Norman Rockwell’s oil painting: Blacksmith’s Boy-Heel and Toe was painted as an illustration for Edward W. O’Brien’s story by the same name in the 1940 issue of The Saturday Evening Post magazine
In 2003, local artist Wayne Fettro painted a partial reproduction on the side of this building in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It can use a little touching up but I like it just the way it is.
“The training of the mind is an art. If this can be considered art, one’s life is art.” Dalai Lama
“For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” T.S. Eliot
“90% of every art form is garbage. Focus on the 10% that’s good, suck it up, and drive on.” Patton Oswalt
“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” Elliott Erwitt
“Become the person your younger self would want to look up to.” Goitsemang Mvula
“We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist.” Wendell Berry, The Gift of Good Land
Cow graffiti on the broad side of a barn in Smoketown, Pennsylvania has been reported by local farmers. Suspects are believed to be very tall, artistic cows, although they likely had help from friends.
Just to be clear, Pre-Columbian art refers to art from the Caribbean, North, Central, and South Americas, think statues and vessels. The artifacts I photographed are not thousands of years old, but they are artifacts and they are from Columbia, Pennsylvania.
What makes them Pre-Columbian is that they are not originally from Columbia. They come from attics, garages, and basements everywhere, then are brought into a consignment shop like this one.
There they sit until someone sees something they can’t live without, buys it, and sometime later it goes back into an attic, garage or basement. It’s the cycle of antique life and it’s a huge business in many parts of P.A.
These strangely beautiful mannequins are a steal at $140 each. The possible uses are endless from a passenger for the HOV lane to a model for portrait photography practice.
There was a movie in the late 80’s where a sexy mannequin comes to life, though that rarely happens these days. They do sell some online with much more lifelike features, but that’s a whole different shade of gray.
Eckhart Tolle wrote a book called stillness speaks, it’s about stillness (obviously), life, and in its own way it’s about still life photography. So since we’re having a blizzard today, I decided to look into his theories and see if I could discover some stillness with a still life.
My first thought was that taking a photo of a needle and thread is stupid, it’s not creative and it’s certainly not art. Then I remember E.T. saying: “All artists, whether they know it or not create from a place of inner stillness, a place of no mind.” Oh.
My second thought was that I needed to find a way to make this interesting, and I was having some problems because of thought one. But E.T. said: “Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.” So I think that meant to tighten up my tripod.
I was really trying to make this work but was getting more frustrated by the minute. To this E.T. said: “Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary.” That’s slightly confusing but probably true.
Later, I went through all the photos to see if there was one worth keeping, and I started having some crazy thoughts; the needle and the damage done, the needle and the spoon, and the fact that I’ve never been to the Space Needle in Seattle.
So once again I looked to E.T. for help, to which he said: “Here is a new spiritual practice for you: don’t take your thoughts too seriously.”
Right then, now if I can just sit still until it stops snowing I can go out and get some great winter shots. I will look at things in the most unserious way I can, maybe even shooting only JPEG, but I doubt it.
