~TIme Off

See you next week.....

The “Why” of Photography

My grandest hope for the photos that I create is to have a feeling of service, healing, happiness and purpose...that the photo I create live on to become a legacy photograph for the family to share and pass down to their loved ones.

This is what I honor and cherish about creating photographs: that my work will live on to be valuable for generations to come.
 

Photo of the Week

On Food: Think Differently

Food has a dual purpose for the body. It is not what you may expect it to be.  

One is to prepare us for what will come in our future.  The other is to help us respond to what has happened in our past. Food is the fuel for how we choose to live out our purpose. 

Do you eat to nurture your future? Or do you eat to hide from your past? 

Food is conflict.  Food is temptation.  Food is delicious. Food is a blessed sacrament.

Have you noticed how food has evolved into things that we no longer recognize as food? Read the label on the side of the box and see how many words you can visualize as food?  Have you noticed that disease transforms into illness without understanding the root cause? We seem to understand how we get a cold or a flu or an infection because those aliments seem to be aligned with the seasons of nature.  But cancers, auto-immune and neuro issues are not of the nature of seasons. They are more of a mystery of transformation.  Is there a connection?

Food is confict.  Without conflict there is no story to our own life.  Conflict is what teaches us to grow into what we are supposed to be.  Food is a daily conflict that the majority of us struggle with.  We wrestle between what we want to eat and what we should eat. Why is this endeavor so hard? 

It is no longer a mystery to me on why God chose “food” as the source of the original temptation that would lead Adam and Eve to being kicked out of the Garden Eden. 

Today we are “the lost” trying to find our way back into the garden. I mean that both literally and figuratively.  Food: the eucharist is the giving and receiving of the divine in our life.  Food is the blessed sacrament. Food is holy communion. We need to understand that food is more than just for our taste buds; that it is our connection to being divine, daily. 

For 5yrs I have been putting off writing this post.  Why? Could I be honest, 100% honest with you the reader and myself for that matter?  Food is a consuming bugger of a thought process for me.  I eat for pleasure, I eat for taste. I eat to kill time, I eat because it's there, I eat because my daughter didn’t finish her plate.  I eat because it's medicinal, I eat because it's fuel.

It has taken me years to learn this “fuel” lesson.  Food or fuel? What am I placing into my body?  Everything we place into our body has purpose.  We are conscious of this in so many other ways...soap, shampoo, sun screen; we only place a product on our body if it has a purpose.  Why not take that same outlook to food? 

Is it fueling my health or is it fueling my illness? 

Food can have a profound effect on our healing and our lifestyle, especially when living with a chronic disease.  With that said, living life with a chronic disease is tough enough and sometimes you just want to have a cheeseburger and enjoy.  Chronic disease can take many things away from you and at times all we have left is the pleasure of a good meal. 

Somewhere around 5 or 6 years ago I went to a nutritionist.  My health improved dramatically.  I did not get cured but I got much better. Then life became about choices between the food that I loved, the food of my past and the food of my future. It became believing in food as a fuel for medicinal healing. 

Integral food? Food for goodness, truth, beauty, perspective: that is the outlook on food I wish to influence you towards.  You need to eat. You need to enjoy the food that you eat.  You need to have an integral purpose to the what, how and why of your eating habits. 

Food is consciousness...and sometimes if we are lucky a  shift happens…..

Moment

Current Reading: 14 Minutes by Alberto Salazar
Current Music: The Reflection by Keb Mo
Sounds: Dishwasher
Mood: Not good!
Smells: Coffee
Temperate: 57 degrees 
Thoughts: Why?

Photo of the Week

Legacy

 “She will stay with the mystery for as long as she can, until the glory takes her home.”

Those were the words he spoke as he lovingly looked upon his mother lying on her death bed.  “She is ready to pass, comfortable with what will come next.”

He is tall with black skin, old rough hands, deep voice that sounds akin to a Shakespeare being performance.  He will sit in vigil at her bedside for the remainder of her breath.

The conversation goes on to discuss his mother's favorite book of the Bible “The Book of Ester”. The Rabbi who is with us smiles as he hears her choice.  He reminds us the book of Ester is the only book of in the Bible that does not mention the word God in any form.  That is the mystery, he tell us: to see the presence of God when there is no mention of him. The word Ester in Hebrew is literally translated to mean "mystery", he tell us.

This gentle lady lies asleep, curled up in the fetal position as we are having this conversation. Her breaths are shallow followed by a long pause before the next breath. Before her illness she lived as an elder in her church.  Today she is at peace with the mystery of God. Today “The Glory” is waiting for her.

I’m seated across the room from her and her son.  I listen, smile politely and in my mind I am framing up a photograph that I will never get to take. I think about how important this photo could be...what it could have meant.  If only.

What is your legacy? Will this photo be of service? I think about this when I take a photo.

Will it live to be shown at the time of death?  Will it live to be shown at the great-grandkids' wedding table? Photos are powerful tools of healing. Every funeral, wedding or family gathering that I attend the first thing I do is look at the photos that are being displayed.

At most funerals and weddings there is a table that shows the generations that have passed onto the glory. I see the legacy that is left to comfort, heal and bring smiles to the family members who gaze upon them.

This is what I honor and cherish about photography; that my work (if it's good enough) will live on to be of service for generations to come. I love this feeling.

The true death is the last time that your name is spoken out loud and the last time a photo is set out in remembrance of you.

What is your legacy?

Race Day Report ~ Jason’s Jog

                          ( photo by ???? If you know who took this pic please let me know so I can give them credit)

Sunday June 3, 10 am and I am on the starting line. This is my favorite moment on race day.  I scan the crowd to see the who's who of runners.  Here I stand with a collective group of runners all running toward the purpose of doing something good. This race felt extra special for me.

This race day report started months before race day.  I had the opportunity to have a networking meeting with the race organizer Sarah Mayer.  Our meeting was not about the run but a business to business networking meet up.  A mutual friend suggested we get to know each other as possible referral resources.  After a few e-mail exchanges I am sitting in a coffee house having a conversation with Sarah.  

It started off like all networking meet ups.  This is what I do, this is what she does, this is how we can help each other's businesses grow.  Then the conversation quickly changed.  I’m not sure how, I think maybe she noticed my toe shoes and asked if I ran. 

We talked about our love for running.  The fun and craziness of a race crowd.  Our mutual passion bordering on obsession for running.  I tell her about life with NMO and she tells me the story of her pregnancy….

“I was 20 weeks pregnant when I found out that my son had a birth defect that is fatal in fifty percent of the cases.  My husband and I were told that our unborn son had a birth defect known as congenital diaphragmatic hernia or CDH for short.  We had never heard of this defect; it sounded foreign to us.  Little did we know then how acquainted we would become with this acronym. “

Today her son is a happy, healthy toddler.  A true success story.  

Sarah decided to do something for her son and all children living with CDH. Once a year she will organize a charity run.  I was hooked; there was no way that I was not going to to be part of this race day.

10K race:

We are running around the lake at North Park.  My decision before the run was to just have fun, not to run hard.  My knee is about 90% better from the Pittsburgh marathon.  I did not want to have a set back on my recovering knee. I told myself that I would take it and easy. I ran with a friend and made a couple of other friends along the way. Conversation while running is a nice thing for me, it made the race go by quickly.

First aid station was at mile marker 2. My hardest mile behind me, no knee pain and nice lady handing me a cup of water. 

The race goes smooth.  The weather was cool and sky was blue and I ran with a collective group all running towards the same goal.

I crossed the finish line at 59 minutes and  high-five the runners that I ran with.  We congratulate each other on a job well done. 

I go over to the race tent and grab an orange slice and a cup of gator aid. 

A day later I receive a Facebook note telling me that I have won for my age group.  Suffice it to say, there is not much competition in the 40 to 45 age group. There was only one other person in my age group and for all I know he could have been a walker. There will be no victory lap for me…..

One thing that does feel really good about the win is...I won on the day that all I wanted to do is have fun and help raise some money for a good cause….and for that I feel great.


To make an online donation to Global CDH in the name of Jaxson's Jog, click here. 

Photo of the Week

The Woman Inside

The Women Inside by Elizabeth Craig
you can read it (here)

Conscious Consumption

Social transparency, that is the new catch phrase that you will be hearing about.  Marketers, News personalities, media analysts, politicians (hopefully) and preachers will stand on their pulpits of influence sharing their thoughts on this old idea (something we used to call ethics).

What is social transparency?  Follow the lineage of how our/their dollars are spent? Are we doing good with our dollars? Is the business that we buy our products from doing good? The easy answer for most people is either “no” or “I don’t no” or "I don't give a damn how they are spent.”

Consume consciously; I like that idea.  About 7yrs ago I made the shift in how I think about food.  Is this food good for me? Does it create beneficial health? Does it create disease? Is it damaging to the earth? I made the jump to become a conscious consumer of food.  As Michael Pollan famously said, “eat food, mostly plants”...that works for me.

After reading Information Diet by Clay Johnson the shift of how I consume media became fully aware to me. I had no idea just how far down the rabbit hole I had fallen.

Junk info TV is not an epiphany to anyone, we all know that there is a Republican news channel and that there is a Democrat news channel.  We all know that Facebook is collecting data on us to sell to companies so that they can target their advertising dollars.

Do we know what all this consuming is doing to us?

Over-consuming food creates obesity, disease and early death but can overdosing on junk media kill me?

I decided to try an experiment in my home.  First thing I did was get ride of the TV that you can see from the kitchen table (no leap of genius there).  That is the TV that would stay on in the background most days with a cable news channel playing. Second thing I did was limit my time on social media.  Giving myself only ten minutes in the morning to post blog updates to FB and to answer any tweets or FB mail that may have come in previously.

Day nine into my experiment:

I noticed how difficult of a time I had trying to avoid using FB or watching cable new channels.  This scares me! I’m I addicted to junk news and social media updates? For the past week I used both of them sparingly, only giving myself permission to use FB in the morning for photo-biz and half hour of news media while doing yoga.  It wasn't an easy vice to put down; thank God I never became a smoker.

The biggest hurdle by far is to get FB off my phone.  This is where it all started for me.  Every time I pick up my phone, there it is: the FB icon telling me to check up on the “whatever” of the moment. This needed to stop! I went into my phone settings trying to find a way to turn off FB notifications, no luck.  Went into my FB account and disabled updates (at least I thought I did). I no longer get updates on my computer, but they still came through to my phone. Next I deleted the FB app on the phone.  Then I deleted FB on my list of active accounts that my phone had access to, still no luck.  It's a pervasive bug in my phone.  This is not good.  Why can I not free myself from FB without having to de-activate my account?

This brings me back full circle to social transparency and how I hope to consciously consume media...

What is to gain from consciously consuming media? Perspective! True self-understanding perspective.

Many times in the past year I have written and re-written the sentence, “pulled together for a common purpose, not pushed together for a common enemy." That is perspective.

I do not wish to see the world as a consumer.  I wish to see it as as a member of the human race.

After days of a junk news sabbatical and days of abstaining from the social media influx, this is what I have learned…..I have more time to make art! That is a good thing.

P.S. I still can not get the FB icon off my phone...HELP!

Jay Verno Studio | Pittsburgh Weddings

Venue: Jay Verno Studio
Additional Photos (here) & (here)

Moment

Current Reading: Wild by Cheryl Strayed 
Current Music:  Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan
Sounds: Jazz guitar chords
Mood: Compassion and mercy
Smells: Coffee
Temperate:  79 degrees 
Thought: Give thanks to the morning light, because some did not make it though the dark.

Photo of the Week

Time Off

See you next week....

Photo of the Week

Donate ~ Take Action

Here is a photo that was taken of me as I cross the finish of the PGH 1/2 marathon. You can read my full story of race day (HERE)

Donate

Thank you for your kind and generous donation! Your gift directly supports the innovative scientific research of scientists who are working to find solutions for Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) Spectrum Disease. Only through this website, 100% of your donation goes directly to science research. The Guthy-Jackson Foundation does not allocate any donated monies to administrative support of the Foundation. Once your contribution has been processed you will receive a thank you letter in the mail that you can use as a tax receipt. The Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation for NMO is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization Tax ID # 26-6461545.

Please click the Donate button that will direct you to PayPal to complete the donation 100% of your donation truly goes towards NMO research. We even reimburse the small service fee that PayPal takes out of every donation through the site thus ensuring that we maintain 100% going towards research.

Moment

Current Reading: Need, Speed & Greed by Vijay Vaitheeswaran
                             The Information Diet by Clay Johnson
Current Music: Underwater Sunshine by Counting Crows
Sounds: Music, typing fingers, street construction
Mood: Happy
Smells: Coffee & toast
Temperate: 56 degrees
Thought: You do not need a cure to be healed...become a POSSIBILITARIAN!

Do Not Give Up On Being Human ~ Published over at Future Design Studio

Do Not Give Up On Being Human (Future Design Studio has published this article of mine...)
 Be sure to take the time to enjoy all Future Design Studio has to offer)

Encore ~ An additional performance…

How often in life are we asked to perform an encore? Wouldn’t that be a grand experience; to stand in front of an audience as they cheered you on for just one more.

In life, additional performances do not start with a roaring crowd begging for more. All too often, it starts with the silence of a loss….the loss of something, be it a career, relationship or your health.  Do not expect applause.

Second act starts in silence. The curtains open and we stand in front of the silent crowd.  The audience waiting for us to act; it is a scary moment when life asks us to perform. Insurmountable fear of where we must go next in life fills our entire being.

However, life is full of do-overs. We fall, we get up. It’s all part of the process of being human. Being human seems to be second nature to us, centrally not something that needs to be learned or experienced. Yet, as we age we forget how.

As babies we crawl by instinct, we walk by instinct, we dance to the music by instinct, we are motivated by a mother’s hug and a father’s smile. We knew how to be human by instinct, until the day that we forgot.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the notion of what it means to be human and how many of us forgot what it means to be human.

For the majority of us life’s second act will start after a loss and in the utter silence of our own mind. If feels as if we were cast in a play titled “Life” starring us and everybody has a script but you.

We watch the play of Life move scene by scene in front of us as we scramble to find the right words for our part in this play.

Maddening...mental hurdles trip us up on every step of the path leading us toward impenetrable problems. 

The ancient Egyptians use the words “life” and “live” interchangeably to mean “reaching fulfillment to enter heaven”, thus giving us an understanding of why the notion of reincarnation never went away.  We seek the hope of an encore even in death. 

I imagine that if we understood death then all the small deaths in life’s journey would be easier to navigate our way through.

I surmise that we need to remember how to be human again; we need lessons on understanding death...the dreadful experience that will be the final scene in our play of Life.

Too often, lives are spent in fear and avoidance of this natural process that we all must experience.  This fear and avoidance seeps into every pore of our life, in turn creating a life of avoiding this brief moment of “the here & now “.

As expecting parents we go to classes about birth and child rearing and we take these classes before that bundle of tenacious-maddening-joy is placed in our arms. 

Why not classes on death? We all experience this final ending. We need to be taught.

If I was to teach a class about death, it would start off like a grand motivational speech in front of hundreds as if I were on Oprah’s Life Class or a PBS special. I would stand at over six feet tall and have extremely white teeth, for some reason to have any success as a motivation speaker you must be at least 6’ 5” with blinding white teeth.

I would open the class by repeating the phrase “Do Not Give Up On Being Human”. “Do Not Give Up On Being Human”. “Do Not Give Up On Being Human”…..I would have the audience chanting these words back at me.  Tribal drum beats would start off low in the background erupting into an ever-growing cadence to enhance the importance of these words. A light show of red, purple and white would flash over the audience to generate a  show that could only be compared to the aurora borealis lights of the great white north.

I would walk out on the stage waving my arms in the air telling the crown to get on up, get out of their seats. I would evoke the spirit of James Brown to capture and enthrall the crowd.  It would be speculator!

I would walk to the center of the stage to give my homily on death.…

What is human? My answer is to create...anything.

That is our purpose: to create.  I love the story of creationism vs. evolution. My favorite part is that we, humanity, were placed here last. After all the fruit was placed on the trees and the vegetables had grown out the ground, after the clean water ran down hill from the mountain tops, Earth-Gaia-God gave us life, human-life.

We have de-conditioned ourselves from discovering our purpose and living our calling. Dreaming out loud and dreaming quietly to ourselves has been crushed by culture, community and the boxes of time we live in. Life has been divided up into the many boxes of time: work time, family time, personal time, relationship time, running around time. There is no time left to “Do The Work”. To live our purpose and to find our calling you have to put in the work.


Today I give to you an additional performance on the 10 Commandments:

Commandment 1. Do not give up on being
Commandment 2. Do not let the machine think for you.
Commandment 3. Do not concern yourself with the results, concern yourself with the process.
Commandment 4. It’s OK to fail...fail often, fail forward, enjoy the failure.
Commandment 5. Living your purpose is living your calling.
Commandment 6. Do as little harm as possible and be aware of the harm that you do.
Commandment 7. Life is a True-Metaphor.
Commandment 8. Create something new, daily.
Commandment 9. Share.
Commandment 10. There is no #10... It’s up to you.

In the end death is nothing special. It’s not seeking you out or awaiting your arrival; it’s simply the natural process of reaching fulfillment to enter heaven.

Getting good at death is the best preparation for living a full life: to be prepared for your additional performance that all of us will experience … be it a career, relationship or your health

Enjoy your ENCORE!!!

Race Day Report ~ Pittsburgh Marathon

It felt as if all of humanity lined up for the race. 25,000 people all moving in the same direction.  Every race, creed and color stood side by side; what a privilege to be included. 

I stand in a sea of people as far as I can see in front of me and behind me a sea of runners, all waiting for the start.

I think about the passing of a little boy who will never get to run, I think about the people that I have visited in the hospital, I think of the e-mail conversations that I have had over the last year. I think about the adventure in service this journey has taken me on. 

I am wearing a t-shirt to represent my reason and my cause for being here.  The shirt was designed by a fellow NMO’er and custom-printed by another NMO’er.  In my pocket I carry a small Fairy stone for luck.  The stone was given to me also by an NMO’er.  The stone is for luck and blessing (both I would need as I would come to find out). Within the stone you can see the shape of a cross. I would hold this stone in my hand at the starting line rolling the rock between my fingers, it gave me comfort and helped to settle my nerves.

At this moment the NMO community is being pulled together for a common purpose, not pushed together for a common enemy (living with Neuromyelitis Optica). This is how I felt, I hoped others did as well.

My day started at 5:50 am being awoken by my alarm. I showered, had coffee, did yoga and then watched the morning news to get the weather report..no rain is all I hoped for. The Fairy stone is working already! A slice of toast with peanut butter and out the door I go. 

My father picks me up and drives me as close to the starting line as he could.  I jump out of the car on an off ramp from the highway.  Walked through a patch of grass separating the highway from the down street and there I was at the far back entrance to the starting line. 

It’s now 7:15 and the streets are filled with runners, spectators and race day volunteers.  The volunteers did everything; thank you is too small of a word. They kept us hydrated, updated on mileage and cheered us on the entire way….they made the run so much more fun.

7:30 am the Star Spangled Banner was sung, the crowd erupted.  Over my head a news helicopter flew low, in the upper sky I could see a jet flying between two buildings. It was a picturesque moment. A whistle blows in the far off distance.

The race has started...it would take me another 25 minutes of standing in line before I would even make it to the stating line.

Mile 1-2
This was more of fast walking then a jog.  Trying my best not to knock into anyone and trying my best to avoid the people who are acting like this is a shot gun start.  I ran straight through the middle of downtown Pittsburgh, a road I have driven thousands of times. Today I was in the strangest traffic jam of my life.  People walking, people sprinting, people jogging and me trying not to get stomped on.

In running, the hardest mile for me is always mile number two.  This is when mentally I think of all the bad stuff, I think “am I really doing anything for the NMO community? I could still be in bed, give up now, avoid the pain.” It’s awful.  Mile #2 is suffering. Suffering is the only cure for being human, somebody once told me. I run. There it is: the first hydration station. I did it...I ran the toughest mile of the day and it’s behind me now. I am greeted by a nice lady who hands me a cup of Gatorade and pats me on my back.

Mile 3 - 6
This is where I would run over 3 of the 5 bridges that I would cross.  Pittsburgh is a glorious city to see from a bridge.  If you are ever in this town give yourself a treat and walk the bridges and the riverfront sidewalks.  There is loads of beauty, history and architecture to been seen. Photographically I consider Pittsburgh to be my mistress of creativity, always there and never having to ask permission and she never let’s me down.

My left knee starts to burn, ache and stiffen up. Damn I think to myself, this is not good. I stop to adjust the patellar-tendon knee strap that I was wearing as a precaution (from an injury 3 weeks prior).  I ran a mock-marathon with a city-running-club to prepare myself for the road miles that would I have to put in.  I am a trail runner at heart.  I ran the 12.6 city run with much enjoyment.  After the run my knee had the same sensation that I am currently feeling now.  That day my run was over, today I have 10 more miles to go.

Pittsburgh is known for being the city of bridges, this day it was the city of fans.  The bridge sidewalks were filled with supporters and fans cheering us all on.  This is the part of the race running that I love.  Hundreds of strangers, supporters and families cheering the runners on; the ego inside of me eats it all up.  Plus the distraction is welcoming to get my mind off the growing pain.

Mile 7 - 10
Pain, ego and purpose is all I have left.  The knee is swelling, thoughts of quitting fill my head.  I think about the little boy with NMO who has passed away, I think about all the training I put in.  I grab the Fairy stone that is in my right pocket and place it into the left pocket, the side of pain.

I walk into the hydration station. I take two cups of Gatorade, readjust my knee strap, three deep breaths and I am off.
I run over the West End bridge thinking if I get over the bridge I will make it to the end.  The velcro on my patella strap gives away falling to my ankle. (insert curse words here) I limp over to the side of the road re-attaching the band.  I begin to repeat the mantra “heart of servant, strength of a fighter.” These are the words I would tell myself when this journey of running started a little under a year ago. Here I am the want-to-be-Lance-Armstrong of the  community thinking about giving up.

Endure more pain, chronic disease creates pain that is out of your control, today I am in control of the pain...I can do this. I run.

At the mile marker 10 I yell out “Hell Yea!” This was asked of me by a fellow NMO’er and it was also a great time to yell out load to let off some steam.  Surprisingly no one seemed to care or even take a second look at the limping runner yelling at the top of his lungs.

Mile 10 - 13
Last bridge of the day to cross, this is it the home stretch. I started over the Birmingham bridge leaving the South Side of Pittsburgh to my back.  Halfway over the bridge coming at me is a giant African American man (I do mean GIANT) riding a mythical-of-a-whopper of a mighty Unicycle.  I do mean mighty...this man had to be at least 340lbs with a smile on his face that you would only see in a Barnum & Bailey Circus….must be an illusion, possibly a mirage, a Pittsburgh 3 rivers mirage..it’s possible. I laugh, smile and he high 5’s me, actually he reaches low I reach high as he passes by me with his cackling laugh.

Mile marker 12, Gatorade and kind words from the volunteers cheering me on “1 mile to go, 1 mile to go, you can do it!” they yell out.  God bless these, people they made the day so much more enjoyable.

Run the last hill of the day, run the last down hill of the day and there it will be: the promise land.


Mile 13 -13.1 The Finish Line
This is it. I did it. I endured the pain.  I tell myself to enjoy the moment, take your time and take in all the sights. Then I notice how many people were running with purpose, effort and personal reason...running side by side with me. To my left was a group of ladies all dressed in pink matching t-shirts.  They are running for breast cancer.  To my right is a group of people running in purple for Autism research.  In front of me were four young ladies running arm-in-arm as they crossed the finish line all wearing matching white t-shirt with the words “I run to stop MS”.

I wear a green t-shirt with the letters NMO in large print.  The pain did not matter.  Nor did my time or miles matter...all that matters is the one thing I know for sure….

You do not need a cure to be healed. Today I became a POSSIBILITARIAN!


After the race ~
As soon as I cross the finish line they place a “runner of steel medal” around my neck.  I am going to give this to my daughter, she will love it.  Hopefully when she grows up she will know that her old dad did something that only %1 of the nation will every do, at least for this one day.

I limp over to the aid station and a kind elderly woman hands me a full glass of Gatorade and a banana. I say “God bless you” and give her hug.  Not sure if she appreciated the sweaty strange man hugging her but she was polite and said “on your way now honey”.

I find a patch of grass away from the crowd and sit down for the first time since my Father dropped me off hours ago. 

Sometimes only metaphors will do: “stay with the mystery” I say to myself... once again the earth shined.

Classic Wedding Photography

Photo of the Week

Waiting to Order Coffee

Sunday morning starts off with me standing in line at Starbucks. 

The person standing in front of me is this offbeat character of the local neighborhood.  He sells flowers by walking up down a highway holding bunches of bouquets in his arms. He does this daily during rush hour hoping that someone stopping at the traffic light will purchase one. 

He has been doing this for years; never once have I seen him make a sale.  Never once have I seen him hand a single flower to anyone.  But there he is, five days a week walking up and down the street, arms filled with flowers. Dressed in his flower selling uniform...a Michael Jordan baseball cap with the hat-brim twist to the side of his head. On his feet are new bright white Jordan high top shoes, Jordan T-shirt and Jordan shorts….he must be the envy of every boy in the ninth grade. There he is Monday through Friday: a walking advertisement for everything Michael Jordan. This flower-carrying-Michael-Jordan-hipster does not fit the part; he has to be in his late fifties. 

Until I stood behind him in line waiting to order my coffee.

The coffee barista greeted him as a regular already knowing his order.  He adds a toasted plain bagel to mix things up.  They both smile and giggle about him changing up his daily routine. She asks him where he has been running and he lists off about four or five different 5k’s that he’s run in the past couple of days. 

It seems when he is not selling flowers on the highway he spends his time driving to different neighborhoods participating in the local 5k.  Today he would be driving about an hour outside the city to run in a charity race. Then he would be surprising his daughter with a drop in visit, something he does rarely. 

He grabs his coffee and bagel, next he yells out good morning to the barista behind the counter making the fancy drinks.  They smile and yell back “good morning MJ” and out the door MJ walks.

Things you can learn standing in line waiting to order your coffee.

Moment

Current Reading: Nothing Special by Charlotte Beck
Current Music: Complete discography of Keb Mo
Sounds: TV news in the background
Mood: Burnt, only skin deep
Smells: Coffee and toast
Temperature: 50 degrees
Thoughts: Running over the bridges in Pittsburgh is fun!

Photo Walk ~ This Sunday

Topic: General Walk: Overview of your DSLR 
Date: 4/29/12
Who: Anyone that owns a DSLR
Time: 10am
Where: Gate “A” Heinz Stadium Pittsburgh, PA
What to bring: camera, tripod (if you have one), passion to learn and a friend.

Photo of the Week ~ PGH @ Night

Limitless

The light is never the same twice, no composition can be repeated, a photograph is a single thread of impermanence.

Saturday night I am standing on the top deck of a boat.  The twilight is passing into darkness by the second; the wind is cold and the air is wet. I turn up my ISO to 3200, place my f/stop on 2.8, set my flash to 1/32, drag the shutter slightly...press my finger on the trigger. 

With a smile on my face I look at the image on the back of my camera. All I can think about is how limitless this machine in my hand is.  With this tool I can create photographs that the human eye will never be able to capture. I love this. The feeling never gets old; to the opposite, it grows more exciting as my years behind the camera mature. It's been 20yrs of shooting so far.

Being creative, no matter what the medium you practice, should never make you feel limited by the tools that you are working with. Limitation is never a purchasing issue, it is a thought process. A better camera (a better anything) will not make you a better artist.

Only time spent in “the doing” in “the process” ; that is where and when your camera will be transformed into a limitless instrument of creative potential. 

This photo is my first time shooting night photography with “out” a tripod and using external light. I have developed a deep passion for long exposure over the years.  Creating something new in the opposite direction of how I would normally shoot feels great.

Commandments of Creativity #4: It’s OK to fail...fail often, fail forward, enjoy the failure.

Boy, did I fail forward creating this photos...loved every snap of the shutter.

Pittsburgh Photo Walk | Beginner DSLR Instruction

Pittsburgh Photo Walk | Beginner DSLR Instruction

Topic: General Walk: Overview of your DSLR 
Date: 4/29/12
Who: Anyone that owns a DSLR
Time: 10am
Where: Gate “A” Heinz Stadium Pittsburgh, PA
What to bring: camera, tripod (if you have one), passion to learn and a friend.

P.S. If you attended any of our workshops this year...this walk is a great follow up.

Moment

Current Reading: Heart of Iron: By Kyle Garlett
Current Music: Dune by Ottmar Liebert
Sounds: Music of ….
Mood: Frustrated
Smells: Veggie hoagie
Temperature: 57 degrees  
Thoughts: It’s not good to be in the upper 1% when its about your e-mail server being down (see Mood) 

Photo of the Week