What the Butterfly Reveals About Humanity’s Painful Transformation My contemplations tend to focus on the present. They’re usually prompted by one of my photographs, the social climate, or patterns in current events—what people are talking about online or in person. For these I generally write with a “closeup” or “normal” lens. This topic requires something […]
Love makes one retirement community stand heads above the rest In November 2025 my wife Linda had a stroke. It wasn’t severe, but after a hospital stay we moved her into an “assisted living” facility where she underwent speech and physical therapy. She had always cooked, so under her guidance I managed to “assemble” some […]
Finding Trust, Meaning and Direction When Life’s River Turns into Rapids Train tracks at night—a metaphor for the lighted way At times, the placid stream of life suddenly turns into rapids. Then the rapids become a torrent. Linda and I, now in our mid-80s, have recently experienced how quickly this can happen. Within just a […]
A Practice of Compassion, Presence and Shared Humanity After placing an order at a fast food restaurant takeout menu, Linda pulled up to the window. I was in the passenger seat. She handed over the money and moments later, when the bag of food was delivered she noticed a sandwich was missing. She waved to […]
Our collective consciousness created it Left to right: Sven?, Fran Macy, Donald Keys (Moderator), Gehard Elston, Bill Porter In June 1983, under the auspices of the World Good News Network (WGNN), I led a team to Toronto, Canada to video document a week-long event entitled, “The Congress of the Planetary Initiative for the World We […]
The Intersection of Nature and Technology Through the many decades that I’ve been photographing landscapes, utility poles of all kinds, sizes and wires have been a nuisance. Their placement often interfered with rural settings, and in cities the lines tended to be a mess. I don’t like being critical, but when I see these, the […]
Seeing the Divine as Relationship While researching for my post “What Makes a True Leader” (October 19, 2025), it became apparent that “dominators” historically created and thrived due to a hierarchical social structure. Thinking about it, I began to realize that hierarchies are pervasive; we take them for granted. In Western religious traditions, the spiritual […]
Are They “Individuals” or “Persons?” In the early 1960s I was photographing quite a lot in Cincinnati’s Findley Market downtown. This woman turned and saw that was pointing my camera at her, so she turned and posed. I took the shot, thanked her and we moved on. After writing my post, “The Typewriter and Authenticity,” […]
What can we do in the face of unsettling change, eroding confidence and civility? The world has tilted in the direction of uncertainty. Social, economic and cultural norms are shifting and many are being dismantled.[1] Droughts, tornados, fires and flooding are becoming more frequent and severe. Technologies are evolving faster than the wisdom to manage […]
The difference between mediocrity and excellence In addition to the quiet sensibility that this image evokes in me, it speaks to the human journey, our quest for meaning and purpose, even our individual place and function in the world as we paddle this way and that with attention focused mainly on the surface of things. […]
Contemplative Photography 