Calm
In a sea of chaos, be an island of peace.
The Westerner
Sometime in the mid 1960s, passenger rail ended for stops serviced by the Westerner, and gone were the days of riding the streamliner west to El Paso or east to Fort Worth. Cars and airplanes replaced passenger trains as speed and convenience took hold.
Carscapes
I did the unthinkable and walked in a city as a pedestrian, reminding myself that we live in car scapes. The fact that nobody stopped and asked me to explain myself surprised me.
Gear
Photography is 10% taking pictures and 90% watching camera reviews.
35, 50
In 35mm, perhaps the distance between observational and participatory imaging is fifteen millimeters.
Auxiliary Viewfinders
Forget new lenses and camera specs. One of the most freeing things we can add to our photography is an auxiliary viewfinder because it removes precision.
The Bigger Picture
There are many things to learn. The point of the arts isn’t to make a living doing art. Instead, if done well, we’ll witness the lived reality of the person making something become more widely known.
HEIC
Who wants to fidget with large raw files? A JPEG is good enough, and now we have 10-bit HEIC.
Traveling Kind
Art includes the freedom to wander off. If someone says that they want to be an artist, that’s like trying to write words around the unexplainable. Why do it? Explore the unknown.
In our lifetime
We’re our age for a short while, yet the present touches eternity.
The problem with mirrorless
Someday we’ll call it a camera with interchangeable lenses.
35 is a lonesome focal length
A 35mm pushes backgrounds away and magnifies foregrounds.
Completely covered with graffiti
Old age is the ultimate new cool. Be a little bit of kindness and friendship walking around in the world.
Heaven
Heaven is out here, working in Odessa.
Wildly kind and kindly wild
How do we remember a place?
Burgers, Fries, and Onion Rings
To see a photograph, we must forget that we’re viewing one. To see photography, we must acknowledge mood and atmosphere.
Studio
A note is a scribble (a few words in a sentence or two); a picture is an individual frame, and a finding blends text with imagery.
Influence
Despair is progress misinterpreted. Make a stranger laugh. Focus on what you enjoy more than the attention it brings.
The Rule of Thirds
View something, then around and past it.
Education
The kids are smart and will do just fine. It’s grown soreheads like me who I worry about.