Social values are right only if the individual values are right Notice the cloth is fraying in places, threads are broken, and holes are appearing. Is it beyond repair? Or is there something we can do to keep it from unraveling further? One of the lessons I learned from Robert Pirsig’s Zen And The Art […]
It can sometimes be a sign of good parenting Our extended family had gathered in the afternoon to celebrate our grandson’s First Communion. We were sitting at the dining table talking when a woman noticed that I was wearing cuff links. She complimented me and another woman said she wished more men would dress […]
Life’s determination to expand from a center or core Layering is how many things grow organically—from the inside out. Metaphorically, when we want to understand an object, system or process we “peel away” the layers so we can see what’s inside or what’s happening. It’s the basis for analysis, taking things apart to look “under […]
The wider our view, the more we can encompass In a previous blog I noted that it’s the brain that sees, not the eyes which send data via electrical impulses to the brain where they are interpreted to make seeing instantaneously possible. The image above, taken with a zoom lens, reveals something about perception—beyond merely […]
The application of skill and imagination to create new things I’ve long thought that typewriters were amazing. I used the above machine in my freshman year of college. The image called out to me, so I decided to try and understand why. Consulting the web, I discovered that in 1575 an Italian printmaker named Francesco […]
Seeing the sacred and profane in the same object One of my long-standing pet peeves has been littering. I even won a speech contest by ranting and raving about it in my high school years. Linda and I were running errands recently and we saw several places strewn with litter. Two years ago when I […]
The value, precautions and prospects of machine-made images Inspired by Jerry Uelsmann‘s photomontages in 1975, I spent the better part of a day searching through my proofs to find images that might work together to make an intriguing composite. On another day, I did the actual printing in the darkroom with a variety of masks, […]
The climate challenge and decision point for everyday citizens Ecologists note that growth in commerce and the economy are primarily based on consumption, which is linear and limited because resources are finite. Growth in nature, however, is cyclical and unlimited because the decay of organisms produces materials that are recycled. Mulching is a prime example. […]
How we talk and what we see determines how we act The Data The climate has been changing since the Earth coalesced. It will continue to do so until it’s subsumed by the sun billions of years from now. The recent concern is that human beings have accelerated the rate of change—10 to 100 times […]
Gratitude can turn it around in short order Gratitude: From the Latin gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness depending on the context. What It Does Gratitude works in at least two ways. It shifts negative thoughts to positive thoughts by recognizing that something in life is good. And because the specific good we think […]
Contemplative Photography 