Joy

Ok, I have been a bad blogger; sorry about that.  For the past 7yrs I have been diligent in keeping this blog updated. If I was going to take time off I would let you know.

What have I been up to, you ask? I hope you're asking. I hope I still have readers left.

For the past 12 days I’ve left you hanging without explanation of what was going on. Here it is in one short word ~ Joy

I have been out traveling the roads doing random good deeds. Seriously, I have been spreading joy over four different states. I have spread joy in cities and on mountain tops. I have spread joy in small historic towns and vast suburbs with loop-dee-loop streets.  I have spread joy over expansive interstates, turnpikes and along gravelly roads.

If you yourself have felt exceedingly extra happy it is because I have randomly spread joy to your part of the world.  And if by chance you live on the west coast and have not felt the influx of extra joy in your life over these past 12 days, it is because I was not on the west coast.  It is with deep apologies that I ask my west coast readers to forgive me.  Maybe next year I’ll spread joy your way but no promises.

Joy spreading is an act of random possibilities; you just never know when the joy spreading bug may strike me.

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I’ll be writing, sharing, teaching lots of new stuff here daily (almost daily).  My new theme for photography, business and life is “Elegance”. Been doing lots of thinking on this topic.

Ramdom Thoughts

The second day in a row that I had a bad night's sleep, feeling quite groggy and numb as I write this.

Last night there was a windstorm that woke not only us but also the house. The wind was so powerful that it set off the alarm in the house, twice. The odd thing was our reaction to turn off the alarm before making sure the house was not broken into. Simple lesson learned; give the house a walk through for burglars before turning off the alarm.

The morning sky was dark gray with moving clouds. The last of the leaves have fallen from the trees marking an end to the autumn season and the birth of winter for me.

Spent the last couple of days thinking about the digital-connectedness of my life (a love-hate relationship). I miss conversations with actual real people. My days are filled up with responses to emails, tweets, and facebook, but very little conversations.

I made the decision to redesign my blog to a simple and somewhat minimalist style. The purpose is to keep my focus on the format to be a “working portfolio”. A place for me to document my projects and keep a diary of my thoughts.

Last night our “Create | Connect | Grow” meet-up had a nice turn out with good conversation, which confirmed my feeling for the need of more conversation and less responding.

Going for a walk…

Update

Two weeks of life without the computer screen in front of my face. What did I do? First, I miss you…a lot…seriously, hugs all around. Second, I read John Lennon: The life by Philip Norman. Excellent read: 800 plus pages on the life of Lennon and I couldn’t put it down. Filled up my iPod with the entire collection of the Beatles’ albums and I listened to them as I turned the pages on Lennon’s life. Pleasurable time spent.

Watched my daughter enjoy Christmas. She is 3 this year and what she enjoyed the most about the holidays was spending time with her family. She’s still a little too young to enjoy presents. Nonetheless, she takes pleasure in an empty broken down cardboard box and a pink crayon in her hand. That keeps her busy for days, or at least the next 30mins.

I was given a bottle Hennessy Cognac as a gift this year. I can for see this becoming my addiction of choice throughout this year. I feel like I am cheating on Chivas scotch but I’ve been faithful long enough. I call this year’s addiction to cognac my lost weekend of choice.

Next week I will be installing (with my Father) a hardwood floor in my mudroom, which will then turn into my yoga/meditation/guitar/photography/practicing room. It’s nice to have a space of your own. If your wife permits it, and mine does. J Love you E.

Went to the movies this past Sunday to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It’s good, very good; this movie has rhythm and tempo. It will move you.

Year 4

Year four in the blogoshpere. What to expect? The continuation of rants, compositions, moments, photos-of-the-week, 5-question-interview-series and the occasional humorous whatnots of me making fun of everyday life will be the groundwork of this blog.

New things for this blog and my life will be short story writing, diary entries and a focus on real life networking. 2009 is the year that I shake hands, make new friends and get involved in the Pittsburgh art scene. I will be attending a writing class this February titled “Point of View - a new way of looking at and responding to photography.” Lectures, art openings and seminars will make up my social calendar this year. I need to see more people and less computer screens; we have become people of the screen.

Pittsburgh has been good to us. This city, our clientele and the social networking scene that has developed with the birth of web 2.0 has pushed Craig Photography to greater heights than either of us could have hoped for. With deep bows of gratitude I thank you for joining us on this journey.

P.S.
~ For an update on the Wedding side of our business see my wife’s, Elizabeth, blog (here).

Bio

1969: Life began and men landed on the moon.

69-72: Cradle years, no memories but I am desperately afraid of bars to this day.

1977: Second grade: First music teacher, drum lesson, he always called us girls. Never forgot his teaching.

1982: Seventh grade: Picked up the guitar and got good at sports (finally), well not very good just not embarrassingly bad.

1984: Ninth grade: First band called “The Blast”, and it was. Grew hair, made parents proud.

1987: Graduated High School, my parents proved the power of prayer.

1988: Went to college – Communication major – Literature, philosophy and photography came alive to me.

1989: Met Jesus and said “hi”, read a lot of Nietzsche.

1991: Understood Nietzsche, some of it. Had “The College Bar-Band”, wrote really bad poetry and song lyrics, great period of my life but not even close to the best period.

1992: Hello real world. That costs how much????

1993: Met Buddha, asked him “where did you get those sandals”, he responded “walk right down that middle path over there”.

1994 – 2000: Took a lot of photos, traveled the country and survived Y2K of pending death.

1996: Was given a dog as a gift, Kiani (a.k.a. –the K-man), the best spiritual teacher ever. Walked into the woods, discovered God. Actually the K-man introduced us.

2001: Put out first CD with Sarah Wilkins. Played a lot of coffee houses, churches and festivals, discovered that red wine and coffee are my drugs of choice.

2002: Introduced to Elizabeth, breathed air for the very first time.

2003: Put out first and only instrumental CD.

2004: Married Elizabeth, proving the power of prayer to myself.

2005: Craig Photography became a husband and wife team, best lifestyle, economical, decision ever. “E” and I rock as a team. Went to Italy, brought back a bean.

2006: Elizabeth gave birth to the “Bean”, we call her Ella. The “E –Team came alive.

07-Present: Smile all the time, best period of my life so far……

Diary

Tuesday up at 5:59am, coffee, shower, more coffee, yoga, meditation, the morning routine. Prepared rice with mushrooms, sautéed vegetables for lunch, tossed in dried seaweed and pecorino romano grated cheese. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich on homemade bread for breakfast. PB&J never disappoints, have you noticed that? All other sandwiches can disappoint; too dry, too many condiments, soggy vegetables, what-not.

Finished Wade Davis’ book on Indigenous cultures. I cannot wait to read more of his writing. All too often when I find an author or book that I love I immediately read a second book of the same author. Then I spend all my time reading that second book thinking that I am not enjoying it as much as the first. This time I am going to place a couple of short novels between my Wade Davis reading. A novel by Murakami, this will make my fourth or fifth novel by him followed up with “The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald. Then I will immerse myself back into the writing of Davis.

8 a.m., traffic, morning radio, chilly sixty degrees outside. I am completely impartial to my surroundings. Hypnotic driving – not very safe, nonetheless a made it to my destination without hurting anyone.

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.

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.