Dad’s tool box

We are making photographs to understand what our lives mean to us. — Ralph Hattersley

Dad’s tool box: A gift from his father upon dad’s completion of his apprenticeship as a tool and die maker. My grandfather, a cabinet maker, built the bottom, four drawer unit for his son. My grandfather only owned one “power” tool, a small six inch table saw. The table is less than 14″ square, sitting on a box which contains a simple blade on an axle with a belt pulley.

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Motivational videos returned by USPS as “possible threat” – wtf

I believe in self explanatory pictures. — Moses Oliver

So, I produce 3 DVD’s for a young man who lost his sight in a boat racing accident a number of years ago. The videos are to promote his work as a motivational speaker. I put $5 worth of heart stamps on the package and send them off. Yesterday the package shows up back in my mail box. Returned as a possible threat – “due to heightened security requirements.” What’s wrong with this world?

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Nature’s anxious to reclaim our dreams

Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still. — Dorthea Lange

dreams dug out of dirt
exposed for all to see
nature reclaims her

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When my father (and tool and die maker) died I moved his tools to my home. The milling machine sat in a shed for a couple years and nature’s need to oxidize quickly made it unusable. I felt a good deal of shame in allowing this to happen. On Sunday my desire to make an adapter which would allow me to mount my Hasselblad lenses on the Ultima gave me the impetus to get the mill up and running. A long, hard day with wire brushes on grinders, WD40, and grease put me straight with my deceased dad; and by 10 pm I had my adapter. He made the precision tables himself. Unfortunately the “jeweled” surfaces were partially destroyed by rust and my cleaning of same. Scars: evidence of my neglect.

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It all seems so fragile

Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. — Matt Hardy

thursday morning she
flew into the window and
ann loved her alive

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a walk through the play ground

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continuing to learn the Ultima now with 90mm Apo-Rodagon and R8/DMR

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The prints and labs have gone away

“When photographing I want to reach and touch something that I feel is at the core of people.” — Mary Ellen Mark: 25 Years

she lay on the ground
propping the camera with sticks
set the self timer
ran to her friend and posed
they repeated this dance several times
then  enjoyed the tiny screen

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…the creatures …each a gift …radiant energy

“The ground we walk on, the plants and creatures, the clouds above constantly dissolving into new formations — each gift of nature possessing its own radiant energy, bound together by cosmic harmony. …Light is my inspiration… …profoundly significant, it caresses the essential superlative curves and lines. …the energy upon which all life on this planet depends. …Today is the day!” — Ruth Bernhard

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Herring Gull

l1080046.jpgCanada Goose

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Awareness creates depth of experience.

“I thought I made a mistake once but it turned out it was a creative moment.” — Scott Fleming

Have you ever approached your lover, intending a kiss good bye, then felt a warm breeze flow from their face to your own? Not speaking of breath here; rather an in-the-moment-hyper-awareness of the 98.6 degree F, 37 degree C, body temperature slowly flowing from loved one toward self. I did. This morning. Lovely.

Happens all the time.
Appreciating it does not.
Then spring arrived.

difficult to hold

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Downy Woodpecker

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Net(not)working(yet)

“A photograph is always invisible, it is not it that we see.” — Roland Barthes

Networking (day two) continues: Stephanie Reynolds, the friendly freelancer, hosted the Well-fed writers at Barnes & Noble in Bay Shore Mall, Glendale, WI. Martha Carrigan, President and CEO of Big Shoes Network offered valuable suggestions on the subject of networking. Wesley Manko, of DefenseWorks, recently published How to be Safe No Matter What; and also provided some useful ideas. David White also offered his insights. A few other snaps from the evening can be viewed here.

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Net(not)working

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” — Ansel Adams

Networks: My dear friend, David White, currently finds himself studying and testing networking concepts. He invited me to an event hosted by Katie Felten of MKE Live, a local chapter of LinkIn; a networking site for professionals. My interest, as always, revolved around “what does professional networking look and sound like? And, do attendees need and recognize the value of high quality photography, video, and graphic design services for themselves and their businesses?” To see more photographs from the event – look here.

Content is the name of my game. Images, words and videos which make the web, print and our walls come alive with interesting and useful information.

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Spider John Koerner at the UWM Fine Arts Recital Hall

“The photographic image… a message without a code.” — Roland Barthes

Last week McKim Stropes phoned to inform me that Spider John Koerner would perform at the UWM Fine Arts Recital Hall. Memories flooded my mind. Back in the mid sixties some part of my awakening as a young man occurred at the Avant Garde listening to “Blues, Rags and Hollers” from Spider John, Dave Ray and Tony Glover. Last evening John took me and others back to those days; and even much further back; as he carries hundreds of years of folk-blues tradition in his spirit; delivering it, pure, through his 12 string guitar and finely tuned, folk, vocal cords — his right foot the perfect metronome. See more photographs from the concert.

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