Category: Freeverse

Expended Energy

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Go to the gym.
That’s the encouragement
¿Making us better?

Life is full of advice. Eat this, don’t eat that. We are told what to do, what to think.
My advice, expend energy to make things and make things better.
Bulked up people are attractive maybe. Muscle that is created to look at is useless.
Hands that grow food, lift up a needy person, build a bird house, feed a child, have purpose beyond a self-aggrandizing role.
Being fit is important. There are many ways to get there that has more to do with creating and building up outside of ourselves.

The latest moral emergency(s) reminds us that for as far as we have come, we have much further to go.
I am numb from it all and believe nothing to be absolute. Propaganda is not unique, it is typical for all countries.
Since the advent of television, conflicts have been brought into our homes for dinner-time viewing. It creates wealth when we watch. So, I don’t. We will not see all conflicts. Many of them have been going on for some time, but lack of interest does not make it “worth” reporting.
Yes, there are still tyrants in power that will wield that power at the expense of human lives.
Yes, the victims need help. We should be concerned. We should care and help.
As per usual, many of us end up feeling helpless. No matter what we can do, it will affect very little.
That insufficiency is constant, and frustrates those of us who live in peace.

Sometimes the best we can do is grow food, lift up a needy person, build a bird house, feed a child, have purpose beyond a self-aggrandizing role.

Image; Composite of (2) Multiple Exposure Photographs “Conflict2” –
https://bluemarblephotography.smugmug.com/Composites/Birdscapes/i-rfX57Tr/A

The Challenge

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We look for them
Everywhere we walk
Everywhere we look
So strong is their pull
The ancients made them goddesses
Controlling our thoughts
Our actions
Not our own

One morning
Waking to the debris
Of imagination
Efforts of epic strength
Strewn about
Like butterflies
Or hummingbirds
Here and gone

NO MORE!
No more of this
Worthless endeavor.
A new morning dawns
And we step
Into that path
Of imagination
Hypnotized
Once again



RECENT WORK

Hidden Revelation

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There are things
Hidden from our sight
Too afraid to be seen

Yet must be uncovered
To reveal the truths
Of our wonderful world

Cover photo is a simple static image on the trail. They were caught between the broken bridge and me. I moved out of the way and watched them bound away.

These 2021 4th quarter photographs complete the circle started the previous fall. The bulk of favorites being in-camera multiple exposures.

A simple reflection
Multiple exposures – one frame.
Yes, I do love the moon.
Multiple exposures. This murmuration drifted into the tower and at first I thought it ruined the composition. It’s grown on me.
Multiple exposures. Blur the light behind a mountain, set a long exposure and drag down to emulate the aurora borealis.

2022 is a transformative year for me. I will be putting things in place for retirement from the corporate world for early 2023. Yesterday I was out and about with one of my LensBaby optics. They can be challenging, just what I’m looking for.

Leave Reality Behind

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Deja vu
Says you
Me too

Cover photo from July 2021 – one of my favorites of my swallows project.

August manipulation from an outing to a San Diego channel near dog beach
Texture-added manipulation – September 2021

One of the joys of photography is the power it affords the one carrying the camera (within the context of artistic endeavor). With a few tweaks, everything becomes liquid. Get close, and squish the background. Is something dark? Use it! Is something bright? Line it up!

The third quarter of 2021 saw reduced outings. Only a couple in the month of August. Too many life things on the plate to make the adventures. After July, the swallows were gone so much of my work included technique practice. Just trying to stay sharp.
I see from my folders that the fourth quarter has more outings than the third. These will include many more multiple exposure pieces as is typical for me.
Happy holidays! Keep shooting!

A Matter of Time

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Foolish children sing
Too Much time on My Hands
The arrogant declare
Time is on My Side

Sages declare
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

References: STYX – Rolling Stones – Pink Floyd respectively

Digital photography is a boon for learning and challenging yourself.
Like when you want to make photos of fast moving birds. Their erratic movements become an obsession to master.
Now, at year’s end, going through the folders, I see handfuls of usable pieces, and thousands of rejects.
Thousands. It is time to assess and measure the time spent. I am glad I did it, and will continue to do it. It IS however overtly time consuming on the output end of the equation.


In my last entry, I presented some works from the first quarter of 2021.
The second quarter always looks different. Photography has to fit my lifestyle (work schedule).
Most of my end-of-day pieces are made between October through March. So, instead I might make a bunch of static work.


During these months, I will break out some creative lenses for some on-the-fly exploration.
A year ago, I picked up a little Russian lens and modified it to make some swirl fall off pieces like this:

Wide open, this lens will crush backgrounds

and this:

California Sunflowers

There is just not enough time for all the photos and video to be fully vetted/edited. Perhaps when I retire, my photography schedule will catch up with the volume. Perhaps.