-
Ghosts #1 — Great-Great Uncle Frank Ezra
Continue ReadingHe does not seem like a Frank, Or an Ezra. He looks like me, At his age. Setting aside aspects of his nose — and the mutton-chops, Together we make two poles of a doppelganger pair. Photograph from the 19th Century — image creator(s) unknown.
-
Human Hands VIII — The Indecent Gesture
Continue ReadingI took this picture in Western Carolina at a saloon packed with intoxicated customers. I did not expect one of these wholesome college girls with excellent dental hygiene would give me the finger as I operated my camera. It was such a crowded scene full of rowdiness I did not notice the obscenity until the […]
-
Comments On An Accidental Pilgrimage
Continue ReadingIt is the simplest message in Christian teaching: God Is Love. It is also the most audacious scripture propagating endless conundrums — the least believable too — open to rational criticism and ridicule. The jalopy in our image belonged to Leonard Knight, folk-artist and evangelist. The vehicle doubled as his residence. He wrapped the dilapidated […]
-
Hands & Fingers In Anticipation
Continue ReadingThe picture is an emanation from what seems the deep past: the year 2006. I made this image at Keeneland Racecourse outside Lexington, Kentucky. Walking toward that track across a park lush with grass and trees, about to enter an institution esteemed among lovers of thoroughbred horses, you sense you have stepped upon consecrated ground, […]
-
Human Hands VI — A Modern Mona Lisa
Continue Reading“Paying attention directly to objects and people in our world comprises maybe half our waking consciousness; the remainder of the day and night we spend in dreams, visions, and essentially comatose states of being.” From the Notebooks of C.R. Howerton The right hand of our foreground subject (the round-faced lady with curly hair) […]
-
Noticing the Trivial and the Overlooked
Continue ReadingRhopography: A category of art. The visual representation of trivial, commonplace, usually overlooked things: uneaten food on a plate, a lost glove, wilting flowers. Still life. Photographers practice rhopography when they capture found still life compositions — such as the two pictured here — not set-up or constructed on purpose but discovered accidentally and […]
-
Human Hands V — The Lady Aristocrat
Continue ReadingOur subject impersonates an 18th Century aristocratic lady — resplendent in wig and expensive garments — invited to a gathering at Petergof Palace outside Saint Petersburg, Russia. Active photographers the world over will recognize the message contained in her gesture: Don’t take my picture! It might scale up and generalize thusly: Stop what you are […]
-
Human Hands III — The Ferry Driver
Continue ReadingOur subject pilots a passenger ferry many times daily across the Nile in Upper Egypt. I am standing with camera and longish lens on a raised platform making up the second-tier of his boat. Later on the observation deck — seated alone — I wonder about the gesture and open look bestowed on me by […]
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 […]