Saturday, September 22, 2018

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.

Thursday, September 20, 2018

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 

Saturday, September 15, 2018

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










Monday, September 10, 2018

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. 
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. 
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


Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Duo #1 Birds


“I am a camera, with its shutter open. Someday, all of this will be developed, printed, fixed.” - Christopher Isherwood


This is my preferred style of the the art, also known to some as street photography. That name is also something of a misnomer because it is about people, who are frequently found in all sorts of places, doing all sorts of things. 

Unlike more immediate styles, such as journalism, I like to get my pictures of people & their events, save the take to the hard drive, & come back to it later.  Sometimes I see things I didn't notice at the time, or I see something else. Then I either delete that bad boy, crop it or it becomes a whole other photo on it's own.  Photojournalism, fashion etc are of course more immediate & thats fine. They pay, so I don't mind the time crunch so much. The art stuff doesn't pay except in praise, but $$ will come.

Monday, September 3, 2018

Found Abstracts

If memory serves, this collection is from CBMM in St. Michael's 2-3 years back. To paraphrase my British friends, chance IS a fine thing.