Quiet Days

 The past couple of years have been lived in quiet solitude.  Hiding away and spending time in nature and just observing.  Too many days have passed by with a feeling of half holding my breath out of fear, life seems different now.  The mind and spirit of a person can be altered when bombarded with negative news and a sense that nothing is of value, and that all is being lost.  Viruses, wars, racial tensions, cancel culture. gender identity, and a mix of other things that we have forced on us.  I truly believe most people are good and just and are just trying to find their way thought life like everyone else.  The world is never going to be a perfect place nor are the people living in it. 

MATTHEW 7:1-5 (NRSV) 

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

Steve the walker

 

I was driving down the road a couple of days ago on my way to photograph in a nearby swamp when I spotted this guy walking.  I quickly did a u-turn and went back to talk with him. His name is Steve Fugate and he has been walking non stop for over twenty years.  He has crossed the country six times and has logged more than 46.000 miles on foot.  His journey started with the tragic lost of his son and then his daughter.  He takes his message of Enjoy Life by foot across the country.  His story can be found with a google search of his name.  Here is a video about him that was made over 12 years ago. https://vimeo.com/10692512

Mystic Waters

 Winter time can offer some new compostitions with the cypress trees.  I prefer photographing when the trees are bare because in my opinion it gives the trees more character.  The Bald Cypress is the only tree that completely loses it leaves for the entire winter.  Most other trees will drop their leaves as they are growing new ones.  I have made a lot of images of Cypress trees over the years and it seems there are always  new and interesting images to make with them as my subject.  Winter is also the time the Osprey start to construct their nest for mating season and in the early spring the tress are alive with the activity of the birds gathering food and feeding their young. 

The places I will always go

I have always had a desire to seek out remote places and walk on new ground. There is a sense of newness that comes with exploring an area for the first time.  I enjoy the anticipation of seeing what is up around the bend in the trail.  It is in these times my senses are heighten, and my awareness of the beauty in nature is awakened.  It is easy to hike a long distance and not feel the burden of carrying my camera gear and tripod.  Often times after spending several hours hiking and photographing I will find a spot to stretch out and rest before making the trip back. It could be in a warm patch of sun or the shade of a tree.  As I rest in a semi conscious state, I can hear the birds overhead singing and the sound of a small stream in the distance.  The smell of pine, the blue of the sky, and the peace of feeling at home in the Garden of Eden.

Empty Roads

Travel an empty road to find yourself.  To walk and hear no other sounds but your footsteps on the gravel beneath your feet.  Nothing man made as far as your eyes can see.  I love these places and wished more of my days could be spent there.  There is a wholesome peaceful feeling that surrounds you that is hard to obtain anywhere else.  The world has become blaring and harsh with noise and movement.  People race around preoccupied with things outside their control.  We have become a society that shouts pass each other. Everyone is offended or a victim of something.  We have become much like a spoiled child demanding everyone meet our desires.  We want non stop attention from social media with an ever increasing appetite to be noticed. How sad it is for young people to be enslaved to this type of culture.  They are motivated by what others think, and when the response in not quick enough or negative their world crashes.  What is freedom?  Simple put, it is the ability to live your dreams and fulfill the desires of life.  Freedom is under pressure with a culture of canceling out anyone who doesn't think exactly as a certain group.  Mandates and regulations telling how you must live or be denied your personal freedoms.  We become consumed by our environment we have created.  It is not until you walk on an empty road do you realize that the noise has stopped and you regain your balance of life.

Early morning silence

I cherish the quiet hours of the very early morning.  It is a mysterious time when the night time darkness is overtaken by the first awakening light from the sky.  There is a feeling of newness and hope during this peaceful time.  The quietness lets the mind think and reflect before the rush of noise and busyness invades our lives.   For most of us we pack as much as we can into each day thinking that our lives will be more complete with numerous accomplishments.  Most of the time we are surrounded by a blaring fast moving world that is harsh when compared to the quiet moments of early dawn.  Sadly our culture has become a maddening rage of who can scream and protest the loudest to be heard above the noise of others.  Nobody is really listening because you can't hear when everyone is talking.  I quote lyric from an old Buffalo Springfield song, " Nobody is right, if everybody's wrong".   Give me the quiet of the early morning before the air is filled with the blare of the world.

 

Living my memories through photography

 

      

 My many years of travel are never far from me.  I live my memories through the images I have taken over the past 50 years of photographing.  When I first started photographing I never thought that later in life I would be able to vividly recall so many days and events in my life through my photography.  Our current home is like a gallery with the images I have made all over the world in our travels.  The wonderful thing is when I view an image I can recall much of the day when I made the image.  In this image I remember my wife and I traveled out on a cold and rainy day in northern Iceland.  We found a road that dead ended at an old farm house with sheep and other livestock running around.  In the distance I could see a small church down behind the farm house.  I parked our vehicle and walked through the mud and up to the house.  I was greeted by a lady and an older man at the door and asked if it was possible to take a photograph of the little church on their property.  We were granted permission but were told we had to walk to the location. I remember the feeling of excitement with finding a new subject to photograph as we packed up my gear and made out way down the muddy cow path to the church.  The wind and the rain was blowing in off the ocean with a damp chill to the air.  It was a mood I wanted to present in my finished photograph and knew that a black and white image would do this best.  After making the image we proceeded to travel around the small villages and stopped in a little restaurant in the fishing village of Stykkisholmur  (pronounced like- Sticky-shoe mer). The cold rain was coming down hard as we sat with the locals and listen to the talk of the fisherman while having a wonderful meal.    Photography has blessed us with the ability to recall the special times in our lives.  No other medium is able to freeze a moment in time like a photograph. It is simple yet so powerful.