Tag Archives: Fuji X100s

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 39 … Happy New Years

January 2, 2016 streetshooter 13 Comments

Well, it happened. I so wanted to be a regular normal photographer. I wanted to make those real picturesque photos splashed in color and so pleasing to the eye. I wanted people to get google-eyed looking at them and ooh’s and ahh’s in abundance. How nice would it be to have people like the photos because they were a real reality of what I saw?

I planned for a long time how I would make photos at the parade.Oh yeah, don’t think that I didn’t really have a game plan. I damn sure did. I changed my name to John Doe Tourist and was into the swing of things. I would look at everything without a jaded mind and just snap away and make those photos that everyone would love and I’d be content at last.

I’d have a scrapbook with many nice pretty photos of the mummers and maybe some of the looker-oners.

How nice it would be to just take pictures and be one of the guys. I mean I’d fit into groups and clubs and all kinds of things. I’d be a real photographer. I love real photographers and I love to look at the pictures they make. I love seeing how they selected their subject matter and how they made the frame.

I love to know what camera they used and what lens, don’t forget the all-important ISO. It’s so interesting to discuss all these things. The right camera bag, soooo important. I learn so much from these photographers. I’m not being cynical. I really do love the real photographers.

I was almost awake on the New Year. I had a dream that I was becoming a real photographer and I could make color pictures on the street and be happy as a real photographer. I failed miserably. The friggin guy is out of focus. WTF. I ain’t no real photographer.

I lowered my camera, looked to the street, took a deep breath of the fumes from the buses and cars and homeless people. I coughed, and looked all around me and saw the beauty of life and the beauty of the struggle to maintain it.

ahhhhhh…… it’s friggin 2016 and I’m still standing…….I’m a streetshooter, ain’t that the best thing to be…….

How ’bout you?…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Black & White, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 27 … Street … Camera Bag Syndrome Pt1 … Fuji X100s

October 28, 2015 streetshooter 2 Comments

It’s starting to get cold here in the City of Brotherly Love. I mean will still have lots of warm weather but the fall brings with it, the fall ing light. There’s a noticeable change in the general attitude of people. I notice a change in my mindset also. I try to sort things out before I have to see my shrink at the VA. Ok, time for me to fess up……

I am an addict. I been since I was in my early 20’s. Yes, true and I hide it really well. Oh no, no, no my friends…not Smack, known as heroin, no no, no alcohol, and not maryhoonie even the medical kind. My addiction is for camera bags. Camera bags of all kinds, all types, colors, sizes, makes any camera bag has the potential to satisfy my addiction…well for a little bit.

Ok here goes…… this time of year is exciting for me but not only because of the delicious light and shadows, but because of the fact I wear a jacket. Wearing a jacket is like having a very nice camera bag all over you. Pockets baby. I love pockets. I love the freedom of having a camera, extra battery and a lens pen and that’s it.

Of course this does not take into conssideration how the cameras in the cabinet feel. They start to get itchy about getting out in the Fall light. This starts the Camera Bag Carrying Syndrome. Yeah, c’mon, if your a shooter, you get this and don’t hide behind the door and pretend you don’t. I recently did a survey and it seems that most shooters between the age of 16 and 90 have more camera bags then lenses. What does this tell us, not much I suppose but it’s interesting to do surveys like this.

See, during the cooler months a good camera bag is essential. I tell myself this because I want to justify having all these nice bags. I also want to justify having all these nice cameras. It’s Fall and time to get a bag together and get some cameras off the shelf into that bag.

The thing for me is, that when I use a bag, I want to carry more then I need to make photos. Oh yeah, don’t kid yourself, that’s an issue. For decades I used an M camera with a 35mm lens. I traveled and never felt inadequate with just one lens. That’s the reason for the Fuji X100s. One lens, 35mm, perfect with 3 methods of seeing. How does all this camera switching stuff affect vision. Well, it has a great effect on the finished image. It’s not just perspective that changes as the camera moves, it’s the idea of the image and the emotional impact that is changing also. I don’t believe what others say about not rattling the cage. I believe that our cages need to be rattled as much as possible.

EP-5

I think changing cameras, lenses BAGS etc is all very healthy and creative. We as shooters need the challenge of defeating complacency on a daily basis. We don’t always win but we must continue to struggle and fight so that we survive the vast desert of boredom and complacency. Changing a lens, camera whatever open the heart and mind to a new way of thinking. The eye starts to see differently and this is all good for the common cause of creativity. A camera bag is crucial. It is your best friend for new vision. It makes you want to fill it and use different things in your quest for the next photo.

Yeah sure, it’s great to be free of the extra stuff and just use a camera and a lens. I did it for most of my 66 years but! The truth is that when I get to a point that I’d rather paint the bathroom, that’s the time to load the bag with some cameras, hit the streets and open my Eye, Heart and Mind.

……………shooter out……………………………………………….

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 26 … Street … Finding Direction … Fuji X100s

October 21, 2015 streetshooter 9 Comments

Did you ever notice that if you look at a map, you have your starting point and your ending point? Yes, shooter how you gonna screw this up? Good question and I’m a gonna tell ya right now. The points in between the start and finish are the most important points. They are the anchor points and they give us a fixed idea of what the journey is about. We all start the journey of life different, but we all end up the same. The beauty is not in the destination but in the journey itself. That means to be in the here and now.

Points along the way

So we know that the map of our photography has a start point and hopefully a destination and that we reach that destination in good health. But if the journey is more important than the destination, what about the journey? Well, I see it like this. During our travels thru a life with photography, certain milestones or markers make themselves evident. These are points of inspiration or interest that we are drawn to. We see these being borne in our photos.

Here’re a few points that I have in my photography.

Icons, Shadows, Reflecting, Walk/Drive by Shootings, Light/Shadows, Dreamcatcher, Public Transportation, Human Condition, Isolation, Juxtaposition. Now of course any and all are sometimes working together. The point is, I have a set of guidelines that help me work. You could call these series. I certainly have spent my life so far tinkering with all of these. Why is this important and most important to recognize?

Well, we have enough bullshit distractions going on that we need a lifeline to hold us into the light. You can do as you damn well please but I’d bet there isn’t one photographer from all of time and won’t be for all of time that doesn’t do this. The issue is to be aware of the fact that you are doing it. This doesn’t guarantee you anything but peace of mind especially when you are lost with what you’re doing. We all get lost, tired of the same stuff, bored…but WHALLA!

If you take thetime to discover what you are doing naturally without realizing you are doing it and make an effort to discover the points in your photographic journey, you will never be bored again. You have a system of working. Looks, it ain’t playtime out there. If you are a camera player and that’s what you do, leave my blog and never come back. The serious readers and shooters here have no time for that shit. They are busy getting shit from me but at least, I have an idea of what I’m talking about.

So, next time you have some time, go into your catalog and especially the processed and published photos. Then look for similar thoughts, feelings whatever. Group them together. Be a hard ass with yourself. This is your life! Respect it, honor it and get it together. Then when the galleries and museums start to call and want an exhibition from you, your organized and dammit…….

grab your camera, open your eyes, smell the exhaust, get your butt out there, your a Street Shooter, is there anything better………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 25 … Street … Memories of Future Past … Fuji X100s

October 20, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

Photography is one of the seductive means of making memories. So I wonder why many aren’t aware that they are making memories. Let’s face it, photography has many purposes and we can never meet all of them at any given time. So I guess it’s wise to get a grasp on what we are doing in the here and now and focus our attention and energy on what we are doing with our camera. We normally don’t think in terms of any specific intent other than making photos.

Well, photojournalist and wedding shooters are photographers and yet they have a different intent than a street shooter has. Well, for the moment right? Street shooters have a different intent than say, a portrait shooter. A portrait shooter gas a different intent than a landscape shooter. All are photographers and all have a different intent for what they are doing. The thing is…………:

There are common denominators with all. Well, cameras are common to all. Yet, that is not specific enough.

Surely there must be something that all not only have in common but that they may or may not be aware of what it is that is in common. Well, I think the single most important thing that all have in common is……:

……..the simple fact that photography does an excellent job of,……….. recording memories. Oh yeah, let’s just take that for granted, I mean after all.. I’m a street shooter and what the hell do I care about being aware that I am recording memories? If I’m making memories, fine…leave me the hell alone and let me do my work. If you wanna see memories in my work, go ahead but don’t bother me with this bullshit.

See, our brains have a really great filing system. It works flawlessly unless it is swimming in alcohol or breathing medicinal pot. Otherwise, it works well most of the time unless it goes on vacation. Mine does that more as I get older. Now at my age, I don’t need it too much anyway.

So we get clobbered with info from the world and then our subject matter and then the brain tells the mind to process everything and make a photo. So let’s say you are on the street and your making photos. Then an accident happens. You make some photos. You think your making photos because you see an interesting subject. What’s really going on is that you are making memories and maybe just maybe those photos will have importance to someone.

When I was in Nam, I carried my M4 and 35 Cron on a neck strap always. I photographed everything I could. In the morning for example, I would do some portraits of the guys. We might be on a fire base or whatever. Then maybe shit hit and we did our job and I made photos when I could. First duty was the M16 or 45. Then the Leica, usually for the aftermath.

Then I would get my Negs and small prints back and look at them. I’d hand out the photos to the guys and then…hmmmm I might have a photo of a troop that didn’t make it.

I became acutely aware that photography is about memories. It’s about other shit too, but memories are the main source of image information transference. I have many photos of what Nam was about. Many soldiers I made photos of are on the wall in DC and other places. I have been asked many times to publish a book of the photos.

See, they are not just my memories. Those soldiers that I made photos of lying dead, they are sons and brothers and everything to family. I won’t do anything with these photos. It’s disrespectful and too painful for the families. When I’m dead, but no hurry, then my daughter will have rights to them and she can do as she pleases. By then all will be forgotten of these warrior heroes that gave me life. All will be forgotten about a war in a foreign land that no one wins. All will be forgotten of the pain that still hurts 45 years later.

the photos, well… they are just memories…………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 24 … Street … Beating Complacency … Fuji X100s

October 17, 2015 streetshooter 15 Comments

Ok, if youse didn’t know this, I might just coulda be just a little bit but not over the edge crazy. That’s what my shrink at the VA says. Ya gotta know something about shrinks. They gotta be crazy too otherwise they can’t see their patients craziness. Why did I mention this on a photo blog? Well, it’s about how I’m feeling about what’s going on and what’s going on in my camera cabinet. When I was younger I was in a monogamous relationship with my Leica M cameras. That statement in itself is a contradiction of terms. The reason is that I had and used more then a few Leica M’s.

Flash to the present and I am no longer in a monogamous camera relationship. Yes, it’s true. I cheat on my cameras all the time. The only one that I don’t feel like I’m cheating with is Andre’ the Fuji X100s. See, Andre’ soothes my soul when we are together. He is very responsive to me and my needs. Unfortunately, Walker the Olympus Pen EP-5 does the same thing, but different. And Garry the Olympus Pen EP-5 does the same too. So my my confusion?

I spent decades using my M camera and most times a 35mm Cron or Lux.

So here’s why I’m writing this blog post. It seems to me that what happens to many and not discounting me, as I am the worst of the lot is: there are time that I get kinda lost in the moment. I mean that I’m a nutcase that walks the same general region over and over day after day. So I sometimes find it hard to find my next photo. Ohhh, I know what to do. Take a different lens or camera and everything changes. Cool beans.

Well surprise, surprise. Seems the only things that changed is the camera or lens. Imagine that. So maybe the subject matter changes slightly and the environment also but how does that affect the feelings and the vision? I don’t think the camera or lens will have much impact on this at all. I think it’s about the frame of mind and the opening of the eye, heart and mind to make adjustments. The camera can assist in this but it’s up to us to take control of the wheel.

I know this may sound simplistic and boring but the single most thing shooters fight all the time is what realtors live by also. Location, location, location. It’s the search to end the doldrums of shooting the same area all the time. Some say, look as if your seeing it for the first time. Bullshit, ain’t gonna happen. We aren’t talking about traveling, we are talking about working on the homefront.

My Uncle Birney showed me something many years ago. He had a tree in front of his house, small Japanese Maple. He told me he would bury a million dollars right near that tree and it was mine except one condition. If I looked at the tree and only saw that, I could have the money. Then Birney told me that there is a teddy bear in front of that tree. He told me that every time I looked at that tree I would see the teddy bear. I couldn’t get the money if I didn’t see just the tree. If I saw the bear, it was a dead end.

Well, for years I would be at his house and every damn time I looked at that tree, I would see that stupid teddy bear. I think that’s about mental conditioning. Maybe when we are out on the street, we are programmed to see that teddy bear.

So the idea is not to think that our programming can be altered or changed by a camera or even a different location. The hard part of seeing and living is to be able to do it in the most common of places, our home ground. Here’s in NE Philly we call that being Complacent. As my daughter Bethany says, “It’s not alright”.

The above photos are all made in the area known here as Market East. It’s an area that I have been working for over 40 years. It’s harder and harder for me to get photos that I like because that stupid teddy bear keeps jumping in front of my camera.

I fight that damn Teddy Bear on a daily babsis. Do you know your Teddy Bear and are you fighting it?

……end transmission…..

Color, Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 19 … Rainy Day … the Fuji X100s

September 10, 2015 streetshooter 13 Comments

So I’m on the couch watching CNN and I hear a ruckus upstairs. I start to walk up the steps and it becomes obvious that the noise is coming from the office or back bedroom. So, slowly I walk down the hallway, being very careful so the cameras that are sleeping don’t wake up. Quietly I walk into the office and there, there on the 1st shelf, there on the 1st shelf all by his lonesome is Andre’ the Fuji X100s dancing. Not a slow dance either. Ya’s gotta trust me here. If’n ya’s never saw a camera dance, well, Andre’ the Fuji X100s is dancing kinda like Disco. Oh, yes, don’t you laff at me, just because my camera dances and yours doesn’t, well, that there is your problem.

So I took the headphones off of Andre’ and as it turns out he was listening to Donna Summer. I figured, I ain’t saying nuttin, he gotz class. As I am bent over, Andre’ shoots a lasso of the Luigi Neck Strap at me and it goes right around my neck. I take this to be a subtle action that means he wants to go out. So I figure, any camera that can dance to Donna Summer, turn on the iPad and use headphones, find Donna Summer, throw a lasso of Luigi neck strap and get it right around my neck, well, he’s bad ass and I don’t mind being on the street with him.

Don’t forget my friends, he never woke any other camera up. That’s a feat in itself.

Andre’ says it’s raining and maybe we should call off the shoot. Well, at this point, I felt like the hero Andre’ thinks I am. I said, look my friend, there exist a beauty in the human condition under diversity that one should go to and not run from. Andre’ the Fuji X100s looks at me and says, look kid, your a nice guy, smoked toooo much funny shit when you were a kid but all in all, your ok. What does all this have to do with being in the rain?

Ya know, he had me stumped for sure, I couldn’t answer him so I made that face like… I’ll pull your battery out sucker…. sometimes ya have to just find a natural compromise with life and it’s inhabitants. I decide and Andre’ lets me decide to just be in the beauty of the rain and to just feel our way around. I don’t mind Andre’ feeling things hanging around my neck but if he’s in my pocket, I don’t want him feeling anything down there.

So we are in this really nice natural just wanna see and make photos of what we see mode. No expectations, preconceptions, wants, rules, suggestions, ideas, anything but just seeing.

Now I gotta tell ya, lets keep this between you and me. Andre’ the Fuji X100s is a great camera and a great friend. We have good conversations and everything. The thing is, When we are out working, he’s very quiet. Most he will do is let me have control and he usually set’s the ISO,. That’s it. So I think he figures by being this way, if the photos aren’t that good, it’s my fault and not his. Some friend huh?

So, when I teach a class there is always someone that ask me if I talk to my camera. Well, I say, what are you crazy, cameras can’t talk. Sheeeesh, we use mental telepathy to communicate. If they get that, they have a good shot at being a human being with a camera. If not, they will struggle their entire life looking for what they can never find.

So I had Andre’ hanging around my neck. I have my left hand covering his top and like a cover over the lens. Then my right hand can raise him to my eye and he stays kinda dry. I mean I didn’t get a drop of water on the lens all day. I made a lot of photos, well for me it’s a lot but I posted just a few cause that’s what I did.

Tomorrow if you remind me I’ll show you what I did to my thumb grip. It’s a great idea and I been using it like this for a while….

no no……. ya gotta wait till tomorrow… till then

…. be blessed on your journey……………………………………………………………………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 19 … Fuji X100s … Synergism for the Soul

September 8, 2015 streetshooter 8 Comments

Sometimes Andre’ is a pain in the butt. Oh, very sorry, Andre’ is my Fuji X100s and my Camera Soul Mate. Yo’ hold up now. My other cameras are certainly my friends and they have names too but Andre’ the Fuji X100s in my Soul Mate.

Here’s how it all started. It was May 20th 2014. I got a brain call… oh, sorry, some people call this mental telepathy, others call it intuition, my shrink calls it, 30 days to cool down. Anyway, I was watching CNN and I got a brain call. My brain accepted the call and it was from some camera in NYC. So, my brain just being back from vacation said,”take this call shooter”. So I did.

On the other end of the line, now I don’t know if it’s actually a line like I’m giving youse right now but it’s something. Shooter, this is Fuji X100s and I’m stuck in a damn box in B&H Camera Store in NYC. I’m Black and I need you to buy me cause otherwise you will never make a good photograph as long as you live and in the here after every shooter will shun you. Well, I gotta tell ya’s, that kinda haunted me for about 3 minutes and then I sad to the camera stuck in a box in B&H camera store in NYC….how do I know your the real thing? I gota goodz cameras, Leica’s all over and a darkroom and digital cameras and computers… so what makes you think I’m gonna buy anything your saying?

The camera stuck in the box in B&H camera store in NYC said to me, shooter, I am your Soul Mate. I kinda shivered cause some woman I married said that to me and well, …anywayz…. So I pulled the card and paid for the camera… you know which one already. In case ya just arrived, just read back a little and it will be explained about the camera stuck inside a box in B&H camera store in NYC….

I know I get overnight shipping from B&H without extra cost from UPS. Soo I tried to settle down and get some sleep…………………………….snore…snore…toss….turn……racing thoughts again…..snore…..

I had a good night sleep thinking about my camera….uh huh… got ya….. I mean 1 hour is always enough to be tired all day and stay on the couch watching CNN while waiting fir UPS to bring my new Soul Mate home. Ding Dong…. it took me 2.445677965 seconds to get my ass off the couch, into fight mode to the door and open it. I sign the ipaddy thingy and the UPS guy says….. good luck sir, this box wouldn’t stop talking all the way from NYC. Yup, he said it kept saying…yipee I’m going home….yup….yippee…..

I looked at him and told him my DR would love to have a conversation with him about this…. he smiled and left. I sit the box on the table and just look at it. Then.. very slowly I can see the box move a little…gasp…..! I extend a hand cautiously to the box… slowly I moved my hand to the box…. breathing deep… eyes wide shut…..then… all the sudden.. the tape holding the box together starts to unravel itself…. slowly as the box moves by itself, and the tape unraveling a voice… I look around.. no one home… me brain… not home either soooo I listen

Shooter, get your ass over here and cut this box open and get this tape off. Do I have to do everything?

Look, I was in the Army, the Infantry. You learn to take orders and if Sgt says drop, your ass is on the ground before he said it. So I followed orders and slowly cut the box open with my trusty Buck Side Kick. Inside was another box, oh my… not again… please, me head hurted already and my brain isn’t on site. Well, it’s a Black Box that says Fujifilm on it. I reach down and ever so slowly, carefully… meticulously place my hands on the box. The box shakes just a little… and the voice says… shooter, open the damn box, I’m waiting inside. So I do it, I’m damn 11B and shit nothing on THE LORDS green earth scares me anymore. I open the box and there lying all wrapped up in plastic and cushioned like jewelry is a Black Fuji X100s just looking at me.

The I hear the camera coughing… I said what’s the problem. The camera says, ever see those signs about not covering your head with plastic….? I said, of course…. WELL THEN GET THIS RKJKHAFO;LASYKRZDHFL OAWLIYHFC PLASTIC OFF OF ME, i CAN’T BREATHE. So I take the plastic off and the camera breathes a sigh of relief. It says to me, let’s get a few things straight. I am a male. Care to see my Male Camera Organ? No thanks… I smiled. Never seen a camera penis and really don’t want to anyway. Camera says, ok you need to charge a battery and I said I have like 10 from your Grandpa X100… and I have one charged already.

I slip the charged battery into the yet unnamed male black camera. I turn the switch on and he says, do the settings like time and date and I got the rest. Now, I’m wondering what was in those mushrooms Tanya made for dinner but I gotta tell ya, I hope she has more cause this is a trip and a half.

So the camera says to me…shooter, word all across the world is that you name your cameras and recognize the contribution that we cameras make with your photos. I said yes, I am sensitive to the needs of cameras and well as they are sensitive to me.

The camera says to me… ok, what’s my name? I said to the camera, your name is Andre’ after Andre’ Kertesz.

……………………………………….. more tomorrow if your interested and if you’re not, how come………..

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Street, Street Photography

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 18 … Fuji X100s …Allows You to See You

September 6, 2015 streetshooter 2 Comments

Andre’ gets me into a groove. I mean I suppose any camera can do that but with Andre’, it’s like I feel the connection more to that groove. That doesn’t mean I get better photos it just means that when I miss, I am more aware of it. Like the 2 shots on this post. It’s not like they are earth shattering or anything BUT!…. they do shoe exactly what I was going thru and how I was feeling at the moment of exposure. I wonder how important it is for a camera to help make photos that reveal you in the photo and not so much trying to please everyone else.

Maybe they all do that but I am more aware of the here and now and my presence in it with the Fuji X100s. I think the camera that taught me that the best was my Leica Black Lac M-4. The camera had no brain at all. It worked just on an emotional level. I set it and it released. Period. So I became very tuned into the mechanics of photography. No light meter, manual everything and no AF. The X100s does not work like this at all but what it does do for me is give me the emotional experience of my Leica’s.

So these 2 photos were made with Andre’ and me and we were in the here and now together, without intrusion from each other and made these and they reflect that experience. Maybe they aren’t the best photos I will ever make but I was there, I made them and that’s what matters. The point is… it’s nice to be aware of where you are in your journey and even if your now knocking it out, at least your making foot notes for your good work….

Be blessed on your journey….

…………………………………………………end transmission………………………………………………………..

Black & White, Philosophy of Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 17 … Fuji X100s … Ideal Street Camera

September 5, 2015 streetshooter 11 Comments

It’s hot on the camera shelf and Andre’ the Fuji X100s was beside himself. Andre’ called to me, oh yes, yes, he called to me and it wasn’t a pretty picture either. He said, Yo’ shooter. if you don’t get me outside and working, I’m gonna have a breakdown and my firmware is gonna go kaput, my lens is going to go off center…etc. Well, I’m not one to argue with a camera that threatens me and with the expensive self-inflicted repairs either. So……I did as I was told and took Andre’ out for a walk, actually more of a hike then a walk.

The temperature is like 93F and humid. Andre’ is dangling around my nech cause it’s too damn hot to have him on a wrist strap. Besides, I can just wrap the neck strap around my wrist and that’s that. So lately I’m tuned into “Icons” and they seem to be haunting me a lot. I’m walking under an overpass and I’m looking at this wall. Seem to me that there are nice tones in there and it’s kinda emotional and looks like a state of depression all over the wall. I raise Andre’ to see what it looks like in a frame and then I feel someone walking behind me… I frame and then all the sudden this woman walks right into my frame and……CLICK!

Well, here in Philadelphia there is a long going debate as to the race of Jesus. See, Philadelphians are the brothers and sisters of love and all that good stuff. They just wanna know and see who they be loving. I’ve seen this vehicle a few times around the city but couldn’t see a photo of it. Then I see it today and I know that I need someone in the left side cause that’s what I feel. On the Fuji X100s I use the AEL/AFL to just do AFL, Focus Lock. Yeah, yeah, youse all know that and do that too. I lock focus and use the screen to frame. Then all the sudden this guy walks not just exactly when I want him to be but he looks ate Jesus and ….CLICK.

He didn’t know I made the photo. See, I have my Shooter’s invisible streetshooter cloaking device on and no one can see me. Then a man behind me says to me, yo, that ain’t no Jesus I ever saw. Hmmm, I thought. He says, Jesus was white and we all know that right? I said, well, I think that THE LORD doesn’t need to be any color and neither does JESUS. He says your crazy man, JESUS is white and don’t like no…I never used the words to describe race that he did. I said, what if your wrong? He says you are fucking crazy and don’t believe that JESUS is American. I said, yo dude, see the POPE coming here in a few weeks? He says yeah, so whad da fugg about it?

Some people are about as sensitive to life as the bricks we walk on every day. Nuff said……

I’m uhhhhh, hmmmm,… ummm, kinda a CNN freak. No I don’t watch TV that much but when I do it’s usually CNN or BBC. What does happen is that the news pollutes my mind and vision I suppose. Ya know, it’s just a crazy thought but I just might be and I’m not sure but I think I am and could be almost maybe…. effected by the world and life. This phenomenon could actually be a daily occurrence. I know it’s hard to believe but there have been good shrinks in me poor brain and head and they kinda see what I see except for the empty space in me head.

The empty spaces in me poor brain are for temporary shit. I took Andre’ the Fuji X100s out for a photo walk and the photo up top is an example of how Anderson’s shit makes it into my photos. So I wonder how the world effects what I make photos of. Back in the early 1970’s my best friend and brother Paul, made a statement that I’d share with you.

He said, “Most people look at the World through Rose colored glasses, I look at a Rose through World colored glasses”. I never forgot those words or the meaning they invoke in me. I know this statement applies to me and to all without actually realizing it but I think that before I die, I’d like just one time, one itty bitty time to see the world through Rose colored glasses. I don’t even need a camera cause the experience would be to precious to capture.

Be blessed on your journey my friends and good light to all……

Dreamcatcher, Inspired Eye, Philosophy of Street, Street

Streets of Philadelphia … A Visual Diary … Page 10 … Dealing With the Mundane

July 2, 2015 streetshooter 7 Comments

There are more commonplaces then exotic places or at least it’s easier to get to the commonplaces. Yup, nice to get to some place different and feel visually invigorated and ready to make lots of good photos. We all love doing that and prolly would always do that if there were no restrictions placed upon us.

What happens when you get home? Well, you get to LR or whatever and process the images and the feelings of excitement are reborn. Memories are rekindled and we feel like Mother Light has blessed us again. Then we go to bed an dream of all the exciting things we just did and we wake up at home on the streets we work a million times.

We see it coming. Oh yeah, running right up our butt, Mr Complacency. He’s gonna get into our vision and thoughts really quick. He will rattle our cage and make us feel awful and not wanting to work much at all. He is very strong willed and forces his opinions on us at will and it’s in a way that we have to obey.

We go out to work and we see the same Mundane places and people that we see all the time. Jimi yells down from above…”ain”t no life nowhere”. He’s right to a degree. See, what I think is that I need to be strong enough to battle Mr Complacency. It doesn’t matter who wins, just the battle matters. During the battle I feel alive, my juices flowing. My enemy Mr Complacency watching my every move so he can cut me with the sword of boring complacent existence.

I stand at the battlefield and know that I will fight the good fight and find beauty and understanding on the path to Mother Light.

Most of us are taught to see the world as if we are seeing it for the first time. I like to see the world as if I’m seeing it for the last time. Here’s my thinking on this.

Seeing the world for the first time, for me, implies that I have Virgin Sight. I look at the world or the subject I want to make a photo of as if I am seeing it for the very first time. Fresh and excited. Seeing something as if I am seeing it for the last time, for me, means… that I can invest my memories of life into the scene and hopefully when some viewer sees the photo, they get to see a part of my life experiences in it. Maybe whats more important is that when I see the photo, I see some of my life in it.

So, the role of the shooter could be to make photos that pleases others. This is a very powerful role, no doubt. It is one that must be worn with caution. I think the real role is to make photos that have meaning to our Heart and Soul. Maybe is sounds self pleasing or selfish but life is not to be taken lightly. We all have a marked time for the exit procedure. We don’t have the knowledge of when or where the exit will happen but live with the idea that it will in time, hopefully a long time. no guarantee.

There once was a Psychiatrist named Dr Murray Banks. He recorded records back in the vinyl age and he had a statement on one album… “As you go through out your life, brother whatever be your goal, keep you eye upon the donut and not upon the hole”.

I’m heading out for some photo donuts…… be blessed on your journey my friends…………………………………

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer