Category: Leica photography

Light Chaser

Am I the only one–if not one of the very few–that doesn’t object to the return of “Eastern Standard Time” in New England?

I refer to this change as back to “real time” much to the chagrin of most everyone around me. There are plusses and minuses–like everything else–but for me, this is not a big deal and I for one like that extra hour of sleep.

Chasing the light with a camera in hand is very therapeutic for me.  The time of day, whether early or late, contains a salve that takes the edge off my depression.

Light can be a fantastic muse. It’s never exactly the same yet it can provide similar if not familiar feelings for one person to the next.  I love chasing the light…

 

 

Penitence among the ruins

In my life, only 2 museums have profoundly impacted my psyche: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC and most recently the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. As instruments for education, they are a means to an end.

The prison in Philadelphia was built to help those find and practice penitence for whatever crime they committed. Human nature can be flexible and adaptable across time, however, incarceration and solitary confinement has a way of bringing ruin to flexibility and adaptation.

With that ruin, even the strongest of men—and women—lose their hearts, emotions, everything, to spiritual atrophy.

If marketing is the means to help us remember a brand and its benefits, then the marketing of such museums is to reinforce the unimaginable cruelty were capable of, and to keep alive the most powerful and universal of virtues that are love and hope.

 

Across the Crossing

Personal photography, the kind that takes you out and about, is often a solitary process. For many photographers that’s often the case. The image above is one of my [new] favorites in the category of “street photography.” For me it’s more accurate to call it “wandering photography.”

I typically have no mission or subject matter in mind. I essentially chase the light regardless of whether it’s on a city street or a country road.

Light, texture and shadow tug on me, asking me to stop and consider the possibility just before I press the shutter. You may not see what I see when I come across a play between light and textures. However, what you see and feel matters just as much.

The [early] Morning After

In less than a week, the northeast USA got hit with another storm. While many are so tired of winter, many more are really done with snow and the cold and wanting spring to arrive. Now.

With close to 10 inches [25 cm] of wet, heavy, snow falling overnight, the next morning did not disappoint for people like me.

With nothing but stillness and silence all around me this morning, I thought of Dan Gurney, an incredible achiever by any standard, who said something to the effect of, “If you see something and can make it beautiful, but choose not to, what does that say about you?”

 

Ville des Superlatifs*

 

*City of Superlatives. Anything that projects grandeur or largesse beyond one’s imagination sounds better in french. Hudson Yards is a good example.  And this project is more than just another set of very tall buildings.

My sole photo doesn’t begin to tout the scale of the real estate involved. Heading west from 10th Avenue to 12th and south from West 34th to West 30th lies the acreage that holds the largest private, real-estate construction project in the USA.

The Big Apple is about to get much bigger on so many levels, but don’t take my word on it.

Introspection: Our Flag

I‘m an old-school kind of person. I think there are many ways to express personal opinions, dissent, etc., but not during the playing of our national anthem and the presence of the stars ‘n stripes…Here’s one [legal] reason to consider. Click here.  [U.S. Code › Title 36 › Subtitle I › Part A › Chapter 3 › § 301]