• coffee life,  fountain pens,  journal

    Curiosity

    October 21, 2024
    A chai latte, blank pages and fountain pen full of ink

    The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

    Albert Einstein

    I like the Arboretum coffee shop because it is quiet. Its ambiance seems to be more directed towards students who study and reminds me of the Lory Student Center on campus. They do play music, but it’s very low in volume and easy listening music. It is also an enjoyable two mile bicycle ride for me along Spring Creek Trail. Even though I am not a college student, I still consider myself to be a student of life. Hopefully, I will always have curiosity, inviting me to keep asking the questions.

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  • flowers,  Plants,  poems

    A Beautiful Spring Day

    April 15, 2024

    inspired by a beautiful spring day
    I caught the Max to campus

    with an iced chai, I found a spot surrounded
    by the quiet of the campus courtyard

    soaking in the silence, I began listening
    and writing words in my journal

    abruptly, the quiet became chaos
    as students poured out of classrooms

    now surrounded by every size, shape, color
    of student and backpack imaginable

    conversations exploded everywhere,
    gossip, tales from last night and laughter.

    then gently, peace and quiet returned
    as everyone moved on to their next period.

    and in this quiet I wondered,
    how many saw the daffodils?

    mws
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  • Candid Portraits,  Documentary/Street,  lifestyles,  People/Portraits,  poems,  quotes,  snow

    Happy Valentines Day

    February 14, 2020
    Light snow is falling while students wait for bus on a cold February morning

    “When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
    I was a bride married to amazement.
    I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

    When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
    if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
    I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
    or full of argument.

    I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”
    Mary Oliver

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  • Black and White,  Candid Portraits,  People/Portraits

    Making her smile

    November 12, 2019
    A young couple at the Lory Student Center

    I love the people I photograph. I mean, they’re my friends. I’ve never met most of them or I don’t know them at all, yet through my images I live with them. At the same time, they are symbols. The people in my pictures aren’t Mr. Jones or Mr. Smith or whatever; they’re someone that crossed my path or I’ve crossed their path, and through the medium of photography I’ve been able to make a good picture of that encounter. They have a life of their own, but they are also are symbols. I would say that I respect the viewer, but I don’t want to tell him everything. Hopefully, there’s an element of mystery involved. I like him to look at a picture and say “Well, that that reminds me of someone,” and make up a little story in his head, make him smile, brighten up his day. I think this is what I’m trying to achieve with my photographs. 

    Bruce Gilden
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  • Black and White,  coffee shops,  Documentary/Street

    Matcha Latte

    March 5, 2019

    It’s not as cold this morning, only about -2 degrees at 7:30. We’re already up to 4 degrees at 9:30 and hopefully we will see 32 degrees. Found this couple just outside one of the coffee shops in the Lory Student Center. She seems to be studying a book and he’s on his phone.

    I decided to switch today and have a matcha latte rather than a mocha latte. Matcha powder is loaded with heart-healthy antioxidants, made from chlorophyll-rich green tea leaves that are ground into a fine powder. To make the matcha latte is simple. They place the matcha powder in a cup then add steamed milk to create the frothy latte effect. It was a good choice.

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  • Candid Portraits,  People/Portraits

    A Texter

    April 27, 2018
    Texting on the Bus
    Texting on the Bus

    texter: a person who communicates by text messaging

    We are finally having spring like days. On campus there are students ins jackets and coats as well as those in t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. It’s now 36 degrees but the suspicious weather apps say it may get up to 70 degrees. I will find time to sit outside today. 

    I’m sometimes uncomfortable when I take images of people when they are not aware. But it is a very good way to catch people as they are in the present moment and not self-conscious because a camera is pointed at them, thinking they need to pose. And,  now a days, texters are easy to find. Happy Friday!

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