Mexico the land of color

We enjoy traveling to Mexico. We like the people and the culture that Mexico has to offer. You really need to spend a good amount of time in Mexico to lose the uptight feeling that comes with our daily lives here in the States. When we lived in upstate NY we would drive our old Buick down to spend four months each winter in wonderful small towns in central Mexico. We like to explore all of the back roads through mountain towns and photographing everything of interest. I often get asked, "don't you have a fear of being in Mexico"? and I ask in return, "would you have a fear of walking in Central Park at night"? There is danger everywhere in this world and being aware of your surroundings is your best protection. The truth is that you can live behind fear or live your life and feel alive by experiencing things outside of your comfort zone.
Don't put off what you desire to do with your life. My Mother never took the time to enjoy her life as she could have. Her plan was to put it off until retirement, but she never got there. Her life was ended in a car accident long before she had ever reached retirement age. That event changed my life and I started traveling to remote places and I guess as some would say, taking chances. My wife and I are now in our 60's and we have our kids call and ask "when are you two going start doing something safe like taking a cruise". Our answer to them is we aren't old enough yet.

 Street in Tequisquiapan Mx.

The Journey

Moonlight Orb

I call this image "The Journey" that I made recently in Fort Pierce Fl. on the beach under a full moon. It is usually not my style to do night photography with special effects. But I do think it is good every now and then to experiment with photography like I did in my early days of photographing. The exposure time was around three minutes with an f-stop of 9.5.  I used a sturdy carbon fiber tripod with a cable release. Because it was dark I placed an LED light on the beach in the location where I wanted to create the orb and used that point to focus my camera. The long exposure required the camera to be set to Bulb mode for the three minute + exposure.  The orb was made with two miniature LED lights tied to a cord I was spinning. Notice that I am not shown in the middle of the orb. That is because the time to make the orb was only about 30 seconds of the total exposure.

Ten Best Days +

 Could you name the best ten days of your LIFE in order. This is not events or situations, these are days. After making a list with considerable thought, I have concluded that it might not be possible to list the ten best days of your life, but rather the ten best events of your life.  Example: The first time we saw Ben, our puppy Newfoundland, was that an event that we remember or is it the day we lived that we remember. It was certainly an event that was remember. I think of his big dark eyes and his red bandanna around his neck that day and how Denise who gave him to us was happy that we liked him. What about the rest of the day? Completely lost as best as I can remember. So back to the ten best days of your life.  Can you name ten days?  So here goes my list

1.)  A summers day, age about 15, motorcycle riding along the lake and meeting Linda for the first time. I remember the day as well as the event. I didn't know what that day would lead to, but I remember the day, and cherish the event.

2.) Seeing Andrea for the first time.  I remember the day at work and the time running to hospital , seeing this dark haired baby with big eyes, and going home alone thinking about the responsibility that just came into my life.

3.) Chris's day of birth. I can still feel the warmth of the day sitting in the driveway on that unusually warm February day waiting for the time to come. I can visualize the drive to the hospital and feeling calm about the situation, and then the burst of excitement with the gift of a new life.

4.) Our sons wedding day. I remember the full day and all the events. The preparations in the morning, the blessed feeling at noon, the celebration and party affair, the jump in the lake at sunset with camera in hand to get a picture of the newly weds sitting on the dock, the glow of the evening with just family. I the remember whole day.

5.) Driving into Ottati, Italy for the first time.  I recall my apprehension. expectations, and being completely overtaken by spiritual presents of my Grandparents that led to tears and still does to this day. A day with an unbelievable life experience.

6.) Walking in the moon light with Linda in Italy.  I remember a drive through the country side of Italy, making a fine photograph of a small mountain town and having a man ride by on a donkey.  Eating one of the best meals of our lifes and realizing that I am the product of my immigrant Grandparents dream.

7.) A springtime hike with a friend, at about age ten. I remember a spring day that lasted forever. It was sunny, warm and quiet.  I hiked all day with a friend who now I can't remember, but the day is always in my memory. It was a day when I felt like I could hike and walk forever. We went along the river to McCarthey's  farm and many other places. I was alive and full of  the sense of exploration. The day was long and felt like it lasted forever. We ate with my Grandparents and talked about our adventures. It was the day I realized that I loved nature and wanted to explore. I still can't remember who the other fellow was that went with me. But this day opened the door to many other fond days of exploration in my life.

8.) Getting my job with NYSEG. ( more of an event than a day lived) I remember coming home that evening, after many months of discouragement, to greet Linda with the news of my new job. I remember her asking me with big wide eyes " Did you get it?"  I swaggered with my walk and said, "Yep"! That day led to many changes and gave my family the security it needed.

9.) Receiving a photography award in Harrisburgh Pa.  Event more than a day, It was a warm evening and a very formal affair. I received the " Best of Show" above every form of art work that was displayed, and there was some very good artwork to be considered, To me. this was recognition for many years of staying the course and staying true to a purpose.

10.) This one should be near the top because it is more than a day, it's a summer, a youth, a daydream. Laying on the couch in Linda's house in the summertime and hearing the song, (as well as many others) "It's a turn down Day" When I want to feel good, I only have to think about those days.

11.)  What the heck, I can think of more than ten days. I remember a day in the fall. A beautiful fall day. October 14 Th. to be exact. Linda and I are sitting on the dock of the lake. The water is calm as glass. The fall leaves are reflecting in the water. We have a bucket of minnows and a couple of fish poles.  We are catching small mouth bass one after the other. Linda catches the largest small mouth bass to date. We laugh for joy, smell the fall leaves in the air, and feel the fullness of our youth.

*Update-very special time.  A day in my life I will never forget.  It was a warm August night in the small town of Ottati Italy where my grandparents were born and raised.  It was a festival night full of celebration and music in the small town piazza.  All of my Italian family was there as well as my immediate family from the U.S.  It was a dream come true to be in the hometown of my grandparents surrounded by family.  The most special moment came when my young grand daughter, Bella, (8years old) came up to me and asked me to dance with her.  What a special moment this was for me. We danced around and around to the music under colorful lights and the sound of laughter and celebration.  After the dance I sat back and took in the wonderful atmosphere, and then I recalled a dream I had a few weeks prior to making this trip.  It was about my Grandmother running through these streets as a young girl laughing and playing with her friends.  I sat there almost as if frozen in time, watching my own grandchildren running and laughing with their Italian relatives in this very place.  It was a magical night and one I will never forget as long as I live.  Thank you Bella for asking me to dance that night.  Pops

So how about it, can you think of the best ten day of your life? Or maybe they are just events that we remember best. either way, try to remember the good because the bad is too easily remembered.  I just opened a fortune cookie after my Chinese meal. It read " Find release from your cares, have a good time"

The Two Lane Highway

Life, it is like a two lane highway.  One lane takes us forward while the opposite lane takes us back pass areas we have already traveled. Our thoughts determine our direction of travel. We say we live in the present but we tend to focus on the future of what we are going to do next. With every second we live it quickly turns into the past. Whatever we are doing at this very moment is becoming our past in the form of a memory. How strong the memory will be is  determined by the importances of the event we are experiencing.
I was driving down an old familiar road one day and had a vivid memory of an event from long ago in my past. I clearly remember the scene of a car upside down in the middle of the road with an older couple inside. I was riding with my Father and it was dark when we came upon the accident. He helped them both out of the car while I looked on. I have traveled this road many times since but have only thought about that night a few times. I began to wonder about that day and where we were going and even if my brother and sister were with us. I realized I had no memory of day itself other than the event.  It started me thinking about our lives and how many days of it can we really recall. Probably not many. We remember in fragments and events but not whole days lived. It started me thinking if I could recall in their entirety (not just events) the best ten days of my life. I will share with you my list of best days as I remembered them. I challenge you to start thinking of the ten best days of your life and try to write them down in detail. I think you will be surprised you can only remember events and not many actual days of your life you have lived. I have found that with the forty plus years I have been photographing that I live within my images I create. In my darkroom days I would spend countless hours working on  one negative making an expressive print that represented the emotional connection I had to the location when I first made the exposure. I discovered that through my images I could recall with vivid detail much of the day when I made the photograph. This is my two lane highway. I can look forward to new images and events in my life as well go back in time just by viewing an image made in the past and recalling much of what I was doing at the time.