October 29, 2019

Taking photos allow us the feeling of superiority over mother nature and human nature. We boost our ego’s jealous nature as we select a physical space, that we will take away from the aggregate of details present a composition that exits in the external physical reality and through this capture we have a picture. It is amazing that amount of images taken each second of each day around the world. 

Nothing is hidden, all is a potential snapshot of someone or something perceived as unique. We prowl in the streets for a stolen image, an image that doesn’t represent anything now but a redundant visual expression that has no meaning. 

Pictures taken to day are selfish in the sense that they are not representative of our feelings toward the beauty of people or the beauty of nature but pictures that are all about the ego’s of the one taking the image. The subject of image creation today is not the external scene but the one taking the snap shot, our addiction to be seen at any cost, to be liked at any cost is the obsession of our selfish culture seeing ourselves as objects, material to be presented on social media.

Ego’s are the main subject of all our hedonistic self interest. We don’t see the objective necessity to respect nature and to protect our rights as citizens of this planet, equal to each other and not under the rule of the oligarchs. 

We have been disconnected from our inner purpose, separated from our true course, our true vision. We are all here on earth to enjoy the beauty of the earth not the destruction of the planet by the corporate elites, junkies for more and more wealth as if they expect to spend this money in heaven, as if savaging the earth would get them to the pearly gates before they were sent where they belong.    

Soon we will be folded nicely into nature mysterious disguise that has warned us of the catastrophic consequences of voracious greed. There is no escape from the aging body and aging mind soon to be silent without funds to buy a way out of deaths brutal clarity. 

Pictures have become selfish in the sense that they are not representative of our feelings concerning the beauty of nature but pictures that are all about the ego’s of millions taking the image.

We don’t explore our own inner intuition but copy what we see others doing, we imitate others in order feel accepted.

Great imagery accepts nothing but the individual expression of ones inner truth. A photographer in tune with himself and nature’s beauty doesn’t look for the cliché but digs deeper, looking for the outer representation of his inner feeling and insights.

The earlier great street photographers created a base of uniqueness, an awareness of the subject and an instinct of visual expression that captured visual moments with revelation and beauty.  These images revealed a new level of picture making, a new underground of subjects never seen before, that would illuminate our senses and push other photographers into a realm of the ordinary made extraordinary. These street scenes  were a new avenue of expression and changed photography forever! A new memory of a subject yanked from its mooring from a flowing, ever changing reality. A reality that is migrating, and evolving and we are blind to its nature of assimilation.

Now we are snap shooters, making images is no longer necessary, now when shooting we are not looking for a representation of our inner vision but an irrational need to be the star of picture taken, seen as just another part of the herd and not an individual with our own unique perceptions. The scene exposed in milliseconds, the surface glitter like eye candy attracts a dull eye and that eye doesn’t see beyond the reflective positioning of a growing laziness in mankind to accept the shallow facade that your intellect determined was just good enough representation to take a picture of and then move on.

We need to be ourselves without a sense of reproducing another’s surface reality but our own inner world externalized in a photograph representing our inner force of character, an expression that is coming through the scene demanding your concentration to be visually present as you realize the subject appearing on a deeper level. 

Because of this new way of seeing through focused intuitive vision you will not take a quick snapshot and then run to the next surface gleam but be still in your vision, still in your insight, still in your willingness to allow the scene to unfold, digging deeper through your inner connection with the subject that you at one time would have easily missed for an easy point and shot image without depth but now you have become more in tune with nature and it’s calling. Your inner awareness is now your driving force to create that bond with nature that had been missing.

However, the new era of photography is not about revelation of nature through a deep connection with this precious earth but it is taking from nature its pride as mankind destroys it through ravenous addiction to money and power. 

There is no loss of beauty in life for we have been broken to feel a good life is impossible as mankind takes from the earth its minerals, the earths atmosphere, warming the climate to an extreme where we will have monster storms threatening all cultures and our children all in the name of profits, these men and women of avarice and deceit, these criminals of duplicity, using their billions to deceive the people of this world through their propaganda machine as if nothing is wrong, and this marketing of a false narrative through a bait and switch swindle and their gluttony for more and more personal wealth on the backs of the innocent is just fine and dandy with no problems and the earth we live in is going a little crazy right now but look we are misleading the American people for a grand purpose, our truth is the defrauding of all peoples of the planet for profit. Look at it this way you won’t need a camera in your kids future because all this beauty on this earth will be gone, destroyed by our callous, selfish greed of the elite for the elite!

October 24, 2019

Do you feel a little iffy today that something isn’t right.  You're feeling a little down, a little nervous about life and angry toward the people that are ignorant of your conditioned beliefs and cliche responses to everything that you believe in. Don’t worry just ignore the truth of their criminality blossoming all over this dying planet as the wealthy run rampant, ravage and take all they can before the collapse of our civilization.  

Where to begin, the beginning accepts the hurdles one must jump to express your inner thoughts.  Closed minds will always reject the true preposterous nature of words. Seek your own words to define yourself, walk in your own shoes. Not someone else’s footprints spewing a mouth full of hate and arguing for others to be hurt and condemned.  

Divide and conquer is their game plan. Propaganda from the elite to sway your thinking backward in time, hating others for their differences when if you looked hard enough you would see that they are human beings just like you, afraid of the coming storm of climate change that they are experiencing now and the mass corruption of governments at the expense of the people. That is their plan, getting us to fight amongst ourselves and in these created distractions of hate while they pass laws that benefit themselves, giving them more and more profits and power. Why should they worry about families starving, that isn’t their problem it is your problem, for they live above the ugliness of life and exploit those that can’t fight back? That is just good business practice.

We seem to like being shadow people hiding from the truth. We seek words that were ingrained in our consciousness from birth and solidified in our minds as we grew up stagnated in our ability to find truth away from the structure of our lifestyle and friends that reinforced the hatred toward change and people different from our propaganda of misinformation. 

The funny thing is that they never seemed to realize that the change was going on with them or without them and the wealthy used stereotypes and word manipulations to cement in your mind racists and selfish behavior toward other human beings. While the rich made a script and you fell for it, hook, line and sinker believing in someone else’s false ideology.

Yes, the people must be accountable for their actions but also the wealthy.  Why do they get a free ride when they are the very definition of corruption? Where are the wealthy’s moral foundation? I guess if you look at the profits they keep making and the laws that give them less and less taxes to pay then they have no responsibility to the people of the United States where they made their abhorrent wealth off its citizens.

The manipulation of our psyche, we read the words internalizing their additive nature. Someone speaks the words and it triggers a subconscious reaction, an instinctive need for anger and hate at the subject of the words spoken. 

We have been conditioned in our mind since birth, then grade school, through high school, through college to think a certain way and to react like Pavlov dog to certain words that instill in us hate and fear.

These words are like matches that excite your nervous system and make you automatically project outward an attitude of contempt for people, places and things. 

We fear change in our outer existence and change in our inner world. It is easier to repeat what you have heard than to look deeper into the reason why one assumes a negative stance when certain words are spoken and read.

The world isn’t going mad!  You are being conditioned to react a certain way that has been comfortable for you because you don’t have to think about the alternative. You don’t have to look deeper into your feelings and try and understand why you feel this way toward others. 

You fear that maybe you have been wrong as your intuition is beginning to break through your facade of false truth and it is piecing together how and why you react this way toward anything that is different from your perceived world of conformity.

We all experience those moments of revelation. We can ignore them or we can embrace the truth of our racism. We can choose to break free from the influence of the puppeteers that rule over our consciousness through their racist propaganda.

On social media these charlatans of hate know the words to use that will incite in the viewer of their post an automatic reaction, a response you have given before with likes and dislikes and because of your choices on the social media site you receive more propaganda of hate speech without you even knowing the influence they are having on you behavior and your common sense.

You react to these posts in stereotypical manner, hot under the collar because of the lying words specifically written to incite in you hatred toward another human being without evidence, just lying words written by the perpetuator of falsehoods knowing they will get you aroused, angry at your life being over run by non-americans.  All this in order to have people fight amongst themselves while the true crimes are done in the daylight of laws past that infringe on the rights of everyone. 

Ultimately you are fighting a battle against others that have no intent to fight or harm anyone but just looking for a life for their family where they can be free of violence. 

October 24, 2019

Oh, the mind bending control social media has over our individuality and our decision making. 

We all know our lives are being overrun by technology. This pervasive assimilation of our likes and dislikes, our buying patterns, our written words, our pictures, our lives are constantly under the scrutiny of social media and the corporate mindset of manipulation to gather information from our posts and then use our personal history, that they gathered from us, and then turn around and bombard us with ads to sell their products to us. But more than that to post lies by the politicians in order to get paid by the hooligans running for public office and to undermine our democracy. God damn the criminals now in power. These worldwide oligarchs have only one goal profits on the backs of human beings. If wars are necessary so be it, they are all in on the manipulation of truth and the total disregard of this world and its inhabitants. Why should they care, they are upper 1% and their values lie in making profits from the little people they exploit.

Picture taking used to be mainly for family albums, relatives, family get togethers, friends, a documentation of their faces, clothes, kids growing up, parties, birthdays, holidays and time spent enjoying each others company. These images are snap shots that become instant hits when you got back together with your family, and friends. 

These images now are no longer private moments but paraded out on social media for thousands, millions of people to look at and make comments on. 

What is it about human nature that demands we use our fixation of being seen on a small screen as some sort of people’s magazine? Where we see ourselves as a star to be noticed, heard, praised and made a fool of by uploading more and more personal information and pictures just for a few more likes.  

We have entered a new realm of reality where nothing is sacred or private and we join the throng of gullible needy humans looking for more in our own lives and we think giving info to multi billionaires is the way to get attention. It is a way of being taken advantage of, period.

What you are from birth to now has been a mirage of psychic turmoil. Social media will not help you. What will help is you backing off the wild ride of see me, hear me, be me mentality and regroup and find your inner self waiting to be discovered?

Is being someone else more important than being yourself. We live in a fairy tale of mis-information, lies and deceit and yet we still give away our personal information as if the ones collecting this info give a damn about you or your problems. All they want to do is sell, sell, sell you something by manipulating your inner personality you have offered them with your tweets. 

Seeking acknowledgement in anyway possible to justify our lives in today’s culture of the obsessive need to be seen and worshipped for being someone else and not our inner truth, we have become beings addicted to this non- stop distraction of meaningless information that is meant to bewilder, puzzle, perplex and twist the truth making us think there might be something there to believe in and to trust.  

We are being manipulated by the info we give these media giants and they use that info to spread lies and anger by tweeting misrepresentations right to your media account. Don’t be fooled this is a planned attack on the psychic of our nation, its people. Exploiting us with words that strike a cord of anger and hate. 

The only thing you need to believe in is yourself and not some outside force that dictates to you how to live your life and spew words of rage. Wake up, you are being molded into a creature without an original thought. A creature filled with constant hatred for anything you deem different from your self.

We know corporate media especially in the United States doesn’t give us any real information on all the catastrophes of war, climate, riots, murders, pollution hunger, migration of peoples, that is happening ever minute of every day. They want us kept in a selfish, needy buy, buy mentality while the rest of the world suffers under oligarchs that now rule this planet. Yes, the US has there oligarchs as well. The wealth that has accumulated in the upper echelon of power here in the US didn’t just happen without the manipulation of our government for the wealthy by the wealthy.  

This constant struggle the people of the US have to deal with everyday is deliberate and necessary for the criminals to maintain their power. Fear has always been used to quiet the crowds that gather to protest the wealthy’s greed and brutality. 

Their unwillingness to come down from their god like power and give back to the people what they have sacrificed their lives for, so their children could live a better life than they did. Is this still possible today? I don’t thing so. 

These men and women of duplicity have had only one mantra, more, more and more money without a blink of an eye as others suffer because of their monstrous addiction to greed.  

We can’t allow this erosion of our humanity, our

inner self, our inner truth knows this is not right, we need to be independent and focused in becoming our own personal truth, our own guide through the havoc of social media’s attempts at masking truth, playing to our emotions, our desire to believe in someone else’s words and not our own research, our own independent perspective. Thus becoming a dupe, ignorant of our nations truth, ignoring your first duty in your aging life and that is to be yourself as a free person, a self aware individual making his way towards his visual artistic goals and trying to raise yourself above this polluted world of hypocrites and con-men that have made it into every corporate board room and into every possible position of power in governments all around this dying planet.

We seem to like being herded cattle, addicted to  media that uses our information to send us ads to buy and buy no matter the consequences just for the excitement of a few likes. 

But one thing is for sure if you allow the distractions from truth, the lies of avarice, and the manipulations of our lives through organized crime then we will be a lost people, nomads in a life trying to survive in this world of greed and rampaging evil. 

For to be an independent individual you don’t need to demean yourself by the mindless chatter that is social media. Why distract yourself from your goals by taking a rutted side road to nowhere!

Inner perception, knowing yourself, is your only means to fulfill your dreams and feel you have accomplished your goals, not through an external force of meaningless jabber bombarding you with voices living in fear, loneliness and aggression, demanding their share of being present in your mind even if it is only a split second of your attention. 

You are worth more than just sitting wasting your time looking at a screen that demands your attention all the time and through this mental manipulation you lose sight of your goals and where you wanted to be in your life, one, two years down the road after graduation. Somehow your life’s journey got side tracked by technologies main purpose, an addictive drug, a duplicity of intent undermining your ability to think for yourself and become your true purpose. 

Belief in there lies undermines our democracy!

Social media lowers our standards of truth and respect for others and through social media we are taken from our inner journey of becoming our unique voice being forced to listen to the frenzy of fake news, fake purpose, fake lives trying to take from you your future!

Social media is an addiction, the willingness to take snap shots of our lives without being focused on our own true personal journey but it seems that that is not enough, we must have recognition by others lies and by a simple click you feel wonderful that someone liked your post, and we are off and running and will do anything to get more likes.

Like yourself first and the rest will occur naturally.

October 24, 2019

Photography is more than point and shoot. Photography is a way of life. I think what happens to most photographers is that they get overwhelmed by the infinite choices one has to make in creating great photographs. 

How do you find your image when you are in over your head with the external world and its physical details, people, landscapes and nature overwhelming your perception?

You already have some ideas that inspired you just by looking at photography books of the great masters and their original works. 

Your inspired vision will take aim and you will find subjects that you can relate to and explore in detail and through that exploration you will create great images. Personal images that only your unique intuition saw, felt and explored.

October 24, 2019

Photography

What a difference a new century makes. Now are lives are broadcast over social media, everything is exposed as if to say look at me, look at me, we are happy fun loving people, are you jealous yet of our ego’s need to project ourselves for strangers eyes to see us not as we are but as we wish to be seen. 

All these pics are snapshots of the run and gun type without depth, character and originality being present. To be involved in a scene, intimately, whether it be a person, a landscape, a street scene or a studio creation you must feel some deeper purpose in your connection to your subject. Without a feeling of inner recognition, a sense that something more is developing in your presence and this something is asking you to translate the scene with your intuitive perception is the only way which you will create a photograph worthy of being seen. Not just a snap shot of people as objects but a deeper understanding of the scene present and a willingness to dive even deeper into the subject with an original composition.

Picture taking now is random, without a set purpose. It has become a means of escape rather than a means of inner acting with the external subject being understood and accepted. It is a means of escaping your daily rituals of life for an adventure without purpose, just snapping away at anything that looks semi-interesting.

These spur of the moment clicks of the shutter and then your done and off to a new subject until you feel used and tired and nothing in the external world catches your eye anymore and you simple fold your conscious awareness away for another rainy day when you feel the urge to snap more pics of anything that doesn’t take to long and interfere with the baseball, football game or dinner!

One click and your done just like picking up pizza cooked and ready to eat. One click and you already have it on your social media site showing the advertisers that troll these sites a product you might be interested in and soon you will receive an ad with coupons for a pizza place in your area. It is ego that demands you upload it to a media site this way, your pic has been published for all eyes to see and make comments on just as if you were a world famous photographer!

Picture taking and viewing pictures is now random perceptions of a surface details without depth and an inner connection felt by you. Our intellect, the conformity of behavior, moves us onward for the hunt of a bigger better pic but in truth you just passed a subject that was calling for you to stop and look with patient eyes. Most of the images snapped to today are reflections in shallow waters.

The ability to take snap shots and have a digital record of your moments have created an addiction, a need to stop interacting with your subjects on a deeper level but now only interact with them in your physical space not with a purpose of a deeper composition you want to make but the new norm, a shallow representation of the scene present. 

You have to focus your intent in your image creations. Do you want an image that expresses your inner truth or an image that is a random snap shot that has no originality and looks like a billion other images without a purpose?

Stop living on the surface of life and begin to dig deeper into your outer reality looking for those instances of unique interaction, a unique impression, those special moments that as a photographer when you become present in your vision with the subject as it presents itself to you, allowing you the time needed for your energy and intuition to ramp up into high gear and you immerse yourself into the scene before you. And it is these special moments of insight when you are in tune with inner self and your surroundings, and your focus is only on the present moment, studying the different angles, testing different compositions looking for that unique perspective that will give you that image worth creating.  

When you immerse yourself deep into your selective vision that eliminates details that will not add to the final image creation you feel a widening awareness and a revelation of a connection with your subject and life.

In this fast paste hustle we lead, we have forgotten how to relax and allow our instinctive perceptions time enough to really see the subject hidden before us. 

We don’t need logic to interfere with our natural vision that is connecting with a unique composition that is present waiting to be discovered. 

With the stress in this world in constant hyper-overdrive we need to let go of the rat race of repetitive actions and delve deeper into our own inner awareness and develop a means of expression that reflects our inner truth. Not someone else’s inner truth but your own!

Why do we act like cattle moving in a herd repeating an action over and over again without originality hoping that what we are doing will eventually pay off in a great photograph? 

It seems that we have lost our barring, our future life has been sidetracked and replaced with a redundancy of boring reproductions of touristy images without it seems any intended purpose. Just a means to document that you were here, there and everywhere.

But you were not present in your moments of visual excitement. You ignored the moment of truth in your composition and then walked away from your image of a life time. Patience is the key to great imagery.

What is more important the image creation or the posting of a snap shot on social media? We have lost our ability to slow down and really look at something that intrigues us, that is demanding us to have a closer scrutiny of the scene. 

In order to create images worthy of your talent you must be present in your visual conception through a studied composition that takes into consideration time of day, color, lens, tripod, perspective, details in, details out… Your subject must feel your presence and give you little hints of appropriate angles to compose from, moving you past the obvious composition to a deeper connection with the scene and its natural appearance.

Photography doesn’t need more shallow pics of look alike redundancy.

Photography’s challenge is to keep it’s head above the overwhelming amount of snap shots happening billions of time a day that is undermining the integrity of photography’s true purpose. A great photograph is a means of expressing your inner vision through the details in our external reality.

By digging deeper into the scene, to find the connection that is at first hidden but through focused attention and experimenting with composition one finds the details that when framed in the view finder reveals the expressive character of the scene with deep meaning for you and the viewers insightful understanding. 

Your vision has been complete when you get back home excited to review your images, knowing that through your patience and sensitivity you have created a great image.

October 12, 2019

Break free from this structured existence of our demanding intellect, that tries to get us to see through another’s eyes and not our own unique perspective, societies attempt to con us, to keep us herded in fear from our own truths, are own revelations of our perceptive intuition. We must never fear being ourselves. To hide under a facade, is living in fear of becoming our true nature, our true selves. 

We must fight the urge to conform without asking deeper questions. Why are my inner ideas, my inner dreams and insights never realized?  

The simple answer is economics and how our capitalistic world that sells products that narrows ones choices and hinders one abilities to express a new formula of expression, your unique vision of independent thoughts.

We live a copycat existence, our lives being reduced to living in a commercial rather than an independent journey through our own creative talents. 

We are not going to allow companies to exploit us for profit with the newest and greatest products when we have the ability in ourselves to create a new world view, free from the commercial life we now live. Where money speaks and human voices are incarcerated for speaking their minds under this new rule of the oligarchs.

Human beings are not chattel’s, they are not someone else’s inanimate property to be sold and bought like cattle.

We must always battle a society that demands us to follow rather than lead. This compulsion to follow someone else’s will and to conform to that will without seeking your own voice is fear of self revelations! Fear of hearing your own voice standing alone and facing the violent marauders of exploitation that are devastating humanity and Mother Earth. 

Being independent is our true character not a lap dog for the wealthy.  

There is no rational excuse for why politicians that have been voted into office by the people would then turn around and betray their trust by bending over backward to please the 1% so they can retrieve their bribes of silence just like a pet puppy with his bone. If I would attempt to define this behavior of evil I guess I would have to say they sold their souls to greed and avarice. 

These men and women of wealth and deceit with their criminal minds at work, not to make a better world but to make more profits off the hard work of innocent human beings just trying to survive on this planet that is being destroyed by the very ones taking more and more from all of us. 

Fright inhibits oneself from seeing the truth kept silent in your own mind full of cliches that are meaningless.  We must fight for our freedom and the freedom that comes first is our inner being introducing itself to us and us finally feeling the unification of selfhood. We are no longer depended on outside voices with their loud obnoxious words trying to tear down our freedoms through subtle laws and through their hypocritical voices of fear. The only thing we must fear are these voices spilling out putrid thoughts to excite their pawns, their yes men and yes women to strike hate against people only because they are different from us, who is us anyway? We the people, I will say it again we are all unique and we need to demand that all people are treated equally. 

We are all looking to be part of something bigger than ourselves and this is a good thing but we must never lose our unique voice and we mustn’t confuse something bigger than ourselves with any organization or any government that OK’s the perpetuation of violence against any person, place or thing.   

A society that demands our attention through violence and products of gluttony is not a society of truth. We must seek a natural force of immersion in the ourselves first that allows us to meet our interior being for the first time and then through our vision of expression create images that represent our nature and not someone else’s.

We all have a natural need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. And that can be a good thing if and only if all voices are heard and listened to with respect and a willingness to try new ideas for the benefit of all.

We are small creatures with large ego’s. And we exist to conform to the standards of our piers. Each generation starts out thinking they are independent but that is an illusion. We all get assimilated into the larger whole of societies need for control. 

We exist to accept the forces of nature that move us in a direction that our intellects determines will become our new role in the interaction with the herd and our placement in an integral intersection of regrets and backward thinking, placating the minds of those that couldn’t break free from the controlling influence of the herded mentality.

When you are creating images with purpose you are in complete control of your composition. Your perspective is unique and it is demanding a vision that will express your inner world. These created images sometimes are very simple to make. There is flow and movement of your mind that enters the scene and you quickly understand the landscape before you and in that knowing you instinctively move yourself to a point of interest that expresses the scene through your unique vision.  

Other times you come to a scene and you must stop and reflect with your inner intuition, knowing that something is present, that is visually silent but it is demanding you to work at your composition, seek your interpretation of the natural forces present but not yet visually found. 

To find a path that brings you to a place that first enhances your initial visual thought and unfolds the nature of the scene so you can enter it with a knowledge of your unique inner voice that is giving you a revelation of a landscape you could have missed if you were in a state of anxious departure.  

We all want to find the perfect expression of the scene before us. What has drawn us to this place in this moment under these lighting conditions? We could accept our initial perception, shoot the image and then move on to the next best thing or we can stand in the presence of nature’s beauty relaxed and breathing in the atmosphere of the landscape and creating a bond with the scene on a deeper level and just waiting and enjoying these moments of being present as the light explodes in a brilliance of possibilities.  

By having the patience to wait and not start blitzing the scene with frame after frame hoping for a lucky composition and exposure you will be immersed 

in the thick of a visual narrative, each one having the possibility to express your inner intuitive force, to feel

the subject beginning to be visualized as you contemplate the scene by going deeper into your inner self awareness, a communion of physical nature and your inner visual senses on high emotions of faith in your being present and the image becoming expressed from this intimate bonding you are experiencing. 

Freedom of choice is the mantra of an independent self becoming a perceptive visionary of their inner world becoming externalized. Your visual development your freedom, is to express your inner world through external details, your intellect will want to categorize and label your approach as a structured repetition of other’s thoughts and composition. That is not what a true artist does. A true artist expresses his inner world with his own truthful interpretation through the workings of his inner life. We may not fully grasp his intent but his unique perceptions are worth the trouble of studying. His unique vision expressed through image creation is a personal revelation of his uniqueness.  

We can’t express our true selves without looking deeper into the structured environment we are born into. The controlling forces of this world are moneyed interests that do not look for revelations of the spirit but a conformity of the spirit to work and slave for the few that keep a tight lid on the extravagant lifestyle that consumes them.  

Don’t narrow your visual experience to a set of images already known, explore and experiment with your perceptive nature and create a unique vision that only you can express.

October 12, 2019

The big question concerning your inner vision seen through a mechanical device is whether or not you were truly present in the image creation or just skimming the surface of your exterior reality without thoughts of a meaningful dialogue between you and the subject that presented itself. This dialogue is your inner intuition realizing the potential that is there in the scene and your willingness to search the scene for the elements that will bring forth your internal vision.

One can be casual when taking pictures and sometimes those images turn out to be quite good and this gives one hope that with a deeper sense of your relationship with the outer world can be bridged with a focused intuition that can peel back the barriers present in the scene and allow you a moment of exposure that can capture the relationship you allowed to blossom with the subject that also chose you.

The camera allows you a distraction, a buffer between you and your subject and this can lead to frustration, boredom and an abandonment of the original scene for a more easy, more pleasing duplicate, an easier snap shot many photographers have chosen standing right where you are at now.

Why didn't you stop your mind from over thinking the scene and start using your inner gift, your intuition that will keep you in the present moment as you search for that connection, that relationship that is there but yet undiscovered. Not every image taken can be a winner.  We all go through periods of frustration when the weather, the light, the crowds can all interfere with our connection to the landscape present.  But we must persevere and take notes of the scene that beat us in the first round in order to make us re-group and come back to the scene with greater determination and openness to make a connection that will lead to a photograph you can be thankful of.

We enter into the external world overwhelmed by its beauty and ugliness. We enter this world with the intention to control nature for our own purpose. We enter this world intent on destroying this beauty to reflect our own inner darkness.

Our inability to co-exist with our natural landscape is man’s instinctive nature to transform the external world, the nature of beauty, to fit his terrifying fear of being present in a physical space he has no control of.

If we are to begin to change our own perception of this external world we must let go of our selfish ego and our selfish need to control something we can never control. Our existence in todays world is ego and power. The result of this illusion, that we are the gods of industry, is that the pollution causing climate change will set in motion billions of people forced into migration to find a plot of land that might save them from starvation and dying of thirst.

As a photographer it is your responsibility to walk lightly through nature connecting with your inner purpose to create a frame of nature that you truly physically and mentally connected with, an expression of your inner vision that was present for you through nature's gift.

September 27, 2019

Unique Expression

Eliot Deutsch, "Every deed that one performs has its effect in the world and forms within the doer a samskara or vasana (tendency) that becomes the basis for his future deeds."

Your unique perspective is your inner eye seeing the world through your own special vision. Your image is an expression of yourself, your personality, your inner life exposed to the world through your truth of being visually present in an environment in constant flux. 

Photographs are never perfect, never universally accepted, their perfection arises if you see your message contained in the image you created with purpose for yourself first and next for the viewer. We must remember each person is unique in this world and they will come to your image with a preconception of beauty and a sense of a truth being present but not fully grasping the significance of your perspective and subject matter.  

But they might let go of their distance from the subject and let go of their preconceptions so they could immerse themselves in the image you created and feel the honesty through your composition present, as a truth they can accept with passion and understanding.

Each image has your personality enclosed in the visual expression, you can't please everyone and you shouldn't try, your inner goal is to create through your internal expression objectified through an external composition of details that created your truth in your unique photographic composition. 

Your selection of certain details present in the scene became the foundation of your unique composition, these were the highlights of your inner awareness, after you slowed down, and explored the scene with an artist's vision. This process of studying the scene was your opening up to infinite choices presented which can overpower your sense of connection with the subject, but you were able to focus your attention and narrow your choices down, in this particular instance, to create a photograph that you felt connected with through composition,  light and your unique perspective. 

To make an image worthy of your talent, it doesn't need to have an exorbitant amount of details to bring out the force of your conscious intent.

Your composition in the scene, identified through your unique presence is your growing ability to explore the outer realm and feel connected with details of the scene and then arrange those details to compose your inner connection with those outside forces that are needed to express your inner revelations. 

Everyone gets overwhelmed in a scene of beauty and depth but one must not immediately jump to a short cut composition in order to move on to a new scene just around the bend anticipating the new environment will be the one to allow your  inner talents to shine. You shouldn't be concerned with natures omnipresence and mother nature's infinite ability to show you the myriad of choices when you are looking to connect with just one composition that expresses your unique interior self. Relax and enjoy the ride, through your intuitive vision you will begin to recognize the scene developing as you move around carefully positioning yourself for that magical perception that will best represent your natural, inner vision.  

 

September 25, 2019

What proof do we have that you were there, if you didn't dig deeper into the landscape of the scene in front of you? Why did you listen to your nervous energy demanding you take a quick snap shot and move on, nothing for you to see hear, if this was the case then we are relying on a statement from you about the picture, that you didn't feel the need to take your time and explore the scene with intuitive insights revealing details that could have begun your journey of composition, that would have lead you to a creation that reflected your character and nature's revealing relationship with you. A connection that goes deeper under the surface and gets you inside your ideas and purpose opening up to what mother nature is presenting to you, whether people or landscapes, we need to become connected with the wholeness of life in all its infinite components.

But in reality we have no proof you took the image. Where are you represented in the image created. What details will explain your vision that was missed because time once again hinders the purpose of composing your photographic vision.

We listen to you because you used words that depicted the scene and suggested your presence behind the camera but we still have no means of truly saying you took that picture. Your true picture was missed by your ignoring the relationship you needed to build with the scene in order to get closer to the truth of the physical space you should have been immersed in, another words a true connection with a subject that was demanding your attention if only you were open to the beauty being presented.

Without a description of your process to uncover your personal expression in the turmoil of so many details that burdened your visual senses, that seemed to spur you to hurry up and just snap a pic and then move on, isn't this the definition of a surface life ignoring the depth of existence surrounding all of us at ever level of our interaction with the external world. We can skim along the surface reflections of our visual senses disregarding waves of details and ignoring our truth, our purpose visual purpose, so why even have a camera in the first place, if we are not going to connect on a deeper level with the scene and create a personal intimate image of our inner beauty externalized why just go through the motions.

Without depth of feeling, a lucky punch so to speak, is all you get credit for if as you passed a scene of interest you just happened to snap a pic without thinking but did capture a moment of intimacy that was begging you to stop and really look deeper into the details being presented. 

Without a description of your vision's process or an understanding of why you grabbed that image, maybe your intuition recognized a link between you and the subject, a dance of a visual stimulus, a setting for a compassionate relationship between nature and you, being presented with the potentiality of creating a photograph that could have a purpose, your inner voice speaking. 

A good photograph represents a deep connection with the subject and your intuitive eye must be present for the photographer to feel in the scene presented a relationship building, a connection felt, being reciprocated by nature, welcoming your visual senses to open up and explore, and partake in the universal beauty in your own mind being externalized in the scene before you with your growing ability to identify with the contours and imaginative visual elements presented that will eventually make up the foundation for an image you and your subject will make together.

We can claim to have seen the landscape on a surface level and our picture represented a general feeling of being there but it doesn't constitute a connection that needs to be made for the image to have a personal, insightful relationship with your intuitive vision and others viewing your photograph. To walk through scenes without stopping and looking at the connections, details demanding to be part of the image's potential success you begin to lose your visual confidence and become careless and disappointed in your inability to go deeper  under the surface of subjects being presented. 

An image made without a true connection with the scene presented is not a necessary confirmation that you were the photographer present but a mind absent when the image was taken. Your physical presence was there, your outer facade was posing but you were not present in any deeper mode of understanding or compassion for the subject being presented. Both of you, the scene before you and your shallow presence in taking a quick shot separated you from a deeper exploration of a potential creation that could have allowed you to find the necessary details of your subject that would have been the foundation of creating your personal image, an image with your unique vision present, rather than just snapping ordinary details of a subject without a thought process of understanding a deeper composition that was being offered.

You were not present in the environment of composition and settled for a fast shutter, a click and a souvenir and you moved on. You were a tourist not seeking a relationship with the scene but only a physical representation of where you were that would unable you to brag about the beauty surrounding your snap shot and the beauty that was present just outside your visual frame that was waiting for your individual attention. Hoping that you would look more intensely on what was being presented to you but you ignored it.

Just being physically there and not interacting on a deeper level  with the scene before you stifles your ability to create a connection that could have lead to a powerful image via your inner vision that was patiently trying to interact with you suggesting views that could have been meaningful, nudging you to see beyond the shallow surface reflections in the scene and look for a deeper image to be revealed, your individual expression. 

Deep immersement into the landscape of photography is needed in order to create photographs that will express your individuality.

September 8, 2019

Everything has the ability to become a great photograph if the photographer is willing to connect with the subject on an intuitive level.

I have always been impressed with how being present in your inner intuition makes a photographer understand more quickly why this particular subject has a deeper message for him than say what another photographer’s external vision and then the intuitive photographer understands his inner sights attraction so he lingers and observes the landscape waiting for his revelation, exploring the visual stimulus he has been given.

A photograph is a means of descriptive character, a visual novel in one simple frame of exposure. A photographer has an intense need to see himself reflected in the images he creates. But not to the point that would be distracting to the visual experience of the viewer.

The image capture is one of focused intention on the details that bring forth in the image that your personal presence begins to visualize a composition that can give meaning to your visual concentration. What can you see that links your inner intuition with the scene in front of your view screen? Are you aware of your surroundings? Are you in a focused concentration on the landscape being presented and are you willing to take your time in focused purpose, searching the infinite visual space presented for those details that will express your inner feeling that are demanding your full attention in a composition that reflects your inner character.

Photographers are obsessed with the very idea of capturing something, anything in their viewfinder. The necessity of coming away from the scene with any kind of an image is very powerful in the mind of the snap shooter. But the confusion for someone that isn't mentally prepared, hasn't spent the time looking within himself to discover his unique perspective is a surface facade of the deeper subject that was missed. If the person just spent more time emerging himself in the scene than his image creation could have been insightful. 

As a photographer you need to empty your mind of the stresses putting pressure on your visual focus. You must let go of the world's demands looking for a common center of interest the scene is revealing to you and focus your visual attention on the subject that is demanding you to stop and observe the beauty of nature in this present moment.

One of the limiting forces of our physical reality is our dependence on time. The beginning, a visual perception of a scene before you. The middle, your awareness begins to dim as you have other pressing things to worry about. The ending, your visual adventure is wasting valuable time, so pack your gear and ignore the beauty present in the scene and leave behind a piece of your artistic skill because time was calling the shots and you were not present in your moments to ignore the force of duration that accuses you of a lazy attitude by being still in nature, waiting for that special moment to arrive. 

We are slaves to money and time. We count each hour, each day as wasted by asking ourselves what did I accomplish that was mine, my own unique expression. My life is not owned by me because we are not able to use our time for our own unique expressions. 

By allowing external forces to deprive us of our inner vision is the corruption of our freedom to pursue our original voice, silenced by corporations and wealth using an economic system intended to keep the population struggling to keep up with the increasing deprivations that have been strategically imposed on us to keep us from expressing our inner truths, by a structure made to control our lives and unique visions. Because of our structured existence our lives becoming more barren, the status quo is our normality and we suffer in our inability to see beauty inside ourselves and externally. We are not physical objects, things, we are human beings with insights into our own realities that can open us up to new worlds of beauty if we only could break free from the structure of instant gratification. A means of control in our lives creating distractions from our inner visual senses.

We are not our true selves in this corporate, destructive alienation we live in but pawns in the hectic pace of industrial and technological dominance over our lives where we have no time to get in touch with our inner intuitions and release the years of stagnant thoughts of insights abandoned but now starting to rise up within us, creating an openness and acceptance of all humanity and natures gifts that we have ignored for decades, giving us a strength, an openness of our being present fully and intensely aware, seeking the opportunities of our unique visual possibilities just waiting to be expressed in our own personal way.  

August 1, 2019

How does one keep up the pace creating imagery as you get closer to the end of your visual sensitivity?  

Will your closing moments become your last unique focused attempt to create an image worthy of your visual talent? 

Or will your ending be one of what if's and excuses for not allowing your intuitive self to guide you through your photographic compositions when you were younger, allowing you the freedom to practice your inner vision by an external realization, rearranging the scene to fit your visual intuition with a subject accepting of your presence.

This constant battle with inhibition, the relunctance to step out of ourselves and begin living a full life, bursting with ideas and subjects that are calling to us to open ourselves to them and join them with our inner compositions which enhance our ability to see details, others can't see, through our focused, heightened awareness of our inner connection with outer details that gives a special unique touch to the composition. And that is the basis for creating a great image that give and take between subject and photographer. 

You must lose your fear of our images being shown to the outside world. The more we inhibit our lives, the less we will accomplish. Live in your beautiful awareness, bursting outward with your inner talent. You can always find negativity surrounding you and your artistic talents. Perseverance to continue your inner quest for artistic expression, giving you strength in your abilities to fight for your individuality.

Fears enhance our feelings of inadequacy, allowing the intellect to restrict our mental outlook, which then tries to dictate to you, your visual future and your place in this framework of a structured reality. This concrete reality insists on the conformity of your mind and body to follow the orders of someone or something (social media) you think is superior to you when in fact we are all equal and live under the same sun until we get conditioned to ignore our inner feeling and our fresh perspectives, whereby we retreat to the herd instincts of society, by keeping our head down and with fear in our hearts we do what they tell us to do. What kind of existence is this?  

We need to become free of our mental chains and we must express our inner passions, our photographic perceptions openly with confidence in order to feel alive and part of something bigger than just us. 

We see through our photography the beauty in nature and the wonderful atmosphere of creating a meaningful, unique image.

Physical space is overwhelming our senses. It hampers our ability to be ourselves in a world of look alike minds of conformity and the inability to think for themselves, which creates a dependency on another that could determine who you don't want to become. 

Each day that passes moves us further away from your intuitive self. Changes do not happen overnight it will be a struggle to explore your inner world and bring those insights into the

external expressions in your life.

We all must realize that we are being monitored on social media by trolls working for advertisers and they are not really interested in what you post because that isn't where their money making interest lie, you are being monitored for what you click on and what interests you appear to have. Nothing you do and say on social media goes unnoticed and eventually it will get partnered with an advertiser that will begin posting ads on your sight to get you to buy their product. 

Social media monitors your clicks and through this spies on your so called personal life, now exposed to the world, and is able to generalize your personality traits and find products that might tempt you to purchase. If you want to know the truth, none of these sites care that much about your personal life or your artistic skills. All they want to do is sell you something!   

Everything on social media is money driven. Everything on social media is a distraction from living your life as an individual. The herd moves to the corral to be texted, by the new and greatest products that you don't need! 

You need to be living your life through your own insights not by the constant bombardment of ads demanding you shop until your broke. What kind of a life are we trying to live? In truth we aren't living unless we are free to be our unique selves by creating our inner perceptions and then externalizing them through our art. The feeling of being connected to something bigger than ourselves, which will take a lifetime to understand, is what living for your unique perspective is all about.

Look deeper into your conscious mine and begin to sort out what influenced you to be on the path you now walk. If you are not sure just begin the process of looking at the world differently. Put alittle joy in your presence here on earth and enjoy your future journeys without overthinking every little step.  

We know that to stick to one path all your life is foolish. There will be many side paths that will excite and demand your full artistic skills but that is what living freely is all about. Multiple opportunities and your ability to adapt to new circumstances will challenge you to become more than who you once were. Be proud of your accomplishments.

Find that spark of imagination and the will power that can focus your attention on your individual feelings and your unique inner visual expressions.

You need to pursue with concentration and stamina your visual individuality and unique perspective as you begin to develop your own unique style in your image creation.

Coalescence, uniting mind and physical space, this interaction through inner perception understood as an intuitive insight whereby the mind and body unite in seeing the landscape present before you as an expression of your inner feeling in that moment, which intensifies the need for the unique composition that you are moving toward.

In today's hyper escalation of image taking we are bombarded with the bad and the ugly on a constant basis. If you look at imagery enough you could become jaded because you think everything has already been captured, so why should I try and create my own images, won't that just be adding to the trillions of images already circulating that have a clone like look to them? 

But you are not a run and gun snap shooter! You have an intense need, an intense vision that needs to be expressed. You are an individual that doesn't feel the need to take pics of his or her life exposing the minutia of details without purpose. Your image creation is focused through understanding your unique perspective and these images give the viewer a visual revelation taking place.

   

This is why you need to get started now with developing your own original, personal vision. And that is the main point to remember, you have the talent waiting to be explored and your photographic eye is beginning to see an innovative, self realized composition in the scene and you will be able to use your imagination more frequently to go beyond the stereotypes of commonality that is portrayed over and over in this world of selfies, without depth of character, to making an image interesting enough to be studied. 

Open up your mind to the infinite possibilities surrounding you as you begin your journey creating personal images with unique characteristics that only you can express. And don't forget to have fun creating your individual expressions.