"autumn twilight:/ the wreath on the door/ lifts in the wind". - Nick Virgilio

They're flowers. Nuff sed.

A Day of Bad Photography ........

is better than no photography at all.  I'm not gonna make primo imagery every time. But as long as I do my best, I will keep at it, & look to the ned]xt set up.

The Cinema

 I love going to the movies but prices are steep. I get they are competing with the DVD, streaming video, libraries etc. But raising ticket price really only helps their rivals. Take a short term loss you blinkered greedheads! Ignore the MBA’s! Business is about people not balance sheets!

A Lesson About the Art

From Wikipedia - In February 1946 [Minor} White had the first of several meetings with photographer Alfred Stieglitz in New York. White knew of Stieglitz's deep understanding of photography from his various writings, and through their conversations White adopted much of Stieglitz's theory of equivalence, where the image stands for something other than the subject matter, and his use of sequencing pictorial imagery. At one of their meetings White wrote in his journal that he expressed his doubt that he was ready to become a serious photographer. He wrote that Stieglitz asked him "Have you ever been in love?" White answered "yes," and Stieglitz replied "Then you can photograph."

Floral Cosplay

Two Unrelated Photos

Epiphany (?)

I was at my local chain store looking around. There are a lot of self-help books there, including one that offers a Zen approach to cameras. But in order to really make a photo you have to think about what you are doing, which is that mindfulness I hear so much about.  So it's what I'm learning anyway, maybe?

Categories are irrelevant

IMHO it's all just photography. It doesn't matter what the subject is, or what you use to make the image. DSLR, instamatic, daguerreotype, speedgrafix, film camera, spy satellite, or what have you. Yes, there are variations on a theme but it's all just ways to capture sunlight in a box & freeze it into a form. Here are two more.

From Edward Weston

“The fact is that relatively few photographers ever master their medium. Instead they allow the medium to master them and go on an endless squirrel cage chase from new lens to new paper to new developer to new gadget, never staying with one piece of equipment long enough to learn its full capacities, becoming lost in a maze of technical information that is of little or no use since they don’t know what to do with it.”-Edward Weston 

A Selection of B&W Street Shots, Mostly of the Annapolis Waterfront.

Corporate Arrogance

I really like the Apple brand. I use various Apple products. But they've gone a long way from "the computer for the rest of us." It's still mostly a Windows world, if only for the sake of cost. I find Apple's pricing arrogant & greedy. Yes, I understand they charge a lot, because of the quality of the technology & because people will pay. But this will not stand forever. Will Apple evolve & adjust their prices or will they take their text from the cupidity of the movie theatres who fight back against the ease of dvds & streaming videos which are better value than the rising prices of theatre tickets? Sooner or later, the $$ dictates where the computer goes.

A Selection of Ten

Ghost Dog Quotes

Selected quotes from "Ghost Dog," 1999 starting Forest Whittaker & directed by Jim Jarmusch. These are comments that resonate with me as a street photographer & as a person. I emphasize, given the profession of the character "Ghost Dog," they are to be taken completely out of that context & applied to mine.

Ghost Dog: There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything. 

Ghost Dog: It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this. 

Ghost Dog: There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there is nothing left to do, and nothing else to pursue.

Ghost Dog: Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall, there was this one: "Matters of great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters of small concern should be treated seriously." 

Ghost Dog: In the words of the ancients, one should make his decision within the space of seven breaths. It is a matter of being determined and having the spirit to break through to the other side. 

Ghost Dog: Our bodies are given life from the midst of nothingness. Existing where there is nothing is the meaning of the phrase "Form is emptiness." That all things are provided for by nothingness is the meaning of the phrase "Emptiness is form." One should not think that these are two separate things. 

Pearline: In the Kamigata area, they have a sort of tiered lunchbox they use for a single day when flower viewing. Upon returning, they throw them away, trampling them underfoot. The end is important in all things. 

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Ghost Dog: It is said that what is called the Spirit of an Age is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world's coming to an end. In the same way, a single year does not have just spring or summer. A single day, too, is the same. For this reason, although one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. 

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Ghost Dog: It is bad when one thing becomes two. One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai. It is the same for anything that is called a Way. If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all ways and be more and more in accord with his own. 

Zion UMC, Locust Street, Cambridge MD, late summer 2k18

Duo #3 Fading Flowers (wabi sari)