. Because I can be polite and accommodating, some perceive my time is theirs to dispose of as they will. Since I choose to acquiesce from time to time, respect comes in lesser and lesser quantities. Maybe I’ve gotten soft. Maybe I’ve been giving off a victim-scented pheromone that attracts those who take advantage of others, like bullies. Maybe I am too tempting an offer to the otherwise honest person. I don’t know. Lately, it just seems like a string of events have all transpired that hinder my goals by not returning simple courtesy. So be a little wary of me for a bit. If I seem like an ass, forgive me, but I have much needs to rectify this persona that people ill perceive. Okay, enough of that. On to something important.
As I’ve mentioned before, my little girl is in photo school right now. So she’s trying to do her thing in photography, not necessarily like her Dad, but in her own way, I think. Well, she calls me up (or texted me…I don’t recall which) to let me know that of all the different student photos getting critiqued, her’s was the only one that was termed “FLAWLESS”. Now, right there, I knew there had to be a mistake. My first conclusion was that her teacher was coming on to her. She of course disagreed and thought I was wrong for not being able to accept that she has some talent. Well, that couldn’t be any further from the truth. She’s MY daughter. Of course she’s going to have some talent.
When I was in school, one of the first things the prof told us was that were were not allowed to take shots of our kids, circular stairways, flowers, or any of the other cliche’ compositions that have been done like by everybody already. Cassie shot her 6 month old baby. The other reason why we were told not to shoot our kids was that it was too easy to take a critique personally and then emotions flare. Next thing you know, there’s a chalkboard eraser flying at somebody’s head and then things get ugly.
My FLAWLESS granddaughter!
I contend that no photo instructor should be telling a first-year student that an image is flawless. There should be SOMETHING that you can gig them on. Cassie and I went back and forth on this til I finally told her to send ME the photo. I promised to be objective, but at the same time not treat her special, which she didn’t anticipate anyway. So no kiddie gloves. She sent the photo. I suddenly realized my mistake. I hadn’t taken into consideration that I would be critiquing an image of my own grand kid. That was not a fair! I can’t find a gig on this shot at all. Granted, I posted it in an earlier blog posting, but here it is again.
Below is something I came across the other day. I think this is why the iPhone has remained so popular despite some of the drawbacks that Verizon, Droid, and Microsoft keep pointing out. Here is the article: Brooklyn’s Atomic Tom iPhone It In During Impromptu Subway Jam. This band gets their instruments stolen, yet they can still rock the hood using musical aps on their IPHONES! Sounds good, too.
Here is the vid: Atomic Tom singing, “Take Me Out”, live on a NY subway.
