-
Another Inscrutable Gaze
Continue ReadingIt is hard to photograph policemen. They patrol our streets in states of hyper-alertness, and immediately notice a camera — or any other human attention — aimed in their direction. They give hard looks and will use their eyes like sharp blades to dissuade you. I managed this candid portrait of a Kentucky motorcycle […]
-
Making Pictures Out of Stubbornness
Continue ReadingI confess these two images exist due to stubborn character and ingrained habit, cabin fever, therefore mild boredom and no kind of inspiration. I went with one camera and one lens expecting nothing. We walked a mile or two under imperfect light, finding dry washes, creosote and haze obscuring distant subjects. I kept looking and […]
-
An Incorrect Response to An Open Pit
Continue ReadingFor years people have told me that surface mines are bad — at least undesirable — destructive to land, even obliterating whole mountains. Nevertheless I have always found them fascinating to look at and aesthetically pleasing, as described by this image taken on the eastern edge of Arizona.
-
The Pre-Teen Beauty Queen
Continue ReadingOf the many perplexing curiosities one finds in the United States, for me the pre-teen beauty queen ranks among the strangest, and the most disturbing. We have strict laws and registration requirements to contain pedophiles — outlawing even the possession of child pornography in digital form — yet parents allow and assist their twelve […]
-
Is This Still Life?
Continue Reading“What photograph isn’t a still life?” (Words of Garry Winogrand, American photographer.) The usual definition of a still life goes like this: “An arrangement of mostly inanimate objects of various textures — porcelain artifacts, fruit and cut flowers for example — pictured in a way revealing something new about commonplace things.” Are the […]
-
Can You Spot the Anomaly?
Continue ReadingThese are 17th Century French fur traders (historical impersonators) angling a canoe toward shore along the Ohio River. A modern detail betrays them, despite their elaborate attempt to deceive.
-
The Angry Tongue
Continue ReadingThis image puts me on guard, ready for a struggle. Why does this configuration speak loudly of aggression and danger? The focal point suggests the middle digit of a primate hand — upraised and thrust toward us by a snarling alpha male. Or it could be the sharp angry tongue of a reptile. The […]
-
Leaving the Realm of Photography
Continue ReadingHave we left photography behind here? In one sense the umbilical cord is still connected. We are attached to a particular time and place, lighting conditions and arrangement of things, so our indexical relationship exists with this real world scene. Still the feeling persists — we have left the realm of reality we know […]
-
Children Playing in Sand and Fog
Continue ReadingA cloud of sand and fog covered Sana’a, Yemen during my one winter’s residence. The odd conditions persisted several days. Neighborhood kids ignored the weather, playing under streetlamps as usual late into evening. On lightly traveled streets Yemeni children stake out playgrounds with exclusive rights; girls enjoy hopscotch and boys organize dodge ball combats — […]
Latest Entries
Not Even An Honorable MentionIn Aesthetics, Art Historical, Autobiographical, TechnicalI once submitted this picture to a […]
A Most Challenging LookIn Cultural Anthropology, Environmental Portraiture, Street PhotographyIn their frankness her eyes disconcert me. She […]
Why I Came Home EarlyIn Autobiographical, Cultural Anthropology, Egypt, Middle EastAssume you are a middle-aged man born and raised in […]
A Scene From YesteryearIn Americana, Cultural Anthropology, Street PhotographyIn this slice of American history, relaxation — […]
On Visiting A Bonfire-SiteIn Art Historical, Cultural Anthropology, Pilgrimages, ReportageA Ruined Chapel in the California Desert […]