( the photos are from 10-13 years ago but they reflect my thoughts for this post)
….so as Linda and I walked away from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, she asked me how I really felt about the memorial and everything going on. She asked again why I don’t make photos there also. Linda, photography is essentially for me. Maybe it’s my guide on the path to redemption. Maybe it gives me some kind of peace of mind and perhaps, it eases my heart and mind. When I come to the Memorial, I’m not here for me, I’m not seeking anything but the visual evidence of lost lives
So, once again she ask me why is my photography all work and no joy. Ok, the thing is this. Many young people are very smart. They may even be very perceptive. Us oldens are put on the earth to advise the youngin’s about the ways of the world. It’s a natural course of being. So, when a youngin ask questions that may challenge the olden’s, worlds could shake and stuff. Not kiddin’. Well, for sure, the olden’s mind needs to wake up and start putting petrol in the thinking motor. Maybe she is right and I need to slow down and smell the flowers. I mean I do many things for many people and I love it. I can’t and won’t stop that. I ask Linda, what she thinks I should do. (I don’t need an answer really cause I’ll do things my own way, that’s the only way worth dying for and that means it’s the only way worth living for)
Linda says, you know that little camera you have in your pocket all the time? I said, you mean the Sony? I always have that with me cause it’s so small and light and does everything. She says, maybe you should just use that and feel light like a tourist and just enjoy photography. (ok, so my brian is present and not on vacation. Methinks the kid just might have an idea.) The problem is that I like to work with a focused intent. Regardless of how the photos are liked or disliked, I just need to be able to look at them and stand by them as if my children.
EPSON DSC Picture
So she tells me, maybe forget all you teach to others and just let yourself make photos because it’s fun and you can. So I agree with her and myself to lighten the load physically and emotionally and try to, actually, just enjoy the act of seeing and using the little Sony RX100 v. The photos in the previous post were all made with that camera. I named it Dad when I got it cause a Dad can do anything like the Sony. My Dad died 62 years ago when I was 6yo. So, hence the name for the camera.
She told me she was meeting some friends for lunch and I was invited to go along. I quickly rejected the idea and told her, I will walk the streets a little and reflect on things. I handed her Garry the Olympus Pen-F and told her to use it until her camera arrives on Wednesday. She said no thanks cause we never know when we will meet again. I agreed. We hit Chestnut street and 2nd and we parted company. I walked around and just was a tourist in my own city and make some snaps with the Sony. In a minute my iPhone rings, I see the name and hmmmm. Hullo, Hi, it’s Linda, I’ll call you when the camera arrives. Ok, thanks for everything, …..silence……………
I have always stood by the fact that, We are all tourist in this world, no one gets a permanent Visa.
(a side note worth expressing. There is a Senator that’s dying. People feel sorry for him. I don’t. I hope when he dies, he doesn’t go to Hell or Heaven. I hope he goes to the place where all the POW/MIA are from every war we ever had or ever will have. I want him to face these troops and explain to them why he didn’t do anything to bring them home.)
The photos that have accompanied this story (in two parts) are exceptional and, as always, the writing is poignant and powerful … you always make me think and that is a great gift! Regards and all the best to you from northern Canada!
Michael,
Very inspiring for me to know your thoughts. Thank you, my friend.
Namaste
Hi Don, those last two posts are very telling. The last paragraph was so very poignant. There are a lot of those at the top in all governments who should hang there heads in shame. False Flag springs to mind ……..Keep shooting. Cheers Ian.
Thanks, Ian, I really believe that most politicians worldwide, don’t worry anything about shame and or their lack of assistance to any cause or person. I mean, that’s what they get paid for right?
To take care of their own and other politicians. That’s what we civilians pay for.
take care, my friend
Hey, Don. Just snap away with the little Sony (RX 100 M3) that I carry around in my pocket? Not me. Whatever camera I try using, makes it harder and harder to find photos … Maybe I go by it the wrong way. Well. Good read, as always.
Tommi, the distortion of one’s vision excels with experience and age. I got both young men. I just want to simplify the capture process and maybe let the camera open a new vantage point, not just from my vision but also from my heart. Linda may, in fact, be correct and I need to find the joy in just making photos. Keep in touch my friend and we can bounce things around.
Namaste
It doesn´t get any easier, that´s a fact, not for me it doesn´t. I too need to find that joy. It´s out there somewhere, I´m certain of it. Thank you, buddy.
…ya, part of it is oversaturation. I’m just going along for the ride and trying to enjoy it. Perhaps the solution is that there’s no solution. Maybe that makes it more interesting, but joy…as you say, I agree with you…..
peace my friend
Hi Don. Happy Sunday, or what’s left of it.
I just love the second image, the shot of the man under the Star & Stripes.
The senator, would he be the one who in turn was a POW? You don’t seem to have much compassion for his history. Aren’t there plenty other senators who deserve a lot more of your rightful scorn? In my humble opinion of course.
Giovanni, all of the politicians both past and present avoid the POW/MIA issue. Yeah sure, some talk the talk and walk the walk for a few weeks maybe and then, forgotten. I’m not picking on that unnamed senator that was a POW, he dug his own grave and hopefully, all the forgotten will be there to greet him when his time is due.
Don, I have my ( emotional ) problems too.
When I read your words and the traumas you’ve been through, I feel I’ve no right to have them.
And that’s how it should be. Find peace,my friend. Ian.
Ian,
First off, your right you have no right to have my traumas, nor do you want them. BUT! You have every right to have your own and deal with them. There is no trauma-o-meter or pain-o-meter. We all have our own things to work on and no one can gauge or compare against someone else’ stuff.
Thanks for posting again and I hope you find the path to Serenity.