Wave Photography

Don’t try this unless you have a waterproof camera. Wave photography at it’s coolest.

The Genius of Photography

I’m sitting in my living room enjoying the deepening snow outside (16″+) and browsing the net. I stumbled across this video on YouTube about the genius of photography and felt it was well worth sharing with my photographer friends. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtnhCnQzXak&feature=player_embedded

Maybe later I’ll post a picture of the snowy scene outside.

Michael Nicholas and Full Disclosure

Each day I visit one or two of my favorite blogs, usually art or photography related, just to see what’s happening in the world my interests float around in. This morning I revisited Photocrati a blog that always piques my interest. It is run by a diverse group of photographers which keeps it fresh and always filled with useful perspective and valuable gear reviews. Photocrati is also where I purchased my blog  theme, which is one of four separate blog themes they sell to photographers. But that is not the point of my latest blog and in the interest of full disclosure I recieve nothing for mentioning them nor do i get any commissions if you choose to buy one of their photography themes.

Now on to the point of this blog. Michael Nichols, Editor at Large for photography at National Geographic magazine was a guest blogger on Photocrati recently where he discussed the reasons for Full Disclosure of the photographic process. Please take the time to read his comments about one photographer’s ethical lapse and how it damages the image of photographers everywhere. It’s noteworthy to mention that his last two sentences are worth meditating on.

Happy Birthday Robert Burns

Scotland’s, favorite son, poet and songwriter is turning 251 today. Robert Burns is most remembered for the song Auld Lang Syne but has had over 368 of his poems recorded in song. Almost all of his works were written in the Scottish dialect of his day and have been translated into English for our benefit. He’s not my favorite poet, but is an influential one and as such I couldn’t pass up sharing his birthday with you. If you wish to read a sampling of his poems they can be found at the Poets website.

The Webb Sisters —- Words That Mobilize

Recently I was searching through the many videos of Leonard Cohen found on YouTube and came across the following video by the Webb Sisters.

You might be asking, “What’s the connection with Leonard Cohen?” Well, The Webb Sisters, Charley and Hattie, recently completed a tour with Leonard. One of my favorite Cohen songs is ‘If It Be Your Will’ and the Webb Sisters, with help from the man himself, has made it one of their own in this second video:

And now that I have brought up the topic of favorite Leonard Cohen songs why don’t you let us know what your favorite Leonard Cohen song is by  leaving a comment with the song title and feel free to post a link where we all can watch it being performed.


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<div style=”font-size: 10px;”>more about “<a href=”http://vodpod.com/watch/2889376-the-webb-sisters-if-it-be-your-will-rah-nov-17-2008?pod=chipcain”>The Webb Sisters: If It Be Your Will …</a>”, posted with <a href=”http://vodpod.com?r=wp”>vodpod</a></div>

Square Halo – Hearts and Minds

SqLogoJust in case you missed the exhibition I mentioned in my last post, I promised that I would provide a link to a book that will in some way replicate the exhibition. Well here is that link: two links in fact.

Square Halo is the publisher of the book Rouault-Fujimura: Soliloquies by Thomas S. Hibbs. And you may purchase the book online from Hearts and Minds. In fact Hearts and Minds may be the only source for this book. I receive nothing from them for this or my last post but even so I recommend you visit both. I’m sure both websites will be enlightening.

We don’t care what you do in NY

Recently I ran across two juxtaposed thoughts related to NY city; although they relate to a much larger picture. Peggy Noonan wrote an opinion piece for the online version of the Wall Street Journal today titled The Adam Lambert problem.  She says “America is good at making practical compromises, and one of the compromises we’ve made in the area of arts and entertainment is captured in the words “We don’t care what you do in New York.” That was said to me years ago by a social conservative who was explaining that he and his friends don’t wish to impose their cultural sensibilities on a city that is uninterested in them, and that the city, in turn, shouldn’t impose its cultural sensibilities on them. He was speaking metaphorically; “New York” meant “wherever the cultural left happily lives.” I believe many across the US think this way; that NY is out of touch with me. But this would be wrong on may levels.

I told you there was a juxtaposition of thoughts, well the other thought isn’t really a thought but actually an art exhibition.

Rouault-Fujimura

You may have heard of French painter Georges Rouault (1871-1958) but what about New York artist Makato Fujimura? The Dillon Gallery in NY (remember that city we don’t care about) has put together an art exhibit that puts these two artist together. And by putting their work together the Dillon Gallery has put together a meeting of two artists with very different styles but similar spiritual perspectives. You can find representations of redemption in their work and thereby not only redeeming the viewer they also redeem NY city. Since this exhibition ends on Dec 24th it’s probably too late to make plans to go see it but in a couple of days I’ll post the second best thing to being there.

What would you like to have happen by the end of the day?

I continue to be fascinated with these short 1 question 50 people videos: this one is no exception. Here is another one for your enjoyment and please leave your answer to the question by posting a comment to this post.

The Portraits: Wild Africa

Recently I found a photographer who’s photos of African animasl are more like portraits than the usual pictures you see. The photographer is Nick Brandt and he says of his “. . . images are unashamedly idyllic and romantic, a kind of enchanted Africa. You can see a very nice collection of his photos at Pascal Young’s Gallery.

The List

By Naomi Shihab Nye

A man told me he had calculated
the exact number of books
he would be able to read before he died
by figuring the average number
of books he read per month
and his probable earth span,
(averaging how long
his dad and grandpa had lived,
adding on a few years since he
exercised more than they did).
Then he made a list of necessary books,
nonfiction mostly, history, philosophy,
fiction, and poetry from different time periods
so there wouldn’t be large gaps in his mind.
He had given up frivolous reading entirely.
There are only so many days.

Oh, I felt sad to hear such an organized plan.
What about the books that aren’t written yet,
the books his friends might recommend
that aren’t on the list,
the yummy magazine that might fall
into his hand at a silly moment after all?
What about the mystery search
through the delectable library shelves?
I felt the heartbeat of forgotten precious books
calling for his hand.