September 27, 2015



Photographs are an invitation to memory.  Something physical that sparks in us a remembrance of a special event or a loved one.

The mystery in the capturing of time and then an immediate representation for our human nature to remember.  We know death waits for us all so memory brings us back through the illusion of time to moments that we have forgotten and want desperately to bring back.

A frozen moment whether good or bad will stop us in thoughtful nostalgia.

But photographs are a false memory, a replacement for the real experience.

A photograph is mute, it can't touch your skin, react to your tears of separation, laugh with you, it can't tell you the moments leading up to the picture your viewing, no voice is heard.

The only remnants of the photograph is your memory of the scene when the picture was taken.  If you were not present then the image is a silent witness to a lost time.  A never gained experience, only a secondary replica of a moment in the time line of the person or subject now forever trapped in a two dimensional plane.

Your personal memory is the precious connection of your moments in your life.  To have pics of your moments in time is a false life, lived through an abstraction from real moments.  These captured moments are yanked from your living time line and displayed to others as your life.

Your objectifying your life, not living your unique time line in the present, in the now.  Using for your memory of events, an artifact, a paper clue to your experiences not the experience itself.

You must experience your life first hand not through a mechanical device that doesn't know who you are, what your likes and dislikes are.

Constant picture taking is a distraction from living your life.  It has become and addiction, it is a separation from not a participation in your reality.  This obsession with picture taking is a habit of insecurity.  By putting a device between you and your experience you are allowing a misdirection from the present moment, diminishing the scene, the interaction with the environment and losing an awareness of the actual moment being experienced.

To create images with purpose enhances your awareness of your experiences not diminishing them.  To immerse yourself in the environment, to study the scene with full attention is what good photography is all about.

What we see on social media is someone else's life not your true existence.  Your images posted are as real as shadows on the cave wall in the knowing of your life.  Social media makes cavemen and cavewomen of us all.

These images are propaganda, false beliefs of what are life really looks like.  You can't live a useful life through posting and boasting through snap shots of your personal life.

The livelihood of living a life is purpose, willful saturation of yourself in the experience. If you don't take time to see visually what is in front of you your mind begins to ignore the details that make up a well conceived image but more importantly a well conceived personal identity.

The images on social media are free content, shallow tidbits of candy for the untrained eyes.  Supplying snap shots of your life for an audience of strangers is narcissistic.  This society we are creating shows an increase in the lack of private space to create a true meaningful life of your own will. Social media is first and foremost entertainment, allowing us to show off our passing shallow moments of life without concrete relationships being forged in private one on one verbal interaction.

Photography is an art form not a obsession with yourself as an ego object to show off every moment of a repetitious life.

Good images are created with intense immersion in the scene, whether it is a portrait, landscape or an editorial shoot.

The truth in an image is linked to the connection between image creator and subject.

The difference between a great photograph and a snap shot is that in a snap shoot the subject is ego based. Where images created are interaction between the subject and the photographer through intense focus and empathy.

In making good images you are not thinking of yourself while creating the photograph.  But focused on the scene in front of you. You are willing to meditate on your environment and wait for the right moment.  Rather than snapping away randomly with you in the frame or a body part in the picture.

A good photograph looks out with intensity creating a relationship with the person viewing the photograph.  Where a social media snapshot is not about the subject but the poses of ego parading around specifically to expose themselves to hungry eyes.

Purpose enhances sight.  Focus your intent on your subject and heighten your awareness of the potential not yet visible.

September 13, 2015


Susan Sontag, "Imperfect technique has come to be appreciated precisely because it breaks the sedate equation of nature and beauty."

Good photography is being in the moment when creating images.

Having an intense connection to your subject, whereby your focus is direct and you are using technique and inspiration to create a personal image to share with others is your truth manifested.  When you rush and gun by clicking the shutter randomly you are demeaning the purpose of photography.  Photography is inspiration realized through concentrated effort by connecting with your subject.

When you are in the moment time ceases to exist and you are experiencing the scene with a gratitude of self release.   By experiencing the scene first hand (with all your senses heighten) you will greatly increases your ability to make worth while imagery.

You are not trying to take a picture of  the subject and move on quickly but experiencing the scene one on one and forgetting for a few hours your own time and space but just living in the experience without pulling back and moving on to the next and greatest.

If you hurry through moments,  just taking snap shots, you lose the ability to establish a connection with your subject that you need to create good imagery.

On the other side of the coin:

When you create a barrier between you and your experience (automatically pulling out your cell phone) you are not concentrating on your subject but instead concentrating on your ego.

This reflects the modern obsession with celebrity.  You are the focus of the camera.  You are both the photographer and the subject.   How self centered is that and how fragmented the mind becomes, as we enter into a new age of looking at ourselves as objects and not the point from which we view the world.

To make good imagery we must reject this mania of status that has been created by corporate media. This will only distract and disrupt your flow of intuition, as you begin to explore true image creation.  It is a balancing act between you and the subject.  If you tip to far one way over the other you will lose the observer status all good image makers must become and impose your will on the scene which leads to a narcissistic expression of infatuation of self on a two dimensional surface.

September 5, 2015

Images are created for what purpose, objective truth? I don't think so. Imagery is created to enhance memory of the present moment as it moves always past our greedy grasp.  

Imagery created with the desire to seek the essence of the scene, creates a distinctive photograph that respects the purpose of photography.  Photography used to be about expressing an inner unique voice, to create a scene with meaning that could influence a viewers perception of the world.  

Photography is not truth but a representation of the truth, seen through the eyes of the person holding the camera.  We never break through the barrier between subjective and objective truth.  

Photography is always evolving and changing it's desires. In the past it would be used to document life, then interpret life, then level the idea of beauty in life and now photography is purely imitation.  We now see photographs as the real deal and not moments passing in our lives.  The question is, do we need to live individual lives separate from each other, I would answer yes to this question. Or live our lives with the herd posting pictures to social media sites (common entertainment for the masses) for all society to see, as if these pictures represented our life?  

Images created to be posted on social media have a shallow surface, a gleam of an ego exposing itself.

Imitation is suppose to be flattering but in the case of social media it has become all about the look and feel of being seen.  Your private lives are shown for all to see without a buffer of purpose and a statement of originality.

Not everything is worthy of being posted on social media.  If you can become more selective on your subject matter before posting and have an individual intent and a reason for posting, the current bombardment of banality could be reduced.  What people have misunderstood concerning social media is that it is not a family album to be broadcast to the world.  What social media is is media. Sellers need consumers to keep capitalism growing. Corporation are always looking for personal information to sell products to you through the information you broadcast on their sites.  

By exposing those private moments to anonymous voyeurs you are intentionally creating a separate universe, a collective mind of social media.  You are not living your life for you.  You are not making choices for your own journey through your time line but allowing an entity outside yourself to influence your life and it's demands keep growing for more and more private images and private desires to be posted.  Plain and simple it is an addiction. 

By posting private memories on these sites you are disconnecting yourself from those memories and 

putting them in an arena of commerce.

What better way to have the populace feel like they have a stake in this society than allowing them to believe that what they are doing right now, posting continually to these sites is important.  All social media is is a distraction from living a life through your reaction to external forces.  By personally interacting with nature, not taking pictures of yourself in nature, you are in a direct relationship with the external world.  You can react immediately and enjoy the experience first hand not through a device that puts a barrier between you and the world.   

Good photography is just that, immersing yourself in nature with your subject and not thinking about you as separate from the subject but connected internally and externally, as an inspiration felt and acknowledged through meaningful photographs.

September 5, 2015


I have a favorite place I like to return to each year to make photographs.  The funny thing is that even if I didn't get any images I would still enjoy the wonderful environment that is present.  I think we all have our favorite spots that we go back to on a regular or yearly basis. Creating images is secondary, what is important is to be present in the moment and appreciate the environment that is so powerful and precious.