The Perfect Giggle

Here is a something bizarre about me: I think I will die after I achieve the perfect giggle. This may seem odd, especially if you know me because I giggle a lot…seriously…a lot. Nevertheless I do not live in fear of my looming death because of the splendor of experiencing the perfect giggle. Not surprisingly, I find almost everything funny or tragic, not much in between. Again, that must seem odd. In most situations my reaction to people is, “I cannot believe you’re taking that so seriously”, or, “I cannot believe you’re taking that SERIOUSLY”. Hence, most things are funny and should be experienced as such or they are tragic and should be experienced as such.

Let me give you an example: Road rage, I find road rage to be a comical fascination. Here is a repetitive action that we all do all the time: driving. Daily, people place themselves in the exact same situation as the day before and yet still seem to get enraged by the same daily occurrence: driving. For me, road rage makes me giggle, seeing people become infuriated by the same reoccurring event. Until you watch the News – then road rage becomes tragic, SERIOUSLY tragic.

Bumper stickers, magnet Jesus fish with feet and any item that can be stuck, attached or in some way fashioned to the back of a car. I find this funny. I also wonder if the evangelizing bumper sticker causes road rage. Probably does. Just writing that last sentence made me giggle. If you get the chance to read this rant, then my previous giggle was not my perfect giggle and I am still alive. If that was my perfect giggle and you do not get to read this; well, that would be tragic.

SERIOUSLY, not funny.

Recommendations

Hypnotherapist, Michael R. Weir has just created three new blogs. You can check them out here, here, and here.

You can read my "5 Question Interview with Mike" here.

In Times of Darkness She Still Served

~C4Chaos has an interesting post today. The new book about Mother Teresa crisis of faith, entitled Come Be My Light and two cross points’ essays by Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. What I find most interesting in following the debate is that in Mother Teresa times of darkness she still served her faith and the world.

Moment

Current Reading: After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Current Music: Bach - Brandenburg Concertos
Mood: Happy
Sounds: Background conversation – trying not to easy drop
Smells: Coffee
Sights: Baby smiling
Temperature: Currently: 69°F Partly Cloudy
Thoughts: This is my 500th post.

Exclusivity, Availability & Updates

It's odd to be called an artist for I am only the communal work that came before me. The influence of who I am is listed (not completely) on the sidebars of this blog. I updated the sidebar adding a writer's list. Writers have been more influential to me than any other source of inspiration. To be honest, I am the collective person of their original thoughts.

An artist seems to be an exclusive type of person, locked away in their own thoughts. If not for the availability of a previous artist's work, the artist themselves would fade away. As I write this I sit staring at the list of writers, photographers, bloggers and charitable organizations that make up who I am.

Am I an artist? Not sure it's even for me say. Optimistically, the time I spend in practices of my art/skill/discipline will evolve into inspiration for others.

Art is nothing more than beauty and from, creative playfulness.

Daft

I am feeling the urge to write using words such as “daft” and “balmy”. Not sure why? These are not words that people from Pittsburgh speak or use for conversing with one another. In actual fact, the idea of me using these words is the only act of “daftness” that I can think of. Well that certainly balmy.

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D70
Exposure: 30 sec (30)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Photographer Searching for Computer Geek Soulmate

I think I want to be a computer geek, but I do not know where to start. People think I am a computer geek or at least computer savvy because of the blog, website and web 2.0 interests, but I am not. Most of the artists that I look up to have a designated computer geek friend: however I do not. I have a desire to understand web coding and to grasp what search-engine optimizing is. Even to switch to a different blogging software that could be inserted into my main website (without having to have everybody update their links). Here’s the problem, I cannot stand and/or understand most of the web-techie stuff that I read. The purpose of this posting is to put myself out there and apply on-line dating networking to computer geek best friend searching. Here goes.

In search of: Computer geek best friend/soulmate
Status: unimportant
Here for: Computer geek befriending, hand holding, long nights in front of the computer screen and one on one instruction.
Orientation: Human or someone locked into the singularity.
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA and/or phone, e-mail connections
Religion: Geekdoom, web-techie stuff, Christian or Buddhist preferred, Scientologists need not apply.
Smoke/Drink: unimportant
Education: Computer geek brilliant, Mac & PC proficient a must! (More on the Mac side)


P.S. a little about me:
Interests: Photography, Guitar, composition, meditation, yoga, hiking, rock climbing, long walks at sunset, wine, cooking and finding a computer geek best friend/soulmate to share my life with.
Heroes: Jesus, Buddha, Mother Teresa, Thich Nhat Hanh, my wife and daughter
Music: Bach, Dominic Miller, Ottmar Liebert, Michael Hedges
Goals: Work with a purpose, give without expectations and obtain a computer geek best friend/soulmate
People that I like a lot: you, my father, my wife and daughter, Walden, Nietzsche, Wilber, Thich Nhat Hanh, Gary Snyder, and other numerous people/authors that I cannot think of right now.

Photoshop

Photoshop makes me feel like a failure. There...I said it. Graphic designers, layout artists, and multi-media artists enjoy all the glory that Photoshop has to offer. For me, it's just not where I want to be.

It's not a right or wrong thing; it's just my personal preference. Ok, for full disclosure and to stop the on-coming bashing from the Photoshop faithful cult: yes, I do use Photoshop every now and then, sometimes for fun and sometimes to fix problems that seem un-fixable.

I want to work in-camera, I want to chase the light and capture the moment. I do not want to layer my way to perfection. There are many valid counterpoints to my view. However, for me, in-camera is where perfection is found.

(see: Fiction or Photography for more info)

Mosaic

Ambient Art

In my continuous thoughts on ambient art I began writing down these ideas in hopes of formulating a specific project outline.

- The goal of ambient art is not to disregard your background but to be in balance with it.
- Reduce noise (visual & audio) and release stress, creating a peaceful background.
- Conscious listening in conjunction with the practice of seeing equals ambient art.

Our new home has a minimalist’s quality to it; if you can see it the “it” has a purpose. The interior design objective is to fashion an environment that helps stimulate the mind and improve creativity.

There are three main rooms in our home that we do 90% of our living in; kitchen, office/studio and sunroom. Within these rooms is where I want to enjoy life, raise my family and produce my work. Visual distractions and sound noise creates an unproductive living condition. A minimalist ambient approach to interior design can produce a centering union within your home.

The objective of ambient art is purpose with balance. The photographs that line our walls are storytelling photographs that invite the viewers to gaze inward. The sound you hear will be coming only from one source at one time (no TV on in one room and music playing in the next room). When entertaining the TV will not be a big black void taking up space but will have photographs looping a slideshow with ambient music to fill the atmosphere.

Simplicity with purpose can eliminate pollution in your surrounding.

Current Reading

Yesterday I started reading Integral Vision by Ken Wilber. This book is a cliffnotes version of Wilber’s previous work. At first glance I was not going to purchase this book because of it being a rehashing of Wilber’s past work. The only reason I bought the book was to support the featured artist and graphic designer of the book. I know none of them personally but I feel a kinship with them through their blogs, writing and art works. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in discovering what integral theory is and how to apply it. I would additionally suggest to Wilber fans to use this book as a reference guide in your own integral practice.

In conclusion this book is concise, easy to read, well thought out and visually stimulating.

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D70
Exposure: 10 sec (10)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 46 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Updates – 8/17/07

- My flickr pro a/c finally got updated..

- Ottmar Liebert – will be presenting an experience; That I hope I will be able to attend..

- Congratulations to ~C4Chaos for having his photos displayed in the latest Ken Wilber book

Night Sky

What happened to the stars, the constellations in the skies? The past two weekends I sat atop a mountain at dawn and dusk waiting for the sun to rise and set. Spending all that time in the dark in the middle of a city-less glow (no urban lighting diminishing my view) I thought I would be able to see the terrestrial night sky. No stars, no shooting meteors, no blips of lights, not even a passing plane, only a black haze filled atmosphere.

What does my future-sky-viewing hold? 20 years ago sitting on my high school girlfriend’s back porch I can remember being amazed at actually seeing the dome shape of the sky. A billion stars lighting and shaping the skyline. (Yes, it was a little over a billion; I counted twice) My girlfriend lived on a farm with a golf course to the right of their home and a cemetery to the left of their home. Middle-of-nowhere type of place, where at night you could not see your hand in front of your face, type of dark. Will the Milky-Way be destined only to be a candy bar for me? Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Great Bear, Little Bear where are you in the dark sky. I wonder if that same view of sky can still be seen from that back porch?

After following a line of investigation I find out that pollution is obstructing my view of the sky. There are two types of pollution that are causing this “turning out the lights effect”: First; there is the smog from cars, factories and whatever else we individuals place into the air (see; Al Gore). Second; there is light pollution. How can light produce pollution? Ambient, illuminating light released by metropolitan areas are blocking out our celestial view. I can understand that if I am looking at the sky while standing in the middle of an urban jungle at night, but not from a mountain top where you can not even see a hint of city life. What to do? See this, this & this

The experience of nature is important to me. There is the idea that nature should not be ephemeral. Nonetheless everything keeps shifting in nature and that is why as a photographer I try to capture it.

No wonder we think we are the only creation in the universe, we can’t see what else is out there.

And The Winner Is...

Thanks for all your comments… Number 1 is the land slide winner. Honestly, I was pulling for the second shot. But the people have spoken. The first shot get the glory of being a 20 x 36 canvas wall art and the second shot will live on in a file on the external hard drive….

Photo Decision ???

I need help in deciding which picture to purchase? I will be ordering one of these two photos is a 20 x 36 framed canvas. The photo will be display in our office were clients will be viewing them. Here the problem, I am in love with both of them. If you could vote/give-your suggestion of which one you like, that would be greatly helpful.

Flickr Problem

I am currently having a problem with my Flickr a/c. I have been trying to renew my pro a/c with no luck for the last month. Is anybody else having this problem? Flickr keeps e-mailing me the same pre-automated response.

“Just a quick email from Team Flickr to let you know that we've
successfully received your recent Help by Email query and we hope to respond within 3 days.”

I have received this respond three times now and nobody has ever gotten back to me? Any suggestion ????

Photo of the Week

This is one of my favorite photographs that I have take in along time. I enjoy the simplicity of the moment. If I was going to title this photo (titling photo is something that I do not do) I would title this photo: Hi!

Moment

Current Reading: Practicing – A Musician’s Return to Music by Glenn Kurtz
Current Music: Planet Earth by Price
Mood: Body tired and sore, mind awake and alive
Sounds: Buzzing bee’s
Sights: Cold Pizza – best breakfast in the world
Temperature: Currently: 71°F Partly Cloudy
Thoughts: The mountain top is good.

Hollywood to Mid-State PA

I am going back to mid-state PA this weekend to finish last week’s job that was cut short due to rain. This job is certainly one of the most exciting jobs that I ever had. I was hired by a Hollywood actor to produce nature/art shots and document the landscape for future movie/shoot locations. The reason for the excitement is that it introduces my photography to a new audience with the potential of opening up new doors for future work.

My style of photography is a cinematic-documentation approach to capturing images. I define cinematic documentation as: a photograph that does more than arouse emotion, a photograph that can tell a story to the viewers. It is my intention that when people view my work that they can hear music in their head, imagine words and dialogue to go along with the photo. This current work fulfills my purpose and intent as a photographer.

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D70s
Exposure: 15 sec (15)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Recommendations

Crossing the Threshold

I have just found this website (actually this site found me, thank you David Johnson for leaving a comment on my previous post) I have spent the last hour reading through it. I highly recommend it.

Excavation, Thoughts & Photography

5:45am this past Monday morning I sat atop a mountain peak waiting for the sun to rise. The view was black with a gray haze of pre-sunrise. I could see shadows and silhouettes of trees and rolling hillsides. I set up my tripod and placed my camera on top, set the aperture to f/22 and shutter-speed to 45 sec and waited for the oncoming light to capture the image. Waiting for the shutter to click I noticed the peace of this instant, the stillness of life. People all around me are asleep as well as wildlife, and the sun itself. “This is a prayer-filled moment”, I think to myself. Setting up my second shot I could see the slight break of blue in the sky but no red glow of a morning sunrise. The morning light would only go from black to shades of gray for the rest of that day. Soon the rain would come.

Walking throughout the land I got a sense of how the land works in balance with its environment. The phrase “consult nature first” echoed in my head. Why are we always excavating our landscape? I live in the suburbs, 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. I wonder when, or if, the last time I walked on land that has not been excavated?

I noticed the purpose of the land that I was standing on. The land is un-excavated earth that works in complete harmony for which it was created. Farmland with apple orchards, sunflower groves, hayfields and grazing cattle all help to sustain the other purpose. The apple trees on the top of the hillside collect water in their leaves that trickle down to the sunflower groves and then the excess water fills a pond at the bottom of the hillside. The cattle drink of the rainwater from out of the pond. The traversing peak is filled with hayfields, which the cattle will eat. The natural compost that the land generated from the waste and debris will become the nutrients which will bring life and growth back to this land in the next planting season.

Walking down from the mountaintop soaked in rain and mud from my morning of photography. I become thankful for all the past books that I have read about nature and spirit. Gary Snyder, Thich Nhat Hanh, Henry David Thoreau all sit with mindfulness in me. I wipe the mud from my shoes and tripod and reflect on this older piece that I wrote last august.

“No answer, but the question itself brings peace. Nature created this soil, these elements that gave me birth. Reaching, I grasp a handful of soil. I think of the natives that have died to create this soil. Their past lives permeate my existence. I am born of this earth. I will die and return to the soil. What may I offer the earth in return for this life granted to me?”

Amen.

On Line Store

The On- Line Store is now available on the public website, just click pricing page.

Bows of Gratitude

Deep bows of gratitude and thanks for all your comments and e-mails concerning the launch of our new site. All the information is very appreciated and has been passed on to our web developer for improvements and enhancements.

Craig Photography.com is Launch

Please check out our new site: Feedback and reviews would be greatly appreciated.

(New) Craig Photography.com Ready to Launch (preview)

Be Nice Part 2

Thinking about my previous post, "Be nice", and the comments and e-mails I received after the posting. The general synopsis is that Hitler is bad (Not Nice) and that he was an atheist. Therefore, atheists would not run the world any better than people of faith.

After doing some Internet research it looks to me that Hitler was not a proclaimed atheist, just actually a horrific Christian. Not a huge leap to assume why he was a really bad Christian. Whole dominant race conquering the world thing in conjunction with the executions of 5(plus) million innocent lives. It got me pondering "what if Hitler wanted to create the perfect religion instead of the perfect race"? And "what if Hitler was a preacher instead of a politician"?

Take a look at this map "The History of Religion". It seems if you want to spread your faith you need to conquer the world. Take notice of the religions that have not stretched out towards global dominance, no war, no genocide, no terrorists, no TV shows preaching, "this is the only true God".

Is nice not enough to go global? Did Hitler fail because he picked politics instead of religion? Hopefully he failed because people realized he is not nice.

Bridge Collapse

God, may divine healing and blessing be granted.

Life

Have you ever received life-changing news? News that was neither good nor bad, but nonetheless life changing? I did. The next question is what to do with the news? Life tells me to take the news and run although I am not sure in what direction to run. Either way all things turn out for the betterment of life.

Scrambling for motivation I think to myself “ life happens and it’s ok to enjoy the process”. For the moment I breathe and repeat