Categories
Musings

In Praise of Chaotic

Minimalism. A dominate subject. High contrast. Rule of thirds. Composition. Complementary colors. Symmetry. Leading lines. Framing. There is a smörgåsbord of rules I can choose from to guide my shooting, to shoehorn my photos into a recognizable and recognized style. But what if I don’t want to. What if I want not just to “break” […]

Categories
Out and About

Snow Storm

Winter has happened this year, or at least February has already been properly cold and snow-filled. We’ve had some wonderful days of blowing, bitter snow storms. A thick layer of snow covers the ice on the local pond. The storms keep people inside, and so naturally I’m compelled to be out, wandering the streets and […]

Categories
Musings

Originality

Often I want to be alone, to avoid the company of others. I am no misanthrope nor do I aspire to be a hermit, but the constant din of daily life does little for me. I much prefer solitude, the restorative companionship of quiet, both in an acoustic and in a psychological sense. But it’s […]

Categories
Musings

Travel, Weddings, COVID Casualties

It was early, sometime around 7:00 AM. She sat there swiping at her phone, her bright red dress blazing against the grey stone. The only movement was her finger, flicking up and down on her phone’s screen. Her partner was a flurry of activity, directing the bride and groom where to stand, how to pose, […]

Categories
Musings

Colored Doors

Dublin’s colorful doors are legendary and even staid London has a long tradition of colored doors, though not as dramatic as Dublin’s. Lots of photographers produce series of photos of these doors, photos that end up on countless postcards and posters, typically with catchy names like “The Doors of [fill in city name].” Now that […]

Categories
Musings

Celebrating Imperfect

The patterns created by the stairs and shadows intrigued me, as did the contrast between the parallels of light and dark, on the right, and the smooth, evenly lit surface on the left. I like the photograph I made that summer afternoon, I like it because it reminds me of the afternoon wandering the gardens, […]

Categories
Musings

A Promise of …

Stairs always promise something, escape, adventure, death, the unknown. What waits just out of sight past that last step? What lurks below in the gloom that devours the stairs? Moqui steps scratched into soft sandstone, the ruins of some steps leading to a long-gone building, or modernist stairs in a city museum. Stairs are always […]

Categories
Postcards

Postcard Archive: February 2021

With the new month comes a new postcard. This month’s postcard comes from a local state park. Winter seemed to demand black and white. Let me know if you want a copy. Just days later the freezing temperatures and snow would come. But this morning I enjoyed the mild weather and the lovely falls.

Categories
Musings

I’m trying to entertain …

For me, creativity fulfills its purpose when realized in the creation of something. I am not particularly bothered if nobody likes it (either in the traditional sense of like or in the social media sense of like). I don’t take pictures, make photographs, collect moments and scenes, or write words either hoping for approval or […]

Categories
Out and About

Sunset Over the Valley

I paused to rest and to watch the sun hang in the orange sky. Breathing heavily, salt in my hair, and dust on my legs. The weak evening light doing little to warm me. These are the sensations that remind me I’m alive. Exertion. Fatigue. Dirt. Offline. Alone. Chill. What, I wondered, reminds him that […]