Category Archives: Philosophy of Street

Philosophy of Street, Photography, Street Photography

The Poison of Seeing

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It has been said that we should see things as if seeing them for the first time. This is crucial to photography. Example of futility. Uncle Birney and I went to his home after work. I mentioned to him the issue of seeing things for the first time, whenever you look at it.  He was not a photographer but very smart. This issue had been bugging me for a while and I found no reasonable solution.

There was a tree in front of the house on the lawn. We stopped walking. Birney told me, there is a million dollars buried under the tree. You can have it all, but…there is a teddy bear leaning against the tree. He said, open your mind and tell me if you see it. After a few seconds, I said, yeah I see it. Then Birney told me, you can have the money but if you see the teddy bear, the money vanishes. I said, that’s easy. Then I realized for all of my life, I would see the teddy bear before I ever got a chance to get the money.

His mother, my grandmother, once told me to never poison my mind. I didn’t really pay attention but later, when I needed visual rescue, it dawned on me that Birney and Nana taught me a lesson I will never take for granted. It’s the lesson of SEEING.

See, pun intended, when I was told to see things as if seeing them for the first time, in my mind, it was impossible. I already had the vision planted deep in me poor head. How is it possible to see things for the 1st time after I already saw them? Can’t be done. So, Nana was right about poisoning the mind. Seeing something is poison in your mind. We can’t escape that.  Trying to see past that is futility. BUT…There is a way to stay focused and attempt to have the original thought.  Birney gave me the path to this. See, every time we look at something again, we see the teddy bear. Trying to rid of that is impossible. The trick is to accept the teddy bear and see the tree differently. I tried, but never got the money… and of course, Birney told me no one else could help in any way.

So, seeing something different versus trying to see it for the first time, is completely different. As photographers, we simply must allow a different vision to the commonplace in our lives. Traveling to other countries, places, etc is nice but you can never run from yourself. The simple truth of this is…. no matter how hard you try, you can never make the same photo with 2 different exposures. Put the camera on the motor drive, it fails to duplicate the first frame. There is always some poison in the mind of the photo.

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Photography

Remembering Lady Sara pt 2

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This is Sara’s plant. I got it from her grandson after Sara was buried. It wasn’t that long ago.

When we left the Museum, Sara wanted to show me her camera. So, out of her fancy, dancy handbag, comes a silver Leica M-4 with a silver 50mm 1.4 Summilux. The dang thing won’t wind the film anymore. Don, can you look at it? Sara, is there exposed film inside? No, it just keeps winding and winding. I smiled and said I could explain how to make it work.  She raises her arm and in a minute the Limo arrives. The driver gets out and opens the door and guides Sara into the car. He smiles at me and moves his hand as if to guide me in also.

Sara… Jack, we will go home and take Don with us and after dinner, you will drive him to his home. Yes, Sara. Jack, please stop at the grocery store. Patty asked me to get fresh Salmon and fresh dill. So we get to Elkins Park and stop at the grocery store. A young guy comes out with a shopping bag and hands it to Jack. Off we go to Sara’s home.

We get to Sara’s home and walk up the 4 steps to the door. A tall woman smiles, Hi Ms. Sara and grabs Jack and hugs and kisses him.(I’m wondering where my hug and kiss is, sheesh) Sara introduces  Patty to me, as Jack’s wife. Then we all sit to the dinner table and start having dinner.

Sara … Don, 35 years ago a young man came to me at the museum and told me he was going to be my personal driver. A few months later Jack told me his wife Patty was my personal attendant. We have been family ever since. Jack is chomping away on the Salmon covered with Dill and Lemon Butter. Patty smiles at me and says, how is the Salmon Don? See the front door, Don? Yes, smiling. The other side of the door is the world Jack manages. This side of the door, I manage. I really wanted to ask what role Sara had but I knew better.

After dinner, Sara takes me to the room where all her cameras are living. Some, actually are very familiar to me. Hmmmmm? She hands me some Leica’s and I take the body cap off and breathe the insides of the cameras. I notice on the serial numbers of a few cameras, the letters, letters G*. I asked her about that and she replied, George * was my husband’s attorney. She asked me if I still had the 2 cameras George gave me back in the ’70s. How on earth do you know about that? She said it’s in the ledger. She goes to a cabinet and pulls out a ledger with all the cameras her husband and George had,. My name is in it with the 2 cameras George gave me decades ago.

We sit at a small oval table and Patty brings us a cup of tea. Patty squeezes a slice of lemon in each cup. I never saw such a seductive squeeze. The way she twisted her fingers, no wonder Jack is always smiling. HA! Sara hands me an M3 & an M4. Both are nicer than mint. Don, for the life of me, I can’t get the film to act properly. So, I asked her to load the cameras as I watched. Sputs the spool in the M4 and it doesn’t catch. So I showed her to bend the end of the film so that there is a crease. She does as I explained and yup, uh huh, the film loads perfectly. Many times the film will slip out of the take-up spool because it slips out. Happens to the best of us.

Then she hands the M3 to me. I showed her that basically, the film end should do the same, a crease. The take-up spool has a grip on the spool and it also may slip the film. So she does the way I explain and perfect again.

Patty comes into the room and says, Sara, time for your meds and bath. Ok sweetheart. Sara tells Jack to take me home. I walk to the front door and all 3 stand and wish me a good life,. Sara turns and goes upstairs, Patty says, Sara has fond memories of you and your shared friends. Jack says, this way sir.

A few years passed and I never heard or saw them again. Sara passed away 4 months ago and 3 weeks ago, I got a package from Patty and Jack. It had the ledger, many photos, and a long 5-page handwritten letter in Sara’s handwriting. It explained how many of the people in my life who were mentors, friends, etc, were connected to Sara and her husband. It all started with Ding McNulty, Sara’s very special friend.

It really is a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.

Oh, the plant in the photo is Sara’s essence, minus her incredible legs….

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

True Tales From the Streets of Philly

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There was a newspaper here in Philly long ago. The Department of Photography head was named Jack C. Kosmin got me a cool job with the paper. I was hired as a sub to shoot homeless people on the street. I had a writer with me. His name was Marty. So we set out to Skid Row. It’s 1981. Skid Row was the bowery. I wore a long trench coat, a camera, and some rolls of film in my deep pockets. I walked all over the area many times over and over. I stopped at a Barbershop. It was Bonanno Barber Shop. His brother was a very famous Mafia King. His younger brother died in Nam. So we had things to talk about when he wasn’t busy. He told me I could hang there at the shop, keep my gear there and all is safe. “No one fucks with a Bonanno”. He kept a Bottle of Amaretto on the shelf and he taught me how to hold the little cup with my finger out and just sip slowly. He said we need to let the drink just engulf our tongues, then slide down the throat so all the flavor is enjoyed.  It’s over 40 years ago and If I get some Amaretto, well, I know how to hold the cup and drink it.

I was on Race Street near 8th and I saw some people standing around. There was a man on the sidewalk and he didn’t look good at all. I know that look all too well. Some guy all scruffy looking and with torn clothes is working on the guy, A woman says, how is he Doc, is he ok? So he says, hit 4 and get a cop.  That meant go to the intersection and get on all 4 corners and hail a cop. There are no payphones at all around. He keeps the guy breathing and when the cops get there, they thank him.  We all start to go to the Church on Arch Street. They have lunch meals. for free and a place to wash up a wee bit. ‘

So, I’m chomping at the bit to get this guy’s story. We are in the food line and I can smell the fresh baked muffins. After we ate I walked outside and lit a Camel. Doc stands next to me and asks for a smoke. Then he asked me, What are you up to around here? I explained I was a Nam  Vet and making photos of life on the street. Then we started walking and talking. He said he was a WW2 Combat Medic. I was like amazed at the words he said. We bonded quickly after that.

I then said, now I know why they call you Doc. Yeah, my history follows and leads me. Doc said he had a very successful practice in Bryn Mawr and a luxurious lifestyle. He was in business with a lifelong friend and as it turned out, that guy was um, well, sleeping with Doc’s wife. He put 2 million dollars in a secured account with his daughter. The house, cars everything he left for the wife as he walked out the door. We went into a Pharmacy and Doc talked with the Pharmacist. He pulled out a script pad and wrote 3 scripts. The Pharmacist filled them and we headed back to the Church. Turns out there was a few really sick people and he was taking care of them. If Doc sent someone to the Pharmacy, they didn’t pay cause Doc pre-paid for everything. Doc treated a few people and a young girl that was pregnant,  He paid special attention to. She was off-street cause Doc paid the Church to provide quarters for her.

It was time for me to leave and I did.

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

On Life of Photography

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I had a realization at 13 years old, that I was absorbed by photography. I mean that I believed I would not want to exist without photography. This is a belief that I live daily. It is the common denominator of breathing. There has to be a driving force for our souls to be in touch with the physical US. This is the energy of existence. The drive to become one with ourselves. This energy or source of breathing can’t be found within anyone outside of ourselves. It emanates from within us. We need to nurture and feed this as a single entity that seeks for semi-completeness. The thing is, that we strive for completeness but should never really achieve it. Doing so releases the drive to grow, learn, and feel progress in our lives.

So photography does this for me. Maybe music, science, drugs, or anything else works for others. I never went to college, and never studied formally philosophy, psychology, photography, or any of the academic paths. I know this and I live it. If you are doing something that maybe means something to you, then do it as if your life depends on it, because it does.

Ahaa, see, now we are talking about making photos. Ideally, we as photographers will eventually find our individual stances.
It’s very easy to mass-produce photographers and their photos. There is a whirlwind of cameras, software, darkrooms, ideas, opinions, etc. Wading through the muck is exhausting and actually counter-productive. First off, we must find our stance. That stance will carry us thru life and keep us focused. If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.

I like to feel the connection to the entire process of making the photo. I mean, I feel the camera, Andre’ the Leica M9, currenbtly. We have a synergism that allows me to be free with the process of finding and making the photo. Of course, my other cameras provide the same process with minor adjustments. i have them all as intuitive as possible.

So, on the technical end, there is a camera, process, editing, curating, and anything else we have in the mix. Aesthetically, this is where we have to tune in the Eye, Heart, and Mind. Then, of course, intent which is the path to completeness of intent.

The aftermath of the shutter release is the instantaneous truth of what you just did.  I recognize this when I am working. Like, I see something, start to feel something and then the camera clicks. If the photo works, I maybe, kinda, sorta know it works. It’s not rocket science either but most welcome experience.

The beauty of life is not in the established moment of reality, but in the wonder and mystery that we allow to enter our essence.

… I’ll be back shortly …

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

We are the Messengers and Poets of Society

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When i was younger, there was a Mayor of Philly named, Frank Rizzo. It was 1976 and we were supposed to celebrate the Bicentennial. Everyone was looking forward to it I would walk the streets and make photos and then, then I realized… I had many shots of homeless people. Rizzo had other plans. From what I understand, he didn’t want people coming to Philly in droves. I mean, how would you screen them?

In my own way, I agreed with the mayor.  Probably not for the same reasons, but I was not into people being homeless and hungry while the elite and wealthy were unexposed. I felt the money would be better spent on shelters and food than for people to have a vacation here. 46 years later and i still feel the same.

So, back then I decided to put, my heart where my thoughts and mouth are. In my mind and heart, I was still making photos for all the guys that died in the war. They will be semi-forgotten in time. I felt a duty to make photos for them. i still do. Only now, if a shot doesn’t work, I blame them and not me. Well, I made a self mission to make photos of the homeless on the streets and send prints to the Mayor’s office. I did this weekly for years.

While I was on this mission, I got phone calls at times. One day, the Mayor called me personally and asked me to come to his office. I didn’t think twice about it and I went to his place on the arranged appointment. It took a year for this to happen. He invited me in and I was checked by an LT LEO and he said, he’s clean. I sat at the front of the desk and The Mayor told me a few things. He said you’re a good photographer. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to please everyone in the city? Yes sir but Mr. Rizzo, I make my part easy for you. You don’t have to roam the streets looking for the homeless, I bring them to your desk.

He said, how about i give you some other things to take pictures of and you let this go? I replied, you stop giving me subject matter and I’ll stop making pictures of it. I got the feeling at that moment, that he didn’t appreciate my answer. He said I tell you this, the day will never come that we don’t see the homeless on the streets. I said, Mr. Mayor, I don’t ask you to fix anything, just ask you to try. Ha asked, will you stop sending me pictures> NO! I will always and always continue for whoever is in power.

He patted my shoulder and said, I promise I will always look at every single picture you send. I also will put everyone in the city archives. Maybe you can send them every 2 weeks? It would allow me to do other things too. I left feeling, he’s not a bad man like everyone says he is. No angel but really cares about the residents.   I agreed. Then after some time, there was some work being done at some shelters. Better beds and security. Things that make even the homeless feel human.

I can’t say that anything I did was a part of the realization of the situation, but it was a step in the right direction.  Our photos may shine a light for others. I still do this mission. Maybe once a month I send files to the city. The current mayor and DA don’t care anyway.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We have the ability to express our hearts and souls because we can. Maybe that’s all that we as poets and messengers get to do.

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Surviving The Carnage To Creativity, Pt 2

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It saddens me that I can’t keep a camera on a neckstrap anymore. It’s not that they are all too heavy, even tho they are. It’s a security issue. I mean, carrying a camera that way is like advertising…. look, money on my neck. For the first time in about 50 years, it’s an issue I am totally aware of. I don’t use a camera bag anymore either. The same issue is about advertising. I do, however, use a waist pack and that’s as safe as it can be.

This isn’t about being discreet, it’s just about avoiding confrontation. I live in Philadelphia. This is the birthplace of our American history in many ways. All the good things that this country is founded on, are right here. If you live here, you feel that kinship with our history. It’s embedded in our DNA. If you smoke crack, do dope, meth, fentanyl, or anything like that, then the history that’s embedded in you, is diluted and you become a danger to yourself and others. So these junkies etc, like cameras. Oh, they love them. See, they are relatively small and valuable.

I bring this up because it’s about the carnage of creativity. Things we used to take for granted, are no longer taken for granted. It comes down to this. The joy of life and its reasons for joy is now under attack and being challenged and destroyed. This is a direct effect of politics but not political. I remember when I was teaching, I taught street security. Yes, it was an issue back then, like 80’s and 90’s.

There was a young girl, 19, who wanted to learn to feel ok making photos on the street. She told me she felt like a plain Jane. She was not comfy with herself and thus felt uncomfy doing almost everything. I told her in no uncertain manner, listen, you don’t know yourself, because no one ever does. We are all caught in the box of uncertainty inside ourselves. Therein, lies all the emotions, both good and bad that make us who we are.

To the world, that is not you. To the world, you are who you project. A few weeks later she told me that my lesson was very intuitive. She was making photos on the street. When someone opposed her, she just said, yeah, your right, wouldn’t be a good shot anyway. By saying that and holding her stance, she reversed the energy and power and made it hers. She would be comfy and kinda have control. Not control of the subject, who cares about that? Only politicians. But she was in control of herself.

Sometimes we can help someone over a personal hurdle and in return besides feeling good, learn about ourselves. So, maybe a way to combat the carnage of creativity is to help someone thru it.  ‘

Isn’t that what THE LORD does for all of us?

Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Streetshooter

Surviving The Carnage To Creativity, Pt 1

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It’s been some time since I wrote anything anywhere. It’s not that I don’t have the thoughts, energy, or ideas. It’s that I am tired of the battles. I am not tired of fighting the battles, just the battles. I am a warrior and will never surrender.  So, I had a conversation with my selves. We decided the best way to survive is to get cameras.

See, the attack upon my humanity I can get past someway. The attack on my creative essence is not so easy. After you survive, the residue is carnage. The carnage is what you have to work with to try and get whole again. It demands attention and perseverance to make it.

I address these issues with my cameras.  Even my camera cabinet has the presence of carnage. I sold many cameras in the last 2 years. They were Covid sell-offs. I acquired what I really felt a kinship with but alas, our relationship was not strong enough to last. I am kinda the same with wives, that’s why I have 3 exes.  It’s not easy to acquire cameras and even more difficult to unload them.

Anyway, I know I’m rambling but I need to clean out the dust in my poor brain. As photographers, we are editors and curators of our lives. With our photos, we shoot and then edit the ones we care about and then curate them to a place of recognition. Maybe not for others but for ourselves and that’s what matters.

So for me, editing is an ongoing process that works in most areas of life. Cameras for example. Have you ever shopped for a camera? Well, editing them lets you decide what you want to keep and what not to keep.  Curating is kinda like keeping them on a shelf or working with them.

Editing photos is an entirely different process. It has the way and means to cripple your creative energy and more. There should be ONE pure intent to process editing your work. That is, to satisfy the love and energy of your work for you. No other agenda need to apply.  That of course is an impossible task. There are so many internal as well as external pollutants that penetrate our eye, heart, and mind.

I will do my best to reborn the blog. Some have asked for a while and some don’t give a hoot. So I do it for the ones that asked and the ones that never knew about this and for me.

Be Blessed and don’t take any wooden nickles. No, I have no clue what that means but I’m sure it means something.

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Covid 19 … Embracing Our History … and It’s Variations Thru Time

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My idea when I go out to work is to think about the present and generate new ideas. Of course life enters rather quickly and all goes to pot. I suppose we have memories and we store them someplace but they are always active and effect the present. I think it was Dorothea Kehaya that said, “See things as if your seeing them for the first time”. I’m not saying she coined the phrase but I heard it from her ages ago. I find that an impossible task. I mean memories and info are pollutants. No matter what I do I can’t get them out of my head and heart. This unfortunately goes for my exes too. laffs. So many say to see things as if for the first time. I firmly believe this is  destructive to think and feel. that way.  I try to see the world in a frame, I mean I see the image frame and then get placement of the subject matter to where it feels right. I know that many times over 50 years, I have seen something many different ways but the memory of the last image of it pollutes the present moment.


The interesting thing is …. since the dawn of all time, the very first cave man photographer, no 1 second ever is repeated in the same way. Maybe,  just maybe, this means that time is a measuring device that reminds us of the all important Being In the Moment. Only shooters can ever be aware of the moment.

So instead of doing battle with our past images, perhaps we should embrace those moments and if they seem to present themselves in the here and now of the moment, they aren’t really. Maybe they are guides that we have established and set for our work.

The connection as I see it is the eye, mind and heart. Ideally, all three elements come together at the precise moment of exposure. This is a known fact among shooters…but, what about the start of seeing the image. How does that actually work? I call it a trigger mechanism. I get walking and my camera is in my hand and I’m kinda tuned in a place where I am letting the world seep in my mind. Then, all the sudden something or someone strikes a chord. My juices get flowing and my sensitivities and sensibilities are activated. I start to breathe and feel a new photo coming. The trigger is what stimulates the creative process. The camera gets ready and i start framing,,,, there are thoughts and opinions on framing.

It becomes a travesty to ignore or attempt to erase history. In photography, history lends direction either from the past or implied to the future. Looking for the next photo may or may not be an easy task but it certainly should be attainable by all in pursuit of it.  Our internal vision and our external vision needs to be awake and excited and connected whenever we work. What happens when a dry spell knocks on the door? Well, that’s an issue most of us have to deal with. Having a defined history of our work, allows us to research it and bring the gist of it to our present and help shape our future.

I know this seems like non photography but it’s all about your photography. Your living this regardless of your awareness of it or not. Making photos is personal only if we adopt and apply a perspective that is our own. Mind you, it’s impossible but we strive to work that way. There are 3 aspects of time that we need observe. The past, or history, the present that is history in the making  and the future that is to become history.

When we look at our archive of photos, we are seeing our history. These footprints pave the way for the future and we should not discount the life of these photos. Maybe many will say, seeing your history will make you repeat it over and over. That is pure rubbish. There are few places on the planet that are vacant of history. In photography, like it or not, we are treading on someone’s history all the time. Nothing wrong with that at all.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

So, how to relate this too our photography and make sense of it. For a long time I was working in series or groups of photos. I mean relative consciousness of the images. I would strive to make photos that fit together with others to be something more that the single frame. Long ago before my mind was even alive, I read a book on Gestalt Psychology.  It taught me that all the parts are greater then the whole. This idea has perplexed me for decades.

I always liked to take things apart and analyze them and see what and why things tick. Well I got to thinking in later years and understood the the parts of the sum have an intrinsic value on each part that the whole may encompass but shadow over due to the mass collection of the parts.

In photography, we can not escape history. More importantly, we can never nor should we try to erase the history of others. The path we travel with our camera can be guided if not directed by what has been done before. If we embrace the history of ours and others, we give birth to the present and the future. Now with lockdowns and eases of them, we can not be lost. The struggle to create and FEEL again is reborn. We can unleash an energy inside us craving to make photos.

We are at a point of rebirth and it’s gonna be special but only because we love the history of Mother Light and all she grants us and has granted our fellow shooters across time.

 

 

 

 

Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Covid-19 … Exploring The Control In Our Photography

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Well, COVID is a spirit and creative killer. When this started, I was told maybe 2 months back to normal. That came and went. No-fault of anyone and this is not a political post by any means. Maybe it’s about control. Not political, racial or anything else. It’s about the control of the mind and the heart. Why is this important?  Well, ya asked so I will tell my feelings about this.

Seems like long ago I breathed a freedom that engulfed my essence. It was a fine breathing I tellya. Pure creative energy entered me and filled me and gave me life.  Oh, don’t get it wrong. I still breathe but thru an N95.

There are so many elements that want to control us. What really matters is how we respond and hold stance during all this. Then, then enters Mother Light. She provides inspiration for photography more than anyone or anything else in life. One of the interrupters of inspiration is control. We as shooters are accountable for the control or lack of it in our work. I’m not talking about our lives because our lives is our work. It’s one and the same.


If you know anything about the 60’s, you might remember a Doctor. His name was Dr. Timothy Leary. Anyway, he invented a medicine that made ya feel like there was no control, no control in the universe. There was a feeling of separation of reality and your essence. Well, I don’t really have any experience with that sorta stuff. I wouldn’t know how all that effected photography, after all I am a kinda sorta maybe stand up guy.  I am and I dang sure don’t need anyone to cover me or help.

Back to mission control. I found thru life that if we stop trying to get control, we actually get control. Well, for example. I can’t really go to a camera store, not in the physical sense, and not find a camera that I absolutely must have.

 

Sometimes I might be a little crazy. it’s true. My shrink at the VA will confirm. My doc always ask questions and expects me to answer. So he asked me if I ever talk to myself.  I said, Doc, it’s ok to talk with yourself. It’s even ok to answer yourself as long as you know it’s you doing the talking and answering. If you think it’s someone else talking and answering, then ya have a problem and you get a new patient.

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So I started to groove on the control thing. I wanted to explore this but only thru photography. We have cameras, lenses, processing things all sorts of things to aid my struggle for control. I started to realize that photos are the prime example of control. In a photo wee can see the elements and graphics and even emotions and the struggle for that control. Framing, tones, color, shapes. tonal values. subject matter etc all in focus and a direct result of control.

I stated at the onset of this, when we stop trying to get control, we actually get control. If our photos are a direct visual reflection of control… what happens if we stop trying to control our photography?

I’ll be back shortly and continue …

Dreamcatcher, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Covid 19 … History Of The World … Pt2

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screech….boom ….clang….

Hey all, that’s shooters magic time machine and I just returned from the history inside my tired mind. Man Caves are very supportive of photography. See, when we delve into the creative side of ourselves, we need a place to breathe and let us get inspired.  See, it is said that negative only supports negative energy. Positive energy supports everything and has the power to fuel negative energy to either neutralize it or guide it to the positive side.

So, in todays times and real estate market, it’s dang near impossible to secure a man cave. Oh, they are around but they have wifi, massaging chairs and Fancy Dancy beds that vibrate when ya get on it. Alright, I’m 71 but dang it, if yo need an auto vibrate when your on the bed with your lady or anyone, it’s a problem. I’ll be just fine making my own natural vibrations, with some one or alone, I’m a natural vibrator…hmmmm.

So this is all really about the source and feeding of inspiration.  What we need to pay attention to it the Inverse Square Law. I’ll give a few examples to illustrate the idea.  This is about being married. So, the more things you do for your wife, the less things she tells you to do. The less things you do for her, the more she has for you to do.

If a man cave has all the fine things for comfort, chances are you will be comfy but not very productive.  Your mind is occupied with the pleasures in front of you. So, lets move our man cave away and get it inside our mind. We will leave the window open for the heart to be in touch. nothing exist in the man cave but feelings and thoughts and that will inspire you. The less clutter in our mind, the more freedom to manufacture the creative juices.

The key issue has become, how to get re-inspired and creative and productive. There are three things we have the option of doing. Maintaining apathy, surrendering or struggle to survive.  We are accountable for our choice and we can’t blame it on anyone but ourselves. My choice is the struggle to survive and continue. For me that means, eliminate the opposition to my creativity. It’s like having a filtration system that is adjustable for input. I am not a sports fan and I don’t drink alcohol. All that means is, easy to sit back, drink and become apathetic. Not everyone tho, I’m talking me.

We need input like the news but a filtered amount. That does inspire us some as it’s life the way they want us to see and live it.  One way to get inspiration is to buy new cameras. It cost money and the magic can wear off quickly. So I came up with this crazy solution. I mean it’s so crazy it just might work. You’ ins may think I’m crazy but I choose to use my cameras. The hard part is to find photos in a semi controlled environment with a lack of strong inspiration. I suppose it’s time for me to post my formula for inspiration and love of making photos.

Remember we talked about the Inverse Square Law? Well, here is a practical  application. This is about discipline. let’s work the discipline/freedom method. This is a 5-7 day experiment, not an exercise. This is not a take photo project, it is a make photo project.

Day 1. Make 5 photos. Not 4 and not 6. No sequences either.  Each photo should be worthy of your love of what you do with a camera.

Day 2. Make 4 photos, not 3 and not 5. Once again, work to make each a photo worthy or you.

Day 3.  Make 3 photos as the daze B4.

Day 4 make 2 photos and be decisive. Pay attention the the energy that is being created.

Day 5. Make 1 photo. The hardest day of your life.. On this magical day, the photo you make shall be a representation of all that you are and hope to become.

Day 6 & 7 are the same energy as Day 5.

Each day process the photos to your liking. I mean to the point that you sit back and are amazed that you even made the photo.  Make all the variations you please but only 1 final photo.

If you make a variation on this experiment, it will  fail. I was roped into teaching workshops years ago. It was film daze and interesting. We as a group would meet and discuss things. The shared thoughts and energy was remarkable. Today with the net, we have the opportunity to share with others worlds away.

Any questions, answers or ideas, I’m open. If ya need help with the experiment, feel free to let me know and we can skype or something. Mayme it seems like a mundane or superficial experiment but it’s certainly is not. Igf ya ask where and how I come off with this, well it’s a gift. For me life is a gift and I never question it. So the answer is, we are all accountable for each other. Pass it along and I’ss be back in a few daze.