• Black and White,  Cityscapes/Urban,  quotes,  shadows,  trees

    Again, It Was the Shadows

    October 12, 2016
    Early Morning Shadows
    Early Morning Shadows

    They tell me down here that they are liking this beginning of winter and the cooler temperatures. Yes the 65 degree mornings are nice but, man, it quickly gets up to 95. This Colorado lad has to rethink this. Since, I am somewhat intelligent, and please don’t listen to anyone who says otherwise, I try and get my walk in before 10:00 am.  In doing so those shadows I discover are spectacular. So, again it was shadows I was seeing this morning.

    “What is at the core of my work is, in essence, a mediation on being a human being.” – Eli Reed

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  • Art/Design,  Black and White,  Cityscapes/Urban,  musings,  Plants,  quotes,  shadows,  trees,  writing/reading

    One Must Not Take Photos

    October 4, 2016
    Shadows #1
    Shadows #1

    “A photograph is neither taken or seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

    When someone sees me with a camera I am quite often asked if I have “taken” any good “pitchers” today. I find that difficult to answer. First, I carry a camera as if it is a part of me, a creative tool. I only compose and press the shutter button when an image appears. My belief in that grows more and more each day. One of my tasks in life is to have a camera with me and to be present and observe. I must see with my eyes and the eyes of my heart and soul. And, there are days when I never press my shutter button, most likly because I was not present.

    Shadows #2
    Shadows #2

    Secondly, what I consider a good image may not be good to someone else. If Cartier-Bresson is correct then a photograph given to me has a purpose of nurturing my soul and change something within me. And for me the beauty of this is the desire to share some of these images with you, whether they are liked or not.

    Thanks for listening. Monte

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  • quotes,  shadows,  spirituality

    The Cross and Shadow

    July 24, 2013
    On the Alter
    The Altar at John XXIII Church

    “So don’t be frightened, dear friend, if a sadness confronts you larger than any you have ever known, casting its shadow over all you do. You must think that something is happening within you, and remember that life has not forgotten you; it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why would you want to exclude from your life any uneasiness, any pain, any depression, since you don’t know what work they are accomplishing within you?”

    Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
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  • Canon Powershot G12,  quotes,  shadows

    Spoon Shadows

    January 24, 2012
    Spoon Shadows

    “Well, I do think, particularly the way I work, the better images occur when you’re moving to the fringes of your own understanding. That’s where self-doubt and risk taking are likely to occur. It’s when you trust what’s happening at a non-intellectual nonconscious level that you can produce work that later resonates, often in a way that you can’t articulate a response to.”

    Jerry Uelsmann

    I have the next two days off and I need them. The last several days have been busy with lots of travel time. Would love to venture out for some landscape images but the motivation is not there. When this happens my focus is on those things near. I find it interesting that for a simple image as the one above, I can change my perspective so much easier than I can of vast open valley or meadow. I can easily take the spoon and turn it to alter the shape of its shadow. Can’t turn a mountain or move a tree the same way. In vast landscapes I have to be the moving object to get the perspective I need.

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