You hit it.
My home page.
Hopefully you didn't bellyflop.
Or end up like that poor fellow up there in the header image...
~~~
I try to take great photographs.
I subscribe to the "Blind Squirrel" school of photography.
Every once in a while, I find a nut.
(Thank the gods for digital.)
~~~
I am serious about poetry.
I am not always serious about poems.
I sometimes write poems that are not serious.
I am willing to wait years for a serious poem to finish itself.
~~~
I strive to write great poetry.
Otherwise, why write poetry?
Every once in a while, I like to think that I come close to achieving something
vaguely resembling that goal.
If I'm trying hard enough to not try.
~~~
I try not to take myself too seriously.
Sometimes I fail.
Meh.
~~~
And sometimes I post trash on this blog because sometimes my best material
just isn't very good and sometimes producing trash is better than not
producing anything.
Sometimes.
~~~
Like this:
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Ok. Only now, three hours after putting up this page, do I see the humor of the whole “Splash” thing, what with the dead dragonfly and all.
I did an end run around myself…totally didn’t see my self coming.
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Love it… I have missed you, crabby man.
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You too, Suz. You gonna be around more often I hope?
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Gonna try…
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You’re just in time, since I will probably be unable to spend much time around here soon….restaurant opening…Crazy times.
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Sounds like good things, though!
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Thanks for a humorous and thoughtful blog 🙂
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Thank You for stopping by–
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So that’s the proper name for the way I take photographs! I always called it “pissing in the wind.” I’m a horrible photographer, but every now and then I shoot something worth sharing.
I’m visiting for NaPoWriMo. Our blog is Poetry of the Netherworld.
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“Your first 10,000 frames are shit.” Or something like that. I forget who said it, but it was back in the days of film only so thank the gods for digital!
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It was Cartier-Bresson who said that, except he used more polite language, i.e., “the worst” instead of “shit.” I have to say though that I respectfully disagree: Four decades and thousands and thousands of photos later, my portfolio still includes some of my earliest images. I attribute the quality of some to the blissful unawareness of technical knowledge I only gained later that would have said “Don’t even bother, it’s not gonna work.” 🙂
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Yes. I have since come across the origin of the quote. I imagine Henri was exaggerating at least a little bit. While I have only gotten back into photography as of the early 2000’s and as a result of digital technology, I could never afford to shoot that much when I was shooting film.
I was thinking more of the freeing potential of digital to allow us to shoot and shoot and shoot without concern for cost or hours spent in the dark-room (though I do miss making prints in the dark room). How it allows us so many more opportunities to learn from our mistakes relatively free of risk.
While I have many images that I still like from my “early days” (i.e., the early 2000’s) it seems that my percentage of keepers has greatly increased in the last year or two. I feel like I’m finding more of a stride, more of a natural feel to my relationship to the camera and the image.
But yes, I often find myself struggling to break certain rules….
(and pretty much anything that goes through the filter of my mind comes out more profane than when it went in….)
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Plonk!!! …Yeah i landed here right on this spot…like a pebble in a lake of water creating circles on the surface… liked what i saw here… will come back again for more…. !! 🙂 🙂
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Thank you so much, madhu.
The pebble-in-the-pool image is one that I frequently return to and find sustenance in.
See you ’round.
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cheers! 🙂
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🙂
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Always visions and revisions, yes? 🙂
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Well, always revisions anyway. Sometimes the visions are too few and far between…but they come when they will, not when I will them….
Thanks for stopping by–
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nice splash like it.
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Thank you!
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waiting years to finish a good poem… i like that part. i enjoyed the splashes, the photography references, but years to finish a good, serious poem–i liked that best. is it too cliche to speak of wine and cheese? the scent of the words simmering…
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I am a chef and restaurateur by trade.
Wine and Cheese are never cliche! 😉
Simmering, yes. One of the names I had toyed with for my blog was actually, “My Life as a Six-Burner Stove.”
Cooking and food metaphors mesh with my writing process very well indeed.
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Basho meets Ogden Nash 🙂 Thanks for the blog.
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Thank you for such company! I grew up on nonsense verse, and grew into eastern philosophy so, go figure!
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Very well done !
Not half baked.
Very creative cake. 🙂
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Hey–Thank you! But I’m afraid that I am rather quite half baked much of the time….
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Thank you for following my blog. Look forward to sharing more with you, and reading more of your posts as well. xoxo Anais
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It is my pleasure, and I too am looking forward.
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I just read this again. I’m not too keen on some of my more popular posts, either. Or more accurately, my personal favourites are often not so well received. Too bad. I will continue to suit myself. 🙂
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As well you should. That’s the best strategy.
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We should never apologize for who we are to anyone. We live in a world where I feel that much of the time, we are made to feel as if we always have something to apologize for. Some failing, some lack, some perceived weirdness or personal quirk.
It was refreshing to read your rather unapologetic post. Being authentic is difficult, and the path is not easily traversed, but it is a trait that should be admired and aspired to. I try very hard to live my life this way and I seek out “Otherness” whenever possible. Glad to have found you today. Looking forward to following you.
Blessed Be,
Holly Emberhawk
The Bardic Amazon
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Thank you so much for this Holly. I’m afraid I have been absent since you left these lovely words. I apologize for letting them languish here un-remarked-upon for so long. (there I go….apologizing… ;-))
Indeed, being authentic is difficult in the extreme and I usually feel that these things are easier said than done and that I am not nearly as authentic as I might sound or wish to be. But it is still something to shoot for I suppose.
I think that I am finally falling out of my creative shlump and should be post more soon.
Looking forward to seeing you around–
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https://aprayerlikegravity.wordpress.com/2014/01/15/false-face-1-mirrors-of-our-words/
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Hello. Nipped over from strata of the self for a peek
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Welcome! Come on in! The water’s Fine!
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Your poetry is excellent. I found you through Rebecca Moon. You have an awful lot of talent! Beautiful work!
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Thank you so very much.
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I take one photo
then i look and look and look
then i take some more
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And sometimes I just look.
Yup. Purty much.
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Nice blog
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Many thanks, Saania!
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Loved the poem Johnny!
Splash
A belly flop in the shallows
Floundering in the deep end
You never know until you dive in
I always have my skiff
Standing by
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Thanks, Jimmy. To be honest, I never thought of this page as a ‘poem’ exactly, at least not in the strict sense. Just a bit of verbiage to give people an idea of what I would like to do/happen here.
Thanks for stopping by!
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