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Cuarto Negro

In principle it works well, this walk in the light sort of path. But the thing about light, is that it tends to make one imminently aware of what darkness is all about. Corbis Images, frequently sends it’s Photographers out creative briefings. One such note which I read today, was on Darkness. People seem to love to play tag with it. Darkness defined is simply the absence of visible light. The briefing got me moving inside. Imagine a pitch black room. So deep is the pitch into which you have strode, that not even the hand in front of

Jam

I have a lot of friends who are into music. They all range in experience, depth, scope, and level of monetization. Music is one of the High Arts of course. How a person begins in any Art germinates in a fascination with it. I remember mine. Getting to play my Hawaiian Grandfathers Zither. I must have been about 6 or 7. Guitar lessons at 8. Then on to the Arts in school, where I took choir, learned to sing in church, band practice, learning to read and write music. It was part of the education process in America at the

The Cove

I was reading my daily dose of Seth Godin today, and his words on initiative, really struck home for me. Coincidentally, last night was Linchpin night here in Ventura. The Linchpin meetup is an event Seth innovated, where self starters and doers, get together, network, have fun, and sow the seeds of creative fulfillment. We had met at the Watermark, a rather ambitious restauranting endeavor. For our podunk little town (Ventura, Ca), it is what one would call an upscale establishment. I think I must have left the meeting of bright linchpin lights pretty wound

The Significance of Mermaids

In running through an edit the other day for a magazine feature, I happened to stumble upon a file titled “Lost Mermaid” In it were some large scan images of Hannah Fraser performing as a mermaid which I had shot in the Maldives quite some time ago. The scans had apparently been put in a back file and forgotten. When I had run across them eventually, I had finished my post production work, sent them out into the netherworld of global editorial submission, and once again sort of forgotten them. Flicking through thousands of images deftly , when I opened

Sea Within

I once met a man who inspired me greatly. At his encouragement, I went on to accomplish all manner of things in the ocean. Of course it was not by his urging alone, but for some reason, he was my catalyst, and the reaction which occurred as a result of his input, wed my life to the sea. Many years later, as I sat with a writer pal of mine at the man’s home on the sand near Santa Barbara, he recounted his life before the Multiple Sclerosis morphed him into a creature who could do no exploits. “I lived

Rocket’s Red Glare

My Father worked on the weapons delivery systems for the Defense department. He would have terrible nightmares. So I grew up with all of the information regarding what occurs in a worst case scenario of a nuclear detonation. The knowledge acquired was probably what drove my love of Science and caused me to at one point, major in Bioscience. I have never stopped learning. None of us should. That cold handshake was what pointed me back to nature, and my current philosophy and knowledge of God. I learned that fear is a mind killer and knowledge leads to Hope and

Hyperbole

This is a little deviation from the Loves serialization. Though the subject does relate. The other night, I got roped into doing something I rarely ever endeavor. My son invited me to a “dive bar” to see him play. He had been working on creating a band to perform his music, and the never visited “hole in the wall” on a section of Ventura’s Main St, was to be ground zero for a shake down performance. Josh Slavin is the stage name for Joshua Pu’u by the way. (People keep asking me.) I usually sort of just smirk. Hyperbole is

Six

The seventh installment of the serialization on loves. This one is on Light. I love light. It is one of a few things which I have a very deep understanding of. I had met the woman for the first time at a gathering of my girlfriend Donna’s family. I first saw Barbara in a hotel room one beautiful, sunny afternoon, in Morro Bay, California. It had been one of those postcard California days, spent doing something I would generally never be caught dead engaging in. The experience left me with two words snared in mind. There were several more occurrences.

Five

This is the sixth installment in the series on many loves. It is on Heroes. The world seems to have a real thirst for heroes. Artist Hilda Kilpatrick yesterday, asked me what the word hope meant to me. I told her that hope was seeing the future as the way you would like it to be. Heroes inspire that in us. Though I have lead a life that has had me in the company of champions, and people that always seemed to be the best in the world at what they do, I must admit that none would consider themselves

Fore

This is number five in the series on Loves. It is actually entitled Four. (Really.) If you understand the play on words with the copy title “Fore”, well then, you “get” Art and Artists. That is a good thing. We like it when people get us. It is why artists do what they do. ART is our love. Robb Havassy just left, after a 30 hour visit. When he had arrived, I was working through a series of images where I had been subtly taken by surprise at how the ocean had sculpted rather unique looking gems my Canon 5DM2

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