Photo Walk

6.24.10 -
Photo Walk
Topic: Dusk on the North Shore
Time: 7:30 pm
Where: Gate “A” Heinz Stadium Pittsburgh PA
What to bring: camera, tripod, passion to learn and a friend.

Photo of the Week

Reminder: Tomorrow Night
6.10.10 -
Understanding Exposure Class @ Northland Library 7-9pm I will be teaching an introductory class on understanding exposure & your DSLR camera.
To register call: 412-366-8100

Show Up ~ Rant

You want to know what is great about awareness? The actual moment that you know you are aware.



Awareness...it’s an odd thing that we all search for at different times of our lives…higher purpose, simply to have purpose, guidance from the divine.

But then there is an instant when we hear our inner voice, actually hear it speak, both audible and in our gut at the same time…a truth.

Next, the hard part…What do you do with a truth from yourself? Worse yet, a gut truth that will nag at you until you do the damn thing that is revealed (nagging) to you.

You say your prayers then you go to work.

Deliver whatever it is. Be present.

Show up.

P.S.
I wrote this on Facebook yesterday but I feel it needs to be preserved here.

~ I am an advocate for being pulled together for a common “purpose”, not pushed together by a common “argument”.

Moment

Current Reading: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Current Music: Good Evening New York City by Paul McCartney
Mood: Good
Smells: Coffee & toast
Sounds: Percolating Coffee pot
Temperature: 55 degrees
Thoughts: Angels whispered in humanity ear's evolve.

Feedback ~ Critique Me

Random photo taken in my backyard. What do you think?

June Dates

6.10.10 -
Understanding Exposure Class @ Northland Library 7-9pm I will be teaching an introductory class on understanding exposure & your DSLR camera.
To register call: 412-366-8100

6.15.10 -
Pictage/PUG ~ Create Connect & Grow
7 to 9 ~
7:00 to 7:30 cocktails & networking
7:30 to 9pm into to new PUG followed by Q&A (topic/speaker TBD)
Location
Studio ~ 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15212

**Open to ALL photographers, including students

RSVP at craigphotography@mac.com

6.17.10 -
Understanding Exposure class @ Northland Library 7-9pm (Part II) ~ I will be teaching an introductory class on understanding exposure & Your DSLR camera.
To register call: 412-366-8100

6.24.10 -
Photo Walk
Topic: Dusk on the North Shore
Time: 7:30 pm
Where: Gate “A” Heinz Stadium Pittsburgh PA
What to bring: camera, tripod, passion to learn and a friend.

Photos of the Week ~ Random

All photography & artwork on this site is licensed under a creative commons licensing: Please feel free to use and distribute the photography & artwork in accordance with the licensing.

This is only a rant, let me do no harm.

This post would be so much better if I had a camera with me….sorry about that.

Ok I love this place; it has been two weeks since I have been in this coffee house. Last time I was here I wrote about the Brazilian girl and the Chinese lady. I did walk back into this place with expectations, but not really, it is just a coffee house.

As I stand in line – I think to myself how lonely life must me, how unnoticeable this person must feel. To be “seen’ is a hard thing to understand. From a distance, we are all seen or are all too self- absorbed to bother with what goes seen or unseen in our life.

To be outwardly self-expressive, using one's own body as a place of self-fascination. Not the body as a piece of art, but the body a canvas for art.

I stand in line waiting to order. The young lady in front of me has a full back tattoo that depicts a scene form Lord of the Rings…Seriously, truly a full cinematic-clip-in-all-of-its-glory tattoo on her back. She had a bikini top on showing off the full of her back. Two things go through my mind; one - damn this is good work (please Lord God never let my daughter do this). Two - when did she begin to feel invisible?

I have been running into extraordinary tattoos lately. There was the man with the Steelers logo (HERE) on his is head, the wedding guest with an Irish toast on her back (HERE) and last night after telling this story to a man at the pub he showed me his tattoo of a Dr Suess story that has taken up the better part of his left arm.

Don’t get me wrong - the pursuit of the unconventional is OK with me; all of life is a canvas as far as I am concerned.

The idea or subject matter of being noticed has stayed with me after seeing the back tattoo of the Lord of the Rings. What is it that would bring a person to place art/tattoo on their body in a place that everybody but themselves can see?

How unnoticeable must she feel? I could be completely wrong – self-expression is not for other people to judge, it is for the individual to express.

This is only a rant, let me do no harm.

Update ~ Last Week

It is late on Sunday night as I write this, moments before midnight. I am tired. A creative tired from the past seven days of work. In the past forty-eight hours Elizabeth & I had two days of non-stop shooting. As I type these words it still feels like I have a camera pressed up against my left eye and the feel of the indent in my right hand from holding on to the camera for an extended period. The work was good; the light over the past 2 days was good. At times too bright and hazy, but all light is good.

Monday thru Friday of last week I wrote...a lot. I stepped away from my desk and wrote. I find it hard to sit at my desk and write. For me my desk is for editing photos, updating this blog and responding to e-mails. Off to write, to create (either with a pen or camera) I need to leave the desk. I sat in the library and wrote, I sat in coffee house and wrote, even ventured to my back porch and wrote. I wrote.

Filling up a journal is a good feeling. An addictive feeling and if you have ever filled up a journal there is a good chance that you will continue to fill up journals. Seeing a small stack of moleskin journals accumulating on a bookshelf is good (also scary, hoping that nobody but you ever reads them).

I walked last week. I walked as much as I could. The weather was nice so I did my best to stay out of my car as much as possible. On Thursday I had a networking meeting on the South Side of Pittsburgh at nine. Not wanting to use my car nor sit in traffic I decided to get up early and walk to the “T” (PGH subway/train hybrid). Forty minutes to get to the station, 15 minutes on the “T” and then another twenty minute walk to the appointment. The second half of the walk was a great experience. I walked down a street that I have driven on many, many times over the past twenty years.

Thursday I saw the street for the very first time.

I am going to finish my beer and go to bed. Will organize my writing projects in the days to come.

P.S. Wednesday I will be taking photos for Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy – they hold a “walks in the woods” every Wednesday evening (6:30) between the months of June through September. Bring your camera & I will do my best to help answer any of your questions (mini Photo-Walk).

Info about “Walks in the Woods” can be found here :
http://www.pittsburghparks.org/walks-in-the-woods

Feedback ~ Critique Me

Random photo taken on an evening walk. What do you think?


All photography & artwork on this site is licensed under a creative commons licensing: Please feel free to use and distribute the photography & artwork in accordance with the licensing

Flowers, Fog & Morning

Woke up to a foggy morning. Grabbed the camera & went into my backyard. Notice the spider at work.



I have no idea what these flowers are called but they do grow wild in my backyard every spring.

Pictage/PUG ~ Create Connect & Grow ~ Tonight

Looking forward to seeing everyone...

7:00 to 7:30 cocktails & networking
7:30 to 9pm intro to new PUG followed by Q&A
Location
Studio ~ 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15212

**Open to ALL photographers, including students

Moment

Current Reading: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Current Music: Nothing Like the Sun By Sting
Mood:Good
Smell:Cat
Sound:Treadmill
Temperature: 61 degrees
Thought: I need to rest the part of my mind where words come from.

New Dates Announced

5.18.10 –
Pictage/PUG ~ Create Connect & Grow
7 to 9 ~
7:00 to 7:30 cocktails & networking
7:30 to 9pm intro to new PUG followed by Q&A
Location
Studio ~ 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15212

**Open to ALL photographers, including students

RSVP at craigphotography@mac.com

6.9.10 - Boudoir workshop w/ Elizabeth

6.10.10 -
Understanding Exposure Class @ Northland Library 7-9pm I will be teaching an introductory class on understanding exposure & your DSLR camera.
To register call: 412-366-8100

6.15.10 -
Pictage/PUG ~ Create Connect & Grow
7 to 9 ~
7:00 to 7:30 cocktails & networking
7:30 to 9pm into to new PUG followed by Q&A (topic/speaker TBD)
Location
Studio ~ 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15212

**Open to ALL photographers, including students

RSVP at craigphotography@mac.com

6.17.10 -
Understanding Exposure class @ Northland Library 7-9pm (Part II) ~ I will be teaching an introductory class on understanding exposure & Your DSLR camera.
To register call: 412-366-8100

6.24.10 -
Photo Walk
Topic: Dusk on the North Shore
Time: 7:30 pm
Where: Gate “A” Heinz Stadium Pittsburgh PA
What to bring: camera, tripod, passion to learn and a friend.

True Metaphor

Metaphors: comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way.

True: the state of being in accord with fact or reality

I have been trying to write this article on the theme of a "true metaphor", as in one word or idea that holds truth, problems & interpretations all in a single phrase. Confusing idea, don’t you agree? It all started last week when I met this man who walked out of the pages of the Old Testament and shook my hand. He had a big smile, strong hand shake and a laugh that was contagious.

I was filling in for a last minute job at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary to document the installation of a professor. I had no idea what an installation of a professor was. Apparently it is when a teacher/preacher gets an important job.

What I received from this encounter was the best damn sermon I ever heard. This Old Testament scholar gave a talk and transcendental speech that I have been waiting 30 years to hear. He bridged truth and metaphor into a single thread of thought. I was blinded by words, ideas and hope for what we all could be, become, or better yet evolve into.

I am not going to paraphrase or try to explain this experience because I could not do it justice. What I want to share is the "true metaphor" that I have been struggling with.

True-metaphor: Arts only purpose is to serve

The only purpose art has is to entertain the rest of nature. After God created the world he gave to his last creation (us, humanity) the gift of creativity. Nature as a whole is concerned about living, better yet - staying alive. The only act of creation in nature is the act of reproducing. Humans and humanity - we get to create, ponder and then create anew for the totality of our existence on this planet.

Arts only purpose is to serve…

If you have attend any of our workshops, Q&A's or Photo-Walks you know I preach this phrase as the photographer’s gospel. What does it mean? To me it is about training what might end up being your future competition. In truth it is about training what will hopefully turn out to be my future collaborators, teachers and community.

If you’re creating something then in no way can you be doing harm. Art can only be part of the conscious solution, not the unconscious problem…

V-Blog

Something New

After five years of only shooting in RAW, last night I shot in JPEG. After twenty years of never shooting sports, I photographed a baseball game. I liked it, both of them.

Create something new, daily – updated my blog header to reflect/remind me to do just that. I debated about changing the header to Create * Connect * Grow, but I thought it would be too confusing, although, the phrase came in a strong second.

There is nothing like drawing a line between the comfort & challenge of creating something new.

Photo of the Week

Guitar & Me #3

Photo of the Week