Teachings

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Open Sesame
Open Sesame

Eckhart Tolle, in The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment said to let the flowers teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem. Butt wait, there’s more.

Let them teach you about composition, aperture, exposure compensation and shutter speed. Let them teach you to not only keep a tripod in your car but to use it.

Let them teach you about light, wind gusts and patience. Let them teach you to pay attention to signs, and not get locked in the park overnight. Let them teach you about color and how to bring out their beauty in a photograph.

And finally, if it takes a while to learn all of that let them teach you to convert to black and white, and pretend that you feel color is distracting and that you were going for that aesthetic, artistic look.

Namaste

Why?

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Emotional Support Dog
Emotional Support Dog

“Start by asking the question ‘Why’. This is because behind the question ‘Why’ there lies answers to your question.” D.S. Mashego

Spring Training

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Old 89
Old 89

It seemed like a perfect day to go back to bed and fantasize about winning the Powerball. An hour after that thought I was standing on the tracks in thirty degree weather waiting for the steam engine in Strasburg.

I saw it in the distance and got out of my car to find that the wind was twenty miles an hour blowing directly into my face. But since I like a challenge I set my camera to speed priority and gave it a shot (26).

Tears were streaming down my face, I was almost shooting blind, and the only other photographer probably figured they were tears of joy. Maybe some of them were, but at that point I was once again thinking about taking up golf.

While the composition could be better I was surprised that the image was sharp and was glad that I forced myself to go out. To be honest my obsessive compulsive photography disorder got me out but it didn’t matter.

I probably won’t win the lottery tonight and if I do I have a feeling I’ll be doing the same things in the same way. Maybe I’ll pull up to this spot on a brand new motorcycle, but I’ll still be standing there with a camera, waiting.

Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Clouds

Ansel In The Valley

· 11 Comments ·
Roses
Roses

I wanted to get my four dollars worth out of the roses I bought Wednesday so I set them up near a sunny window. I used spot metering and a wide aperture but had not planned to convert to black and white.

I did plan on adding an effect in ON1 Effects and for some reason chose one called Ansel In The Valley. Ansel Adams is famous for saying you don’t take a photograph, you make it. So this one’s for you Debra.

Note: Aldi has very good quality flowers for next to nothing, but you have to bring your own bag and shopping carts cost a quarter. The upside is that the one in Lancaster has horses in the back ready to pose for pictures.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

· 24 Comments ·
Alpaca?
Alpaca?

A couple of weeks ago my friend Alena pointed out that what I thought were Alpacas were really Llamas and vice versa. I’m sure she meant well, but I was worried that if I was wrong about this maybe I was wrong about everything.

I forgot about it for a while until this afternoon when I stopped to visit some old friends. There he was, Big Al, staring me down with bright red eyes and a look that told me I was going insane.

Something snapped inside what was left of my mind and I began to lose touch with reality. I started to wonder if I was a man dreaming that I was an Alpaca or an Alpaca dreaming that I was a man.

When I got home and looked in the mirror I saw that my ears looked different and there was hair growing out of them. I was also noticeably uncomfortable wearing sneakers and had a strange craving for a bowl of grass.

The way I see it I have several choices, one is to go back to the funny farm but last time I gained ten pounds and they have limited smoke breaks. Another is shock treatment, which I think I can do at home with a car battery.

The third is to resume therapy, but my therapist is a goat and I think he may be biased. Or I can simply stop photographing animals and shoot trains, which are relatively safe unless they run you over which rarely happens.

I’ve never read The Metamorphosis by Kafka but found this quote which says it all: “I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.” Thanks Alena.