Tag Archives: Street

It’s The Time of the Season

July 5, 2016 streetshooter 11 Comments

Damn hot & humid. For real. I see tourist with du rags on their head, towels over the shoulders and people selling Ice Cold water running out. Amazing. Personally I love the hot weather but I have an issue when the heat mixes with the humidity.

So, Andre’ the Fuji X100T and I were out on a walk-a-bout. We covered a few miles and made some photos. Some won’t get posted because they belong to a project I am working on, Faces and Spaces. The happen to be the better images because my intent is flying high on that project and I just see it. This stuff is basically Flikr & Facebook stuff. I try to support the community at both places and I feel it’s important to do that.

So, we are cruising around City Hall and going thru the walk ways. I used to do that with Ed Bacon but now I just have the memories of him telling me all sorts of facts as we walked around the building. Then as I went thru the West corridor heading to the East corridor, I get a glimpse of a young woman walking with a bag in her hand and it has a face of Marilyn Monroe. Now, she’s young and I’m not so young.This means she can walk faster then I can even see but I wanna make a photo so I focus on her and realize, it ain’t gonna happen cause she’s far ahead of me. The, the Angel of Grace floated down to her and put some other woman next to her. I thought geeze, I need to get the Angel a present. I walk close and know it’s just a one shot deal and I know what I want and get close and ….CLICK!

The great thing about photography is seeing how things get when they are flat. It’s a real amazing experience and then to make it B&W, well…..

I remember going to museum and Ding showing me photos. Sometimes I would see a self portrait of the shooter and could not stop looking at it. I wanted to understand that person just by seeing them in a photo. Then I learned that I would realize that person by the body of work they produced.

What I found and still do, is selfies, selfies by anyone interest me. I have many of myself for all these decades. Maybe when we look at someones work, we see what that person felt and saw and responded to at the moment. When we see a selfie of that person, for some reason, they become human and they are real for us. It’s a trick of photography. A trick of freezing time. A trick of Life after Death.

I used to wonder what people that were not photographers saw and what they responded to in photos. Now that an exercise one can only dabble in but must at certain points in our life. I remember many moons ago I had been at the Museum and Ding picked a handful of my prints that her liked and felt were worth owning.

I was excited. I went home and when I got there my in-laws were there. I showed my prints that Ding wanted to my wife and she smiled and was proud and happy for me. My Mother-in-Law came over and asked me…:Donald, why do you always make pictures of nothing?

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography, Streetshooter

Missing Edmund Bacon

June 22, 2016 streetshooter 12 Comments

There is an elegance to breathing. It’s the one thing that keeps us above ground. It’s the common denominator to all human beings, even those that may not be as human as others, breathing.

There is a musician that said, “Love is the Seventh Wave”…I think his name is Sting, some Bass player or something. What he said tho, is very important because it establishes the rhythm of life. So then if there is a rhythm to life then breathing is the elegance of the living and hence, the Elegance of Life.

Well, that simple enough to digest so why am I writing this stuff now? Because photography has a rhythm to it. Making…(we doin’ need no takin; ’round here)… photos somehow has to have a rhythm to and we need to explore that. I been aware of this maybe phenomenon, for a long time and I just been going over things I learned thru my life.

I find that sometimes I feel like Coltrane, just going along with my internal rhythm and flowing. Other times I feel like Muddy Waters and other times like Respighi.

I spent time with Edmund Bacon. We did a book together called..”Murder of the Little Stream”. Basically, it’s about how the City of Philadelphia wanted to expand the Northeast section of the city. They all smoked their cigars and sat back in leather chairs and decided that they would fill the Neshaminy Creek and PennyPack Creek. The engineers and city planners and architects and Mayor and the whole gang were convinced that was what should be done. Then they would make many, many boxes for the residents to live in. It was a plan without Rhythm or Heart.

Then riding in on his Magic Unicorn waving the Flag of Humanity, Sir Edmund Bacon smashed the door down to the dungeon where all bad and stupid people and thoughts were in hiding. . He said, open your minds, open your eyes and open your hearts and let me shine the light of history future for you.

One day Ed had a task for me. He always had a task and I always looked forward to them because I loved the guy and thought he was an Angel of Mercy on the earth. Ed said, I need a photo of an egg with the red veins in it. I didn’t want to ask why even tho I was very curious.

My wife at the time and I drove about 50 miles to a place that had such eggs. (I think they are called fertile but don’t hold me to that)…We bought a dozen eggs. I was very excited because I knew there was a good life lesson coming soon.

So we got home and I set the View Camera up. The camera was an 8×10 Deardorff named Margaret. So, my wife made a plate with a clear background and together we started making the photos. I didn’t exactly know what Ed wanted but i was sure the he would tell me what he didn’t want.

So, I shot the whole dozed eggs individually. I made silver contact prints on Azo. We went to Ed’s and we all sat down and I handed the prints to Edmund. He flipped thru the prints rather fast and I was upset but waited. Then, then the 10th print, the one I prayed was right, the 10th magical image caught Ed and I noticed a tear in his eye.

He looked at me and said, stand up Don. We both looked at the print and he told me the story how when he was a little boy, he cracked an egg open and saw the veins like this one. He starred at it and immediately know that the cities we live in are like an egg or a cell.

He explained to me that the yoke is the center of the city and thus, the center of life. The clear white was the surrounding areas and the veins are the roads and highways that transport life to all in and around the city.

He looked at me and said, I know you understand. Yes, Ed, I do.

Ed and I used to walk Market Street and I mean walk. He could walk miles without tiring.He would tell me about how he designed Market East and show me things and then he asked me, “Don, why do you make photos in Center City all the time?”.

I explained to him that Life has a rhythm and it’s not always in time with others but I feel and breathe this rhythm and it gives me life. Center City is the yolk of the egg and I live on the clear white part and I take public transportation everyday to get here like the veins in the egg.

The moral of this story, the moral of this song, is that one should never be where one does not belong. (Bob Dylan)

So I suppose the point I’m making is that, we all have a place in the world. It is your duty to your soul and your essence to discover yourself and where you belong. Your camera will do the work asked of it and make the photos you desire. …but if your not in sync, or rhythm with yourself then you can’t be with the world.

So, my friends. Don’t let things get you out of place. If you feel that maybe you don’t fit in with those around you, hat your work isn’t up to par, well…. just sit back and imagine that they are all wrong because you are your own person and you need to be right for you, if you fit in with others, good if not….. as long as you recognize you and what you do….nuff said

Street Photography

A Lesson I Really Learned From Minor White

June 21, 2016 streetshooter 11 Comments

Sometimes I wonder what on The Lords Green Earth am I thinking about. Maybe that’s a problem we all share.. yeah, damn right …you too. See, I kinda get on auto pilot and let my feelings and eyes do the work. Of course they are not independent of my whole, but I let them have guidance on the creative end. Also, nothing get’s the camera to work unless the mind is in it too. See, that’s the Eye, heart and mind I learned from Minor White.

From what I could take in, it was….don’t work looking for answers, but just be content with the questions your work presents to you. If you do this and don’t expect anything but more questions, you will live with your work as one and have peace thru it. If you force the issue of discovery and fight the battle for answers, you will live in turmoil and never be content with your work because you don’t know what it means to have peace.

Now I ain’t saying Minor was always right but I don’t think he was ever wrong. He further explained that there is contrast in everything we do. (later expressed as the inverse square law by me) He went on to explain that every single photo has the right to life. Every single photo is unique and it’s existence is justified by the fact that you created it. So, of course we all want and seek that special photo that we consider a Self Masterpiece. The point is, like children, not all are that special above the others. We strive for the special i,age but many are just a fragment of our life as it was when we made the photo.

I remember Seeing Paul Strand’s work countless time at the Museum. I think I mentioned this before, Ding showed me a box of Strand’s unseen works. Stuff he made but didn’t push or feel was worthy of exhibiting. Ding vowed to respect Strand’s request to never show the work to anyone. Luckily, I am no one so I saw the photos a few times. I realized back then that photography was not a labor of love as is taught. It is a way of life.

What echoed in my soul was that Paul made photos just like everyone and his well known masterpieces were what was always see. The fact that he made regular snaps, made me feel the connection to him stronger then I ever could have hoped for.

It’s like this, you go to a restaurant in Paris. Nice place, good wine excellent food. The you have to use the toilet, (I think that’s what it’s called, fee free to correct me)…you walk in and you see feet sticking out of a stall where someone is sitting doing his business.

You are taking a leak and you hear the familiar sound of gas escaping…(NE Philly it’s called a fart)… the stall door opens and out comes, in front of you a hero beyond all heroes the enigma that we call Henri’ Cartier Bresson.

You are in panic mode, I mean it’s true Bresson is a man, a man amongst shooters but a man. You think, wow, I can sit on the toilet like Bresson did…. your right.

Let me tell you something, all the world and all the planet recycles energy and love and hate. Don’t let anyone every tell you that you can’t do what Bresson did.

Do you see the hunger people have for heroes? Vivian, Bresson, Strand, Winogrand. It’s up to you what you do with you work and your life. If in fact energy recycles over and over, maybe you are the next Hero. Maybe just maybe, you might know the next hero. Maybe just maybe you will buy a book by that hero or maybe name your camera after that hero…..

see you all tomorrow…….oh… if in fact some of youse become the next here, I want a discount on your stuff….

shooter out………end transmission……………………….

Philosophy of Street

The World ain’t What Ya Want it to Be …

June 20, 2016 streetshooter 10 Comments

….but it just might be what you need….

There’s a heck of a lot of things out there in Philly Land….The tourist are here in mega numbers. Ya know, I get a kick out of seeing what camera’s the tourist shooters use. So I’m checking out the tourist and many of them are checking me out. They are all wearing Phillie’s hats or Eagles, or USA hats and jerseys, all kinda of Americana. I usually wear a POW/MIA or Viet Nam Veteran hat so, that’s an attraction. Now as far as cameras go, they mostly have it down. I see Leica’s Film and Digital, many M-43 cameras and the most popular seems to be Sony.

I met a guy from Germany. I was making the above photo and when I turned around, this man was standing right in front of me. I think he was like 9′ tall and weighed about 500lbs. He said to me in a heavy accent, RICOH……..I said yes, GRII. He said, is good camera? I looked him square in the eyes like I was looking to the sky cause that’s how big he was. I said, Great camera. He smiled and pulled out a GRD4 and showed it to me. He said, this is Tilly. (ok, so here’s the thing. It’s a well know fact that on all the earth and other planets, if someone reads my blog, maybe they will name a camera. If they don’t, it will never happen)….so I smiled at the guy and his Ricoh GRD4 named Tilly. Ya don’t not smile to a man that eats elephants for snacks.

So he introduced himself as Horst and I said my name was Don. All the sudden, right in front of me own eyes, Horst started shrinking in height and weight. I thought to meself, meself, what’s going on. I did ya know? I couldn’t answer in a proper answer cause my Dr at the VA wasn’t in me head cause he just wasn’t.

The point is and should be well takes, is that many of our fears in life aren’t as bad or scary as we imagine them to be.

I’ve heard from many out there that they are afraid to approach people to make photos. This is common and maybe it’s something that one addresses and overcomes in time. So, that’s cool but it shouldn’t stop one from making photos other then portraits on the street or whatever.

We carry baggage with us and it’s not your tooth brush and undies either. It’s your emotional state and that is baggage that should be dealt with carefully.

Years ago, I was talking to my mom about why I make photos. She asked me as she had no clue of what I was doing any why and I answered her something like this….

I don’t want to lay on that marble slab at my death and have THE LORD ask me why I did my life the way I did. I want to be able to say, I lived my life as I felt my heart directed me and I wouldn’t mind more time if YOU could spare me some but if not. I’m ready as I didn’t waste my life wondering what could be.

Be blessed everyone and to those worrying, I am not kinda ok and will be posting again more regularly……….

shooter out……………………………………………………………..

Philosophy of Street

In Search Of Pt 1

June 12, 2016 streetshooter 4 Comments

In life, I think that we search for things to complete our identity. What I mean is, we gather and assemble things that we feel will add to us as a person. In photography, we search for the best camera we can get, maybe not afford but the best we can get. We want the best way to process our work and get the best results from it. All these things are important to our identity and we are all Brand conscious.

There are paths along the way to becoming at one with yourself that will either guide you on the journey or detract you from it. How do we know which to take, well sometimes we listen to others and maybe that’s good and maybe it’s not so good. At some point, we get confronted with ourselves and we stand naked in front of ourself and just see the gist of who and what we are or strive to be.

We can hide behind our PC’s, behind our cameras, lenses, locations, thoughts, experiences but in the end, we look at OUR work and the’s the truth of us. It seems like it should be the easiest part of being but in fact, it’s the most challenging. Checking our work is the one part of the process that we don’t get to hide behind.

Our work is our brand. Our brand is created by everything we assemble and put into the image.

There is a process of activation. We do all these things to make the photo but the most important are a few things not everyone recognizes. Eye, heart, and mind. When you look at your work, maybe you think, Leica M9 50mm, or Ricoh GRII, or Olympus Pen F 14mm etc. Maybe you think, Light Room and Nik, many, many combinations.

What does the viewer see? Well, many will search for the Brands that are in the photo. The most sensitive viewer will seek to see and feel YOU!

The real Brand of your work, is you. Once you accept this, you stand maybe by yourself but in an uncomfortable position by yourself but, with the knowledge that you are and will continue to produce your Brand.

I have have to hit the street but will keep things going, I hope. Have a blessed day regardless of where you are….

shooter out………………………………………………………………………

Street Photography

The Warrior Tourist

June 7, 2016 streetshooter 8 Comments

Oh my, you can’t believe all the different cameras here in Philly. See, it’s tourist season and I’ve seen everything from…to Leica’s. It’s just amazing how many people come here and are really equipped for the trip. I look like a tourist and that’s awesome when I am seen that way. I have Serendipity the Olympus Pen F with her 28mm mounted. So, I use the tilt screen a lot and ya know, that’s a feature I didn’t care for in the beginning but now, it’s what I adore about the camera.

I was standing at the Visitor center of the Historic Park and all the sudden this Asian girl, around 25 or so walks over to me, points the camera right at me, makes a few frames and smiles and say’s thank you sir. She walked back to her friends and never even looked back.

I know a master when I see one. I wanted to bow to the street shooter master but I knew if I bowed, I wouldn’t be able to straighten up my back. I bet there’s not 27 people on Face Book that would have the guts to do what she did. Seriously! There is an innocence lost with the knowledge sought by shooters. So, I started thinking, ( yes my brain is on the job, till the weekend)…What is the real factor in how people approach other people to make photos? Where does it get a change in definition as we become more involved with making or taking photos?

The answer I came up with is, INTENT. No really, think about it for a little bit. Now I know about INTENT and have for many years. I am a registered intent-ologist. The girl had a specific intent and like a warrior, approached me and made the photos. She never asked me or anything, just came over and made the photos. Is it because she’s a tourist and just doesn’t know anything? I think not. I believe tourist and shooters for that matter are people first. So they bring the feelings, excitement, fears all the things with them on their journey. We as shooters do the same thing.

Maybe the real difference is in the nobility of the process. Perhaps tourist are fully aware of TAKING photos to preserve and keep memories. There isn’t much difference between the tourist and the serious shooter. The shooter MAKES photos to bring something home and to enrich a part of his/her life.

Why else would we spend large amounts of money and countless hours of energy and love to pursue the dream of excellence in our work.

I see it as the same, intent wise and also in practice. Tourist spend good money on cameras, expenses to travel, and a great amount of energy to get the prize of some photographic memories to take home and save and love and look at thru the years.

Geeze, that sounds like every shooter I know. Imagine that.

So I suppose what I have said, and lived for decades is :….

We are all tourist thru life, no one gets a permanent visa.

The ideal goal is not for the tourist to become a shooter, noooo but for the shooter to become a tourist and see with those eyes. The eyes of a young Asian girl with intent and the strength of a warrior and the heart to continue.

Street Photography

Thinking Color … RICOH GRII

June 3, 2016 streetshooter 6 Comments

Well, I suppose that I ain’t all cleared in my mind yet. Oh, my brain is not on vacation so that’s not the issue.I don’t know that there is an issue and if there is an issue is it an issue I need to be concerned about?

I been enjoying roaming the streets of Center City Philadelphia with Mom the Ricoh GRII. It’s tourist season so I am feeling my oats, so to speak. Something that has been gnawing at my back is the reading of photos of B&W vs Color. I have been critiquing photos from some friends here in Philly so they can submit to various things. This is some shooters that have taken a workshop with me. I offer never ending support and most take advantage of that. The word I use, never ending, may be a mistake at times.

One of the most difficult things to work on is the way the print is assembled. I say assembled because that’s really what happens and always did happen. Every step from holding the camera to presentation is apart of the assembly procedure. So if that’s the case, and it is, any given point may add to or detract from the finished print. There are 2 main considerations that will control the eye travel of the viewer. The first is, Aspect ratio. This is the rectangle or square that you compose your frame in. The most common are 3:2 and 4:3. This is not so say that others aren’t important, just that these 2 are the most popular. In fact I have a natural affinity for 16:9 but haven’t perused it for long time.

So, the visual Dynamic of the box or frame has an enormous impact on eye travel and the final image. It behooves us to at least understand the frame we choose to work in.

Another very key element that really is taken for granted is B&W vs Color. This seemingly simple decision can and will make or break the image. I remember at the Museum with Ding, he showed me some prints and they were in color. I can’t recall the photographer but just the experience. See, this is KEY! I remember almost every photo I saw there in B&W but this group was in color and I can’t remember the shooter. Back then I was a Leica shooter and just used B&W films. I never cared for color. Now, I don’t distinguish between the 2 to the point that it mandates my thinking or feeling. Now, my only concerns are breathing and really spending time till the end of my life breathing.

I have the tendency to find my own tonal scale in B&W. I always did that in my darkroom and I’m told that i have a palate that is mine. Now it seems I have something similar in digital. I admit it’s a shared palate. So, me brain is thinking, maybe, just maybe we need to understand color in our own palate. So I am analyzing my thoughts and feelings towards color and the effect if has on my prints and more importantly, my vision.

Now, lets clear the air. I have done color in the past even with serious intent. Now with this new life cycle, I decided to do color with a new set of thoughts. I was asked a short while ago, why I write this stuff? Well, I guess because I have to and someone has to do it. I replied, if you need to ask why I write this stuff, you don’t belong here.

I suppose I’ll continue this but for now, I need to rest again.

Philosophy of Street, Street Photography

Mind Clearing

May 24, 2016 streetshooter 7 Comments

I have said many times that my brain goes on vacation and it does. The thing is, my mind stays put in me poor head so I can work. I’m kinda bogged down with all kinds of things and thoughts. Maybe it’s a welcome break cause I miss just loving photography. There has been many reasons for me to make photos but the most important one, because I have to because I love to, is on the back rail. Well, not any more. I am out working with only one agenda. That is that I am making love with light and life again. I think what got me to this point of realization is, that the tourist are here, and I mean here like all over the place. That’s my time to get busy and work.

Tourist are the blood line of creativity.Well for me at least. I find it a stimulating time to be in and around the Historic Park. Love working there. I get this feeling of complete happiness with photography. The Monk did not actually pose for me. He asked me when I made the photo if I was a tourist. I said yes, a tourist for 66 years. You guys know this but he don’t. Well he does now but he didn’t when I said it to him. I said, we are all tourist of the earth, no one gets a permanent visa. He looked at me and said, enjoy your journey.

So I feel that I am coming to one with myself again and working because I have to, and because I love to. After the end of summer I will sort the cream out and submit to my buyers. I’m still doing that Faces and Spaces project but not permitted to show the work. It’s ok, I got some good things already.

I will be out again tomorrow and Suzanna and Polly want to meet for Lunch. Nice, love them dearly and they are getting sooo fine tuned.

till we meet again…..remember, you live your life anyway you want…when yo exit, you exit alone. So, make tings count and cherish each breath as if it came from the Angel of Life….because it did. Mother Light will not forget you and you can make photos knowing you are at one with yourself.

Color, Street Photography

Ricoh GRII

May 17, 2016 streetshooter 12 Comments

One of the beautiful things with digital photography is that you have a choice of Color or B&W. Back in the day, I always carried 2 M bodies so I could have both films to work with. Now of course, most time you need 1 body. My friend Roger is an avid Leica collector for 50 years, with more cameras that any store. He sent me the M Mono when it came out and he was so excited. Eveyone was, a B&W camera, sooooo cool and soooo great…until you need a color image. Now ya get back to me with my 2 M6’s.

Anyway, the difference between the 2 is more in the mind then the film or camera. I figure it like this. Bear with me as I use terms maybe the wrong way but the way I need to use them. Photographs are on a 2 dimensional surface. The are born from an idea and maybe a scene or something in the 3 dimensional reality most of us share. There happens to be an abstraction from 3 dimensions to 2 dimensions. One of the mosr important things lost in this abstraction is, space or depth. So the photo is as some think, an illusion of the reality it was captured from. It is no longer the reality in 3 dimensions. It now takes on a new reality in 2 dimensions. It’s alive! It has it’s own life and energy.

Here’s some magic. I know youse all know this stuff but I need to write it down so it looks good, ok. If we now take our photograph, which is a new life and see it in color cause we made it a color photo, we have something to deal with on a conscious level. That is, the viewer most likely will use the color photo to transfer the reality in the mind of the image back to the sourse. For exaample….wow, yeah, I know where that is…..or…you nailed that green perfectly. I know that door.

Now, there’s never any one way to do anything in this world. But we are shooters and we are reading shooter’s stuff cause it’s better than washing the dishes. Color has a way of softening the abstraction to the 2 dimensional reality, better known as the photo. Color eases the translation of the visual syntax of photography. It helps to define the meaning and process.

If we were to abstract even more than 3 dimensions to 2 dimensions, and strip the color away, we would have a b&w image. What does that do? Well, it now makes our abstracted image even more distant from the sourse of reality that it was born from.

Ya know what I love about photography? Well, no answers so I’ll tell ya. Photographs give the illusion of being something they are not. A photo is an entity upon itself. It is not what it appears to be. It is it’s own seperate reality. Unfortunately, photos suffer from many things in the reality that they live in. Things like memory, sentiment etc. These things plague the life of our work. People look at the photos and recall a memory of something that the photo sparks. There’s nothing wrong with that and it’s a very powerful, iimportant thing to deal with.

Well, color supports all that and more. B&W on the other hand has the power to stand on it’s own but we as shooters and viewers, won’t allow that to happen. Ideally, looking at a photograph, we only see the world that lives as the image. Even in b&w, we force the memory and sensory input to make the photo relate to some other reality. That reality is different from the photo. There really is a contradiction of terms but we probably don’t want to deal with it.

When I do a workshop, the single most important thing people want to understand, is:…the abstraction to a print. Making the world in a frame and flattening it out. Framing becomes something new because you become aware of the way things get flat. The illusion of space or depth is a stronger illusion in color. The eye travel not only seeks to learn about the subject matter, but also to understand the relationships of the color.

Our lady above is being seduced by a few things. The obvious thing to us is the color. After I made the photo, she asked my why I made it. I told her that I found it very interesting that she was wearing the T Mobile color. She said, “get out… I didn’t know that. I stopped here cause I was comfortable here.”

I have to get to rest….. I need my 3 hours sleep………. seeya’s later, be blessed alls……

……to be cont’d……….

Color, Street Photography

Ricoh GRII

May 15, 2016 streetshooter 4 Comments

C’mon, why do people ditch the Ricoh GRII? I haven’t a clue. I love all my cameras and even the ones I don’t have yet or the ones I had but don’t anymore. Camera discussion is over. If my photos don’t do what I intend, damn sure ain’t the camera’s fault.

….anyway, I kinda fell into a groove with things and am watching where it takes me. I mean there’s some kind of adjustment happening in my head without my shrink fiddling around up there…..ok, ok… true confession….I never really responded to color.I mean of course I can see it, Thank THE LORD but I never responded to it….

….many years ago a guy landed on earth, (No, not David Bowie)….and his name was Michael, for us Earthlings. now see, when I was younger, we all smoked some stuff that um… maybe back then wasn’t medical stuff….we would smoke some and talk and eat, and play instruments and eat and the get a shower, and eat and drive down the shore and eat…

well, this kat named Michael came from MARS, he had a word that summed up gaining and understanding knowledge…. that word was “GROK”.

So, if you read a camera manual and understood it, you GROK that. Even if you don’t smoke medical or non medical… it’ still GROK. Well, for some reason now, I GROK what I’m doing or want to do and I double GROK GROK color. (the double GROK is not a Martian term, it’s adapted from Martian to NE Philly, here on planet Earth.)

The thing is to stir your stuff up and shake it around and let it settle. Then look at the residue…(Paul McGuirk term) and see what’s left for you to work with. I guess one of the hardest things to do is to dislodge negative reinforcement, because many times it’s positive and not negative.

What I’m getting at it this….: if you post photos someplace and get nice responses in any form, then that’s positive reinforcement, or is it. Alright, keep an open mind for a spell. If you get positive reinforcement and you feel good about what your doing, you probably are in a safe zone and won’t do many things to change because… why fix something that’s not broken?

You have forged a safe zone that even you are apt not to tamper with. That creates an invisible zone of complacency. If you do that and trust me at my age, I’ve done that for decades….what will happen is you won’t grow. You will stifle it Edith.

You will think you are content and that you have found your place but for real, your on a dead end street.

I will continue this tomorrow but remember, before you can GROK anything you do, you have to GROK youself first.

Like the Ricoh GRII… GROK it and it’s a fine camera……

Hey, hey… I did this post with my brain on vacation dudes and dudesses

Street Photography Chronicles by Don Springer