Philosophy

Michael Nicholas and Full Disclosure

By Chip Cain | Published February 2, 2010

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.

Coming Alive – Spiritual Healing

By Chip Cain | Published January 15, 2009

Howard Thurman has said “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs – ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

This is often quoted in leadership books and ads for nursing schools or similar degree programs but is that all Howard Thurman refers to; our careers? What about motherhood, or fatherhood? It is clear the world need spouses who love each other, mothers who love being home to nurture their children and fathers that are involved with the home. Maybe coming alive at home is more important than being alive at work. I have worked in the same field for over 30 years and it is not the job that has ever made me come alive. Does that mean I have failed at coming alive? Not hardly. I am more alive when I am with my wife, my children and my friends. I am not saying that work can’t make you come alive, but rather alive people is what the world needs more.

If you are not alive then take some time to reflect on the why. Is it that you are doing the wrong things? Or are you doing the right things wrongly? Maybe your just not doing. Spending time in reflection is a healthy way to ask these types of questions. But don’t just ask yourself, ask God as well. And don’t be afraid to wait for the answer and remember waiting means just that. Some of you coming to this blog may not believe in God, but I know God believes in you and if you ask honest questions, even about His existence, He will respond.

Doing what makes us come alive is a spiritual thing. If we are alive then we are alert, if we are alert we are interactive and if we are interactive we are what the world needs and I believe this to have a spiritual connotation. Everything that makes us come alive is for our own spiritual healing and what would the world need more than spiritually healed people?

One footnote you may not know; Howard Thurma, was a pastor, and Life magazine called him one of the 12 best preachers in the nation.

To become aware

By Chip Cain | Published January 11, 2009

The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life…. To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something. Not to be onto something is to be in despair.

–Walker Percy

" There was such a glory over everything."

By Chip Cain | Published February 11, 2008
When I found I had crossed that line, [on her first escape from slavery, 1845] I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything.

– Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913) to her biographer, Sarah H. Bradford, c. 1868

Don’t forget February is Black History Month.

The Air I Breathe; is it fresh or stale?

By Chip Cain | Published January 31, 2008

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8JGh5z9IDk&rel=1]

“Four short fables in which characters collide with fate — and each other.” Is this another Crash which won 3 Oscars, including Best Picture and 35 other awards within the film industry. Or, will The Air That I Breathe be as thin as the air we breathe? The trailer above makes me curious but it’s the clip below, though limited in what it reveals, that has me ready to see it. As short of a clip as it is, it shows a level of acting from Sarah Michelle Gellar that I would not have expected. The movie, like Crash has a large ensemble cast which should prove interesting.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcFiVDk3HV8&rel=1]

“What makes you deserving?” Hmmm, I hope no one ever asks me that question.