Diary

Up at 6am, shower, coffee and on the sofa by 6:22. I have been giving myself an extra half hour to fully wake-up before starting my day. The extra wake-up time is turning out to be time well spent for my overall health. Yoga and meditation practice are developing into stronger and deeper practices. The prior half hour sitting on the sofa watching television and drinking coffee I am finding to be tremendously dull. Thirty minutes of flipping through the same seven minutes of recycled news, flip on c-span, also uninteresting. Tomorrow I will read a book. My brother-in-law just gave me “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand. Seven hundred pages of small print type (paper back), this should get my eyes open.

The “E’s” slept in today. This made my morning even more tedious. Trying not to make noise is no fun. Should have started reading Rand novel, though, I thought Ella would be up at any time. I was wrong. Seven minutes of recycled TV for me.

Reviewing workday with Elizabeth, we are buying some equipment and software. I spent last night educating myself on the new camera. There should be new words for photography. Words like camera and photo seem prehistoric to apply to current technology. The problem I have with this new breed of camera equipment (basically Photoshop and small computer in a box) is the limitless option. Trying to decide what, when and how to use all these infinite choices is a daunting task. Thank God cameras still comes with manual functionality (also limitless but in a good way, plus no menu screen to scroll through).

Walked into an office building, a lot of tall men with bad golf swings who take their jobs too seriously staring at me. Note to self, never trust men in plaid shirts.

Ambient

Camera: Nikon D70s
Exposure: 0.5 sec (1/2)
Aperture: f/29
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Light Source:Tungsten
White Balance:Manual

Political Mythological

Rob Smith writes: “Please won’t more of the world take our science seriously and see that the rational enterprise is our only hope forward for mankind! Please won’t God just hurry up and die!”

While I do not share Smith’s idea of God dying, I get the point. The mythological view of God no longer works to maintain a positive culture. The same could be said about our state of political ideology, hurry up and die…

The political mythological view of how to run our country is no longer working. “Rational enterprise is our only hope forward for mankind!” This I agree with. I alleged that politics is a follower of the people , “We the people” created the ideology in turn constructing our government. Reflection mixed in with favored conversation, I find political perception to be more of a mythical belief than truth rooted in fact.

Rational- endowed with the faculty of reason, agreeable to reason.

Enterprise- participation or engagement in such projects: Our country was formed by the enterprise of resolute men and women: Boldness or readiness in undertaking; adventurous spirit; ingenuity.

In this ongoing and upcoming election process, we are about to start hearing a lot about terror threats in the United States. People vote from the idealism that fear serves…not very rational. In conversation, people discuss with me that voting for Bush in ‘04 made them feel safe. Why? It was during his first term of presidency that the worst act of terror was carried out on American soil. Wouldn’t you think a vote for his re-election would inflict greater fear of a terrorist act. Seem rational to you?

I thought that I have been following politics closely for the last couple of years. What I discovered is that I have been following people’s perspectives of politics closely, not the actual act of politics.

Mythological politics cannot continue. The mythology of what and why we vote a politician into office cannot be based on fear or self-serving views. Enterprising, political uprisings need to be based on a transformation and include analysis. The future of politics and “We the people” needs to have the depth and span that treats every conscious being with paramount concern, vowing to free each other from fear.

Diary – a day in the life

2.22.08 woke up at 6am, groggy with a headache but no body ache. Tried to work out (yoga) but I was in too much of a daze from last night’s activities. Defrosted chicken soup for lunch-- Elizabeth makes great soup. She makes great everything; I am very thankful for that. Typically I am not much of a meat eater. For the better part of the last 15 years I have kept a vegetarian diet. Meat is only about 5% of my diet so basically I am about 90% a vegetarian about 85% of the time. Society focus makes it too difficult for me to maintain a 100% vegetarian diet without being rude. Plus I love pepperoni pizza; sometimes pigs must die.

Went outside to warm up the car, snow. Coffee, chicken soup and a peanut butter sandwich and out the door I go. The roads were fine and traffic was surprisingly absent. I made it to my destination half an hour earlier than expected. Not a problem, I had a book with me. I have been reading the Brian Eno diary from ‘96, I like it. I was hoping for more of a creative rapport between him and Bowie’s working partnership. So far it seems kind-of normal and boring but interesting.

6:30 pm went to the Carnegie Museum for a lecture by Stefan Behnish, an Architect. Highly recommend this lecture. The topic was on sustainability and the future of Pittsburgh. What I liked best about the event was that it was sold out. It’s nice to know that there are people in my own community that share some of the same interests as me. A simple definition for sustainability was given that I think can also apply to photography copyrights.

“Sustainability is meeting the needs of present society without hurting the needs of future generations” – Behnish. Applying that definition to photography copyrights means that owning your copyrighted images would equal a sustainable product. You receive the images that fulfill your present needs while being the first generation in your family to have an archival photo product that can be enjoyed by future familial generations. Speculate if people would understand the value of it?

Quick dinner with Elizabeth, fast food not very vegetarian, that’s why it’s 85% of the time; sometimes convenience must kill animals for dinner. Pick Ella up at G3’s house. Picking up Ella is a great experience; she gives me the biggest and longest hugs, which she will not do at home. Not sure why. But who cares…long hugs from a 2 year old angle is love.

10:30 pm nothing on TV, no surprise there. Glass of red wine (‘04 syrah, very good), conversation with E than to bed.

Moment

Current Reading: The Diary of Brian Eno
Current Music: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb by U2
Drain Tapes by Bill Deasy (local Pittsburgh musician)
Mood: Awake, it’s a mood if you need it to be…
Sounds: Humming heater
Smells: What else, coffee
Temperature: 28 degrees
Thoughts: Ecology, design and synergy is the future of Pittsburgh.

Photo of the Week

This photo was taken on my brother-in-law property. He has eleven acres of land. This photo was taken about one hundred feet from his house. How splendid is that!!!

Camera: Nikon D70
Exposure: 15 sec (15)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Lifestyle Design

Last night my wife and I were talking about lifestyle design (inspired by the book by Tim Ferriss “The Four Hour Work Week”). What do we want our future to hold and how will we get there?

My wife wants to travel more, a lot more. Being photographers this is a very achievable goal, pick a city, spend some money on advertising and book some jobs. Voila, long extended working vacation. If you have a Tuscany villa that you will be renting out in the summer of ‘09 call us. Clean underwear, camera, laptop, tripod, blackberry, plane tickets and we’re off. (P.S a clean place for the baby to sleep would be nice but not mandatory.)

For me the dream goal didn’t come so quickly. Let me tell you how taken aback I was to find my mind blank. I am completely satisfied, blessed or dull. After some contemplation and embarrassment all I could of think of would be to climb a mountain and do extended meditations retreat. At least now we know that I am “dull”. That is it. What a life, a dull existence sitting quietly on a mat with dreams of the mountaintops on the exhale breath. In truth it’s not a bad dream at all. That would completely satisfy the dull. Which I am, epiphany break-through by journaling, I said silently in my head.

French wine, taxes, blackberry and a sushi dinner

The best way to organize your tax information is to have a game plan. My plan included drinking French wine with my wife followed up by a celebratory sushi dinner. Not to celebrate the act of organizing tax information but to rejoice in the act of getting it prepared without killing anyone. Tax preparation for Photographers is an oddly confusing process. The ethics and economics appear to commingle on paper however the ambiguity and logic of the process is a mystery. That is why God invented tax lawyers.

After three hours of categorizing receipts and one bottle chardonnay off we went to buy a blackberry for the business. E-mail and internet on the go, Craig Photography is at this instant swimming deep in the Matrix.

Next we tried Little Tokyo sushi restaurant in Mt. Lebanon, loved it. As a mater of fact I adore everything about Mt. Lebanon. Three of my favorite eateries all on the same block, two great coffee houses, splendid library (great kids library also), art gallery and this community blog.

If you see a drunken couple staggering down Washington Ave in Mt. Lebanon peering down at a “crackberry” all the while managing not to walk into you, say hi…it could me and my wife.

Moment

Current Reading: A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
Current Music: River: The Joni Letters by Herbie Hancock
Mood: Cool
Sounds: Other people talking, me, not paying attention.
Smells: Lemon Mint Ricola cough drops
Temperature: 24 degrees
Thoughts: We invent ourselves out of our own sensation.

Pittsburgh Winters

Pittsburgh winters are not pretty. From a photographic perspective it is only gray skies and sunrises to grayer sunsets. All the famous winter time photos of a maple tree standing isolated in a field with the sun beaming through the background were not taken in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh winter mornings are not without their glory. Waking up to clean white blankets of snow do bring about a silence and a heartbeat of my youth. Waiting to see if the day will even get a chance to start; covered rooftops, lined tree branches and warmth from inside your home. This all brings about grandeur for the season.

The reality of Pittsburgh winter is this: extra long lines of traffic, slushy charcoal colored streets, wet shoes and that ever-vexing “I can’t remember where I put my gloves” feeling of desperation. Mix that in with the person driving in front of you that does not have the ability to drive in the snow. A sentiment that all Pittsburghers can agree on is this; the person in front of you cannot drive in the snow. It begs the question of what the person behind you is thinking about on the roadway, but we all collectively agree not to think about that person.

Photo of the Week

Greatest Hits and Misses

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The oddities of society that people just accept

I am sitting in my library trying to read. There is an older man sitting in the common area in the center of the library. This older gentleman is grouting and exhaling sadistically and deafeningly loud every 2 to 3 minutes. This man is not making a sound that you would akin to your grandfather getting up from a chair. This is a sound that horror movies are inspired from. This is driving me nuts!

This is where it gets weird. Nobody else seems to mind. There are at least 15 people within 20 feet of him and they don’t seem to be the least bit bothered. They are not even looking up at him. Nobody is even giving him a dirty look. Come on people you are killing me! Now this is really starting to drive me nuts. There needs to be an uprising and it needs to start now. So I wait peacefully for the uprising to start. No uprising…

It must be me? Am I that shallow that I cannot forgive an older man with a disability of sorts? That I cannot see the kindness of humanity that surrounds this man in his present state?

The oddities of society that people just accept, blessing or a curse…you decide?

What I Like About Polysemy

Great conversation, Polysemy plants seeds for great discussion. Artists spend too much time in the woodshed. You show me an artist that spends 8 to 10 hours a day practicing alone and I will show you an artist who cannot communicate. Art is a language; a language is only of use if it communicates.

Keeping one foot rooted in the classical approach and one foot rooted in the future is a great place to start a discussion. This is what Polysemy provides. You do not have to agree or disagree with what may be presented at Polysemy; nevertheless the writing embodies a generative process towards the development of fine artistry.

Dan Allison, the author of the “Electric Mirror”, keeps a multimedia blog. “The medium is the message, -Marshall McLuhan”. This is the future of art; expansion. This is why I read Allison’s blog; for the expansion of my own thought process.

William Harryman curates the “Elegant Thorn Review”. This blog introduced me to poets and photographers. I am not an enthusiast for poetry, however the flair for the written word intrigues me. I find myself reading this blog for Harryman’s classical approach to the selection of writers and photographers that appear in this blog.

Matthew Dallman writes “The Daily Goose”. To be honest I do not read it for its name. I read it for the kindred-spirit perspective. Integral art is a foundation on classical education, and placed to dig down deep and discover great conversation.

For me, the role of Polysemy represents that. If you follow your artist’s bliss long enough it will intersect with the needs of the world, and that’s worth talking about.

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D70
Exposure: 4 sec (4)
Aperture: f/29
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

Compact flash cards and disaster prevention

About every six months I have a memory card problem with my camera. I have never lost a photo (yet) with the help of recovery software. The mystery for me is why does it happen in the first place? Below I listed the safety steps I take to help preserve the images (in camera). If you have any other helpful suggestions please let me know. I will re-publish this post accordingly.

1. Do not fill up your compact flash card; leave about 20% of empty space
2. Do not place CF card by magnets or your cell phone, this could erase your card.
3. Wait for your camera and flash to recycle before taking next shot
4. Do not delete images in camera (file systems can become corrupt - especially since deleting an image doesn't really remove the data. It just changes the name of the file to one that indicates the image or file has been deleted and the space assigned to it can be reused. Formatting twice assures that the possibility of corruption will be minimal. )
5. Do not let your batteries run low in your camera or flash, this will place strain on your card.
6. Buy recovery software for each brand of CF card you own. Each brand has their own photo recovery software.


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B-Sides

“We make art from the uncertainty.” – Author unknown

Recently the phrase “B-Sides” has crossed my reading and listening. Howard Grill wrote a post about the B Side of photography and U2 has re-released The Joshua Tree with a bonus CD of B-sides. On a side note, Howard has a very funny explanation of what a B-side is. (For those of you that have no memory of what an actual record is, Howard does a great job explaining it). Second side note is that the U2 bonus disc is great! The Joshua Tree could have been a double album for sure. If the word “album” means nothing to you, see Howard’s explanation of B-Side (again).

I have enjoyed thinking about the B-Side selection of my work. The idea of purposely enjoying what you know is not your best work, but knowing that it is an integral part of creating your best work. That is why the practice of documentation and preserving your B-Sides are important to the development aspect of your art work.

My Flickr portfolio is my greatest hits and misses of my B-Sides collections. About once a month I do a photo shoot for my own enjoyment. No client to answer to; just me, my mind, my muse and the outcome. At the end of the year the B-Side work could turn into print work, greeting cards, DVD slideshows or simply improvements of my photographic skills.

Time Off

~ Sick days, see you next week...

Too Funny

Four types of Republican (Represented as Simpson character)
-explained by Moby

1-The Flanders’s (aka-cultural evangelical conservatives)
2-Mr Burns and Kent Brockman (rich guys who don't like taxes)
3-Cletus and Brandene (ignorant hicks who believe that Barack Obama lives in Baghdad with wmd's)
4-Grampa Simpson (scared and angry people over 70)