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What Is The Principle Here?
Continue ReadingAn American in poor physical condition struggles toward the end of a marathon run in humid weather. His face appears to show utter exhaustion and a gasping for breath. He acted we presume by choice — but according to what principle of motivation?
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More Strangeness From the Streets
Continue ReadingWhen editing an image one occasionally makes extravagant changes — necessary I thought in this case to express the strangeness of our subject. Professional clowns cultivate oddness and dress routinely in garish, cobbled-together outfits. Their faces can only be described using hyperbole. This fellow had wrapped himself in balloons twisted into bizarre shapes. He […]
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Cairo Nights
Continue ReadingCars parked tightly on a narrow street. An automobile tire discarded between bits of trash. A television running off ghetto-rigged electricity. Men young and old together sitting, relaxed on upturned soda crates waiting for a football match to kickoff. A classic Egyptian scene during the Cairo Derby. The tournament ultimately crashes sports clubs Zamalek and […]
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A Good Kind of Pride
Continue ReadingThe fireman in our foreground with polished ax seems swollen with pride in his occupation, however not from self-inflation or hubris that comes before a fall. On the contrary his demeanor seems to me without such vanity or arrogance. I see pleasure and satisfaction with his place in life, dignity in his bearing, a healthy […]
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Is This A Political Statement?
Continue ReadingIf our subject is attempting a political protest, I think he fails for lack of clarity. What inference should we draw from his pumpkin-headed mask, jumbo ears and gangster outfit — is he impersonating a politician, or a clown? He wears a suit, recently shined shoes, and is picketing a street corner in New Mexico […]
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Anomalies, Page 2
Continue ReadingI encountered Larry (a rather tall humanoid) on Main Street downtown Lexington, Kentucky one sunny afternoon in winter. It was not feasible for me to interrogate him, as he was moving in a crowd of equally tall strange people, so we are left with many mysteries surrounding our efforts to decode this photograph. Larry’s […]
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Ebullience, Page 2
Continue ReadingSuch jaunty enthusiasm lies beyond my emotional range; indeed, it might transcend the abilities of all but a tiny percentage of mortal creatures. I was that odd child not entertained by clowns — instead was afraid of them — finding their androgyny and buffoonish behavior unnerving. Throughout history these tramps and jesters have been allowed […]
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What Is The Subject Here?
Continue Reading“Photography performs one function supremely well: it shows what something or somebody looked like, under a particular set of conditions at a particular moment in time. This specificity has been, and remains, photography’s boon as well as its bane …. An earnest and honest appreciation of subject matter is the genesis of a clearer, deeper […]
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What Was He Thinking?
Continue ReadingI took this photograph from a taxi moving approximately 50 miles per hour in chaotic traffic; the Levantine Sea forms the backdrop. May we draw conclusions after studying this picture? Perhaps the father’s life is worth more than his daughter’s life and health; or his being-in-the-world has more value than the wife’s existence, who rides […]
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