My New Year Wish

~ Is for all to be compassionate citizens, to live in harmony with whatever…..

Me & Repeat

Name: John Anthony Craig Jr.

Born: May 19, 1969

Occupation: Photographer

High light of this year: Published in two books, couple of magazines and had short story published.

Low light of the year: Forcing my ego to commit suicide, now I feel guilty....

Influences: Picasso, Bach, Ken Wilber, Gary Snyder

Hobby: Yoga

Strengths: I can do push-up, lots of them

Weakness: My wife’s smile

Height: 5’9

Weight: 158 lbs

Hair: Dark brown

Eyes: Hazel

Religious Views: Integral Spirituality

Addiction of choice: Coffee…no, no it’s red wine…no, no it’s scotch

Photo of the Week

Camera: D700
Aperture: F/ 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO Speed: 400
Focal Length: 50mm

Photographer’s Blog Class ~ All January 2010

You will learn:
Are you struggling with:
~ Finding business
~ Finding time to market/brand/ advertise
~ Finding time to shoot

Due to scheduling conflicts & previous one-on-one sessions I have decided to cancel the Purposeful Blogging Workshop and instead will be doing small group classes (4 people or less) or one-on-one sessions.

Prices will stay the same $55.00 for the class (be it small group or one-on-one) you choose.

Why the change? Privacy ~ Over the past year of doing the one-on-one session it has been beneficial to the photographer to be able to ask business questions that publicly they would not be comfortable sharing.

Location: 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Cost: $55. 00
Length of class: 3 hours, give or take
Contact: Elizabeth Craig at 724.355.9079 or by email at craigphotography@mac.com

Meet The Family

Photo Taken by Annie O'Neill

Question

~ What is the “It Quality ” that creates separations between you and other photographers in your market?

~ What has changed in the photography market in the last year?

Quick Thoughts

~ Left over Indian food is good for breakfast
~ Martin Sexton album "Seeds" is groovy...
~ For God-sake use a tripod people.
~ Why are insurance company stocks raising if reform is on its way?
~ We are out of coffee, just a quick thought.
~ I think my wife may be funnier person than I am.
~ Also I think my wife may have better taste in music then I do?
~ The UPS truck stops at our house nine times a day. Should I get the driver a Christmas present?

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/1.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200

County Chronicles, There's No Place Like Home

You can check out some of my night photography photos that were just published in a book written by Ceane O'Hanlon-Lincoln "County Chronicles, There's No Place Like Home".

You can pre-order the book (here)

Art & Spirit

I have been thinking about the relationship between art and spirit. It was my intention to write an essay on this topic, but so far I only have a list of thoughts and ideas on how art and spirit mirror each other.

~ Familiar but yet not understandable
~ On the edge of being present
~ Search for meaning in the light
~ Explore the idea of what is…
~ Perspective (Man thinking differently on what is…)
~ Transform and include, follow the wisdom
~ Chaos to unity
~ Only purpose is to serve
~ To get us in touch with what is inside of us
~ Both totally human and totally divine

Not sure where I am going with this list of ideas but at this point in my writing it seems that art and spirit create feeling which keeps society moving forward…and that is a stronger power than words.

A Big Thanks

Thank you to all who attended the Q & A/Meet & Greet last night.

Last night was a night of remarkable questions, thoughts provoking conversation and making of new friendships. Photographers of all different levels came out to share their thoughts and opinions on photography.

An extra big thank you to my wife Elizabeth and David Burke for co-hosting this event.

We made a new friendship in another husband and wife photography team that will be moving to Pittsburgh next year. Elizabeth Vincent Photography, so go to their blog and leave a welcoming comment for them; let them know that Pittsburghers are a welcoming people even after a losing to the Browns.

Lastly to the lady who brought the pepperoni roll, God bless you Nikki…it was awesome…

2 Workshops: NOW BOOKING

David Burke & John Craig
How To Everything (& More): PHOTOGRAPHY

In your gut you want to be a PHOTOGRAPHER. Or maybe you just want to learn how to use that expensive camera you just bought but you’re not sure who to ask. You have a great eye for composition but you just need some guidance, an advisor to help YOU fulfill your dreams. Make the jump from thinking, daydreaming and create great photographs…

Is this you?
-You take great pictures
-Everybody tells you that you take great pictures
-Your friends and family always ask you to bring your camera
-You bought an expensive new DSLR camera
-You have no idea how to use to it, except on AUTO
-The camera’s manual scares the bajesus out of you
-You love photography and want to get better

Who should take this workshop?
-If the list above is YOU
-You love taking photographs
-ISO, F/stop, shutter speed, and aperture are words that means nothing to you
-You have no idea what DSLR means
-If you want to able to tell your camera what to do
-If you want the mysteries of the photo universe revealed to you

What you will learn:
-Understanding exposure
-How to use your camera in manual mode
-How to take a photo “correctly” in camera
-Natural light techniques
-Understanding your lens
-Understanding White Balance
-Flash Techniques


Date: January 23, 2010
Location: 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Time: 10 am-4pm
Cost: $175.00: includes boxed lunch
Class limited to 15 people
Contact Elizabeth Craig at 724.355.9079 or by email at craigphotography@mac.com for more information and to register.


Purposeful Blogging Workshop

Every photographer that I have ever met struggles with the same issues:

I am too busy running my business; I have no time for creative new work. How do I get more time?

Or

It’s too important for me to keep creating so I have no time to run my business. How do I get more time?

These questions will be answered at my Purposeful Blogging workshop.


"Purposeful Blogging is a marketing tool for photographers who want to grow their business by building an audience through the use of new communication models. Blogging for your business is a demonstration of your skill and representation of who you are. This workshop with Photographer will introduce you to techniques that can help you launch your business into the blogosphere.”

This is workshop of must-have information on how to build your audience thru blogging and how to sustain you business.

Date: January 30, 2010
Location: 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Time: 1 – 4pm
Cost: $55. 00
Class: limited to 15 people
Contact Elizabeth Craig at 724.355.9079 or by email at craigphotography@mac.com for more information and to register.

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Man-Spa

This past Saturday I went to a man-spa for a haircut.

Man-spa is not its real name, its real name is a French word that I cannot pronounce with funny symbols above specific letters in its name. I have been to this man-spa before for other types of man-spa treatments but I am no longer secure enough in my manliness to have these other treatments done to me in a public place whose name I cannot enunciate.

Sitting in the man-spa is a very manly experience for the man who wishes to feel pretty. They offer you lattés, cappuccinos and water that comes in oddly shaped bottles that look expensive. The waiting room smells of musk and leather, I think it might be burning candles. The magazine collection is a mixture of sports, cars, and man-style fashion magazines; think Vanity Fair for men. Vanity Fair is a magazine that men and women can both read, right? Nonetheless I pick up a copy of Esquire magazine and read an article about how Robert Downy Jr. is the second best actor in America. Never did find out who number one was.

The receptionist tells me that my stylist, Jess, will be right out. Jess? An androgynous, transgendered name…that always makes me uncomfortable. Not that I care if a man or woman cuts my hair; its the not knowing of who will walk around the corner to meet me. Ok Jess is a girl, a good-looking non-confusing gender of a woman. Don’t judge me, its a man-spa, I am here for the experience.

I explain the haircut that I want to Jess. It’s a mixture of Buddhist monk meets Brad Pitt haircut in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Jess calls it a buzz cut and places a number four guard on her clippers and within ten minutes I can see the white dome of my skull.

Next, the man-spa treatments that I am secure enough to treat myself to--scalp message with a hot towel wrapped around my face. The next three minutes with Jess are blissful.

Q&A Session & Meet-n-Greet w/ John Craig & David Burke

Hi all ~

Q&A Session & Meet-n-Greet w/ John Craig & David Burke

Thursday December 10th from 7pm to 9pm

Meet up: My house ~ Will send out directions at a latter date.

Cost: Free

What to bring: Your questions, camera, good attitude and a friend. Let’s build the community.

Please RSVP if you plan on attending....

Peace ~ John

Coffee Shop

Yesterday I was waiting in a coffee shop for a photographer friend of mine. You probably think that I am the type of person who would spend time in coffee shops. I am not but I should…

Top 5 reasons why I do fit the “coffee shop” stereotype:

1) I drink coffee.
2) I like to write in public places to steal ideas.
3) I have that scruffy-beard-artist-look-thing going for me.
4) Reading books in public places makes me feel cool. Got to feed the ego.
5) I like listening to music by white men with sad lyrics while playing acoustic guitar.

Top 5 Conversations overheard in a coffee shop:

1) Two stripper Moms trying to decide on daycare for their daughters
2) 80 year old man searching for his birth parents
3) Why fried bologna sandwiches are the best; seriously this was a great conversation to eavesdrop on.
4) Anything about religion, especially why other religions are wrong.
5) Isn’t John Craig extremely good looking?

Moment

Current Reading: Juliet, Naked By Nick Hornby
Current Music: Second Nature By Dominic Miller
Mood: Looking Up
Sounds: Fan
Smells: It is 4am when I am typing this; aromas do not wake up until at least 5am
Temperature: 42 degrees
Thoughts: Be on the edge of being present

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

The Man Who Forgot to Die ~ Short Story

A warm blanket covers me, breathing in cold morning air in a quiet room. “Another day”, I say to myself and then get out of bed and put on blue slippers.

First thing—pee. Second thing—wash face, and next brush teeth. Staring in the mirror is such an unusual thing for me each morning. Gazing at the reflection and trying to figure out who is looking back. Who does this reflection belong to?

“The reflection belongs to me”, I say out loud; “You are the man who forgot to die.” That is what the neighborhood kids have dubbed me; The Man Who Forgot To Die.

That’s the question in my head, that same repetitive question that will not go away. It will always wake me at exactly 7am. I never need the aid of an alarm clock. I have always gotten up at exactly 7am since the incident. What is up with that? Who gets up with a haunting repetitive question in their mind every day? Me, I acclaim, the man who forgot to die.

Monday 7am, the third of December I awake to the question of Existence. Not the question of ‘do I exist’ but the why and how of the longevity of my existence.

This is what I think about at 7am under a warm blanket, breathing in cold morning air. My long existence…

My existence has been mundane at best, not at all a great reality, nor a horrible one either. In all truth it has been a boring life, mostly.

I am the man who forgot to die…in hindsight it is a peculiar thing to put out of your mind, but forget I did. In truth, I did not forget to die. It was more like I didn’t remember that I was supposed to die.

It seems only natural to think about your death. Far as I know there is no cure for that condition called birth. If you are born you will die. Harsh, nonetheless true. Death has no cure.

This is the oddity of all the oddities…if you are born you will die. In between the light of birth and the darkness of death you get to think about it. On some random day for a haphazard reason you will die and there is nothing you can do to stop it. If that wasn’t bad enough you get no control over the how, why or what of your looming death. There is suicide for the control freaks, but that is a bad choice for those who have been baptized.

The compelling subject of death has missed my thoughts; I question my existence and speculate about what purpose it has. Bloody hell there is so much rubbish in my head. Truly maddening, repetitive and worthless…I need coffee, lots of it.

I turn off the running water, flush the toilet and go down to the kitchen.

Seven twenty two AM. Black coffee and toast, this is my same breakfast…mundane…isn’t it? I do use different jellies to break up the humdrum of it all.

On my kitchen table I keep a large yellow legal writing pad. In the morning with coffee and toast I like to write about myself, at least what I understand regarding my way of life. I hope that keeping lists, notes and casual whatnots about my life will help. It is my intention that these words may be of use to somebody some day. I feel bad for the poor bastard who needs these words.

Today’s page is titled ~

The Man Who Forgot to Die
~ I did not cheat death but forgot, so I remembered later, much later
~ No supernatural gifts or powers that I know of
~ No special diet or exercise program, in truth I am a slovenly lad
~ No fountain of youth or magical elixirs
~ Not a vampire
~ Not cursed, that I know of
~ Not blessed, that I know of
~ I do not pray or meditate or talk with the dead
~ Never studied on how to sustain long life
~ I did buy a juice machine off of a late night infomercial, maybe that had something to do with it? Probably not. I only used the juicer twice. Beet and celery juice is dreadful…
~ Spent a long time in a coma or hibernation or deep suspended sleep. The doctors never did agree on what to call it


*****
Twelve years ago I walked out of Saint Clair Memorial Hospital with three Kurt Vonnegut novels, two Beatles CD’s and the complete Pittsburgh Steelers decade of champions history of the 1970's in my head and not much else.

I knew how to tie my shoes and how to find my way home. I knew where I kept the coffee and how to find the post office. I even remembered my way through the local woods and short cuts to get across town.

What I couldn’t remember was:

~ My name
~ Age
~ If I had parents
~ If I had siblings
~ If I went to school or held a job
~ Was I liked or was I a self-absorbed wanker
~ Did I know love, did I break hearts or have my heart broken
~ Indian, Thai or Italian?
~ Why on earth my closet was filled up with tie-dye t-shirts, black skinny ties and a large woolly sweater with leather patches covering the elbows?
~ What was disco?

Nobody was quite sure how long my stay in Saint Clair Memorial Hospital was or even how I got there.

When I arrived at Saint Clair’s their record-keeping system consisted of hand-written notes on 3x5 white index cards that a nurse would type up in some meaningful order for the next physician to use.

When I left, patient information was readily available on something they called smart-phones that had no resemblance to a phone at all, more like a hand-held calculator with no numbers. A flat screen that gave you information when you touched it, as far as I could tell it responded to your thoughts and finger’s needs.

A doctor would walk into my room pull out this tiny black plastic gadget, wave his fingers over it and tell me that my vitals are looking good. Next the black-plastic-calculator-looking gadget would ring or chirp or play music and that was the warning sign that the doctor would say good-bye to me and walk out of the room.

With the switch from the pen to wireless technology my medical history was lost, the majority of it anyway. Dating my stay in the hospital it would appear that I have been here at least 23 years, best guess.

For the past seven years I had the same nurse; Dolores.

Dolores filled me in on much of what happened. She was the one who would read me the Vonnegut novels and play the Beatles music for me. Dolores felt sorry for me that nobody ever came to visit. Those novels and music were her son’s favorites during the wars that he was in.

Wars? What did I miss?

Dolores told me about how her son gave his life for us in a war and how the world has fallen into a world of terror, sac-religion and worst of all you can watch it all on the tellie.

So, Dolores would sit with me and mourn her son. Trying to comfort me with some of his favorite things even though I was sleeping. Dolores the Kind Nurse.

One day I awoke in Saint Clair Memorial Hospital with Dolores the Kind Nurse sitting next to me.

I was refreshed, strong and ready to go. I could bend over and touch my toes, I could do push-ups, was not sore or achy. My muscles should have been atrophied and deteriorating, but they were not. I had energy.

The explanation that the doctors had for me was that I was in a different state of consciousness during my long stay at the hospital. I was neither awake nor sleeping or dreaming. I was in an “alternate state of consciousness” was all they could figure.

They diagnosed it this way because apparently my heartbeat and brainwave activity continuously stayed the same. Neither slowing down nor speeding up. I am told that when you’re in a coma or asleep you will still have changes in brainwave activity and heart rate. I did not.

The comparison they gave me was that my brainwave activity and heart rate could be qualified as a marathon runner, running at peak condition that never altered pace or thoughts, for 23 years non stop.

To the doctors I was neither man nor angel or demon. I was unexplainable. This alternate state of consciousness left me ageless.

I aged but less; I grew strong during my absence.

I had some gray hairs on my chin and flecks of gray in my hair but I was muscular with little to no body fat. I had no wrinkles or age spots on my skin. I stood tall, well built with good posture and bone structure.

The experience should have left me decaying; in reverse it made me trans-human.

Three days after my awakening, with clarification from Kind Nurse Dolores, a barrage of questioning and tests from the medical staff, I walked out of Saint Clair Memorial Hospital with 3 Vonnegut novels, 2 Beatles CD’s and a hug from Kind Nurse Dolores.

Shortly after leaving the hospital I found out that I had become some sort of media-medical-celebrity. Everybody recognized me from the tellie, newspapers and Internet hoopla…but no one remembered me.

What type of blimey bastard must of I been? Twenty-three plus years in a hospital with no visitors and now all this media-medical-hype and still no one remembered me. I left this world and went to sleep and nobody missed me…

Over the next few years people began to think of me as this strange trans-human-being. People would walk up to me and ask all sorts of questions about my alternate state of consciousness. I favored calling it my “long-afternoon-nap”, but nobody seemed to care what I preferred.

Questions regarding the afterlife, heaven, hell, purgatory; they would want me to lay hands on them or they wanted to touch my hair for good luck. They would ask for my blessing over them or to heal their sick.

I had no answers for them. No gifts of wisdom to give them.

“Surely that occurrence must have had existential meaning to it”, they would say, or “What did you see” or “What did you learn”, they would ask of me.

Sorry to report—no visions, no knowledge, no memory…

It was disappointing to see their faces when I told them the only truth that I knew, which was “Sorry, I can not help you.”

After a while of not being able to stand all the disillusionment that I was causing in the masses, I decided to start giving one blank statement to all the hundreds of questions; Be Nice.

Be Nice ~ that was it, that was all I could come up with. Not much of a curbside prophesy but I figured with a statement like that I could do no harm.

Just like that I became “The Man Who Forgot To Die”, walking the streets telling people to “Be Nice” to one another. It looks as if nobody was listening at any rate. No wonder why I took my-long-afternoon-nap.

*****


Passing a church bake sale I could smell fresh apple pies. I remembered that I liked apple pie but I could not remember if I ever held a job or went on a date. Go figure.

I walked down into the church basement and heard my name spoken out load for the very first time and at that moment it all came back to me, my existence, my purpose, and my name.

I nun falls to her knees in front of me and said,

“Dear God”.

“Yes”, I answer.

Happy Thanksgiving

~ See you all next Monday, have a great holiday...

Peace ~ John

Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

Pittsburgh PA, Light Up Night 11/20/09

Purposeful Blogging Workshop

Every photographer that I have ever met struggles with the same issues:

I am too busy running my business; I have no time for creative new work. How do I get more time?

Or

It’s too important for me to keep creating so I have no time to run my business. How do I get more time?

These questions will be answered at my Purposeful Blogging workshop.


"Purposeful Blogging is a marketing tool for photographers who want to grow their business by building an audience through the use of new communication models. Blogging for your business is a demonstration of your skill and representation of who you are. This workshop with Photographer will introduce you to techniques that can help you launch your business into the blogosphere.”

This is workshop of must-have information on how to build your audience thru blogging and how to sustain you business.

Date: January 30, 2010
Location: 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Time: 1 – 4pm
Cost: $55. 00
Class: limited to 15 people
Contact Elizabeth Craig at 724.355.9079 or by email at craigphotography@mac.com for more information and to register.

AND DON'T FORGET:

Pittsburgh Light Up Night – Photo Walk
Friday November 20th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be very cold and crowed on the overlook.

Moment

Current Reading: Financial Lives Of The Poets by Jess Walters
Current Music: Revolver (remaster) By The Beatles
Mood: Breathing
Sounds: Kazoo
Smells: Coffee
Temperature: 57 degrees
Thoughts: Why did it take me so long to discover the novels by Jess Walters?

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 1600

Last Week

This is what I remember from last week:

~ My daughter fell in love with the word poopie & mass-eating of cantaloupe
~ My wife bought me slippers that sound like I am walking in high heels when I walk across hardwood floors.
~ I spent too many half hours watching FOX news followed by half hours of MSNBC news. It left me feeling half baked.
~ Planet Green Television is the best network ever. Emeril Green & Renovation Nation are good TV.
~ Read “The Financial Lives of The Poets” by Jess Walter. Walter is my new favorite writer.
~ I discovered what happens when an observant man loses the ability to observe.
~ Bought the re-mastered Beatles album Revolver. Love it. It is the first time you can actually hear an improvement in sound quality. McCartney can play bass.
~ Photographed a painting inside an art gallery. is photographing art, art?
~ Saw Santa Clause, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan and Aladdin all in one place, local mall…
~ Drank a lot of ginger tea
~ Steelers lost to the Bengals, twice, ARRGHH..

AND DON'T FORGET:

Pittsburgh Light Up Night – Photo Walk
Friday November 20th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be very cold and crowded on the overlook.

Please e-mail me at jecraig@mac.com if you plan on attending, need to get a head count.

Time Off

See you next week...

Workshops now booking...(see here)

New Workshop Dates Announced

David Burke & John Craig
How To Everything (& More): PHOTOGRAPHY

In your gut you want to be a PHOTOGRAPHER. Or maybe you just want to learn how to use that expensive camera you just bought but you’re not sure who to ask. You have a great eye for composition but you just need some guidance, an advisor to help YOU fulfill your dreams. Make the jump from thinking, daydreaming and create great photographs…

Is this you?
-You take great pictures
-Everybody tells you that you take great pictures
-Your friends and family always ask you to bring your camera
-You bought an expensive new DSLR camera
-You have no idea how to use to it, except on AUTO
-The camera’s manual scares the bajesus out of you
-You love photography and want to get better

Who should take this workshop?
-If the list above is YOU
-You love taking photographs
-ISO, F/stop, shutter speed, and aperture are words that means nothing to you
-You have no idea what DSLR means
-If you want to able to tell your camera what to do
-If you want the mysteries of the photo universe revealed to you

What you will learn:
-Understanding exposure
-How to use your camera in manual mode
-How to take a photo “correctly” in camera
-Natural light techniques
-Understanding your lens
-Understanding White Balance
-Flash Techniques


Date: January 23, 2010
Location: 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Time: 10 am-4pm
Cost: $175.00: includes boxed lunch
Class limited to 15 people
Contact Elizabeth Craig at 724.355.9079 or by email at craigphotography@mac.com for more information and to register.


Purposeful Blogging Workshop

Every photographer that I have ever met struggles with the same issues:

I am too busy running my business; I have no time for creative new work. How do I get more time?

Or

It’s too important for me to keep creating so I have no time to run my business. How do I get more time?

These questions will be answered at my Purposeful Blogging workshop.


"Purposeful Blogging is a marketing tool for photographers who want to grow their business by building an audience through the use of new communication models. Blogging for your business is a demonstration of your skill and representation of who you are. This workshop with Photographer will introduce you to techniques that can help you launch your business into the blogosphere.”

This is workshop of must-have information on how to build your audience thru blogging and how to sustain you business.

Date: January 30, 2010
Location: 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Time: 1 – 4pm
Cost: $55. 00
Class: limited to 15 people
Contact Elizabeth Craig at 724.355.9079 or by email at craigphotography@mac.com for more information and to register.

AND DON'T FORGET:

Pittsburgh Light Up Night – Photo Walk
Friday November 20th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be very cold and crowed on the overlook.

Q&A Session & Meet-n-Greet
Thursday December 10th 7 to 9pm
Meet up: My house
Cost: Free
What to bring: Your questions, camera, good attitude and a friend. Let’s build the community.

E-Book released
January 2010
The Photographer’s Blog
Cost: $10.00 download

Photo Walk - Monday November 9th ~ CANCELED due to illness

~ Please spread the word... Will reschedule.

The Abandoning ~ Short Story

The Abandoning ~ Short Story

Dear…

Mr. & Mrs. House; that’s my parents and they love coffee and not much else. They have 7 kids and I am the 7th. Max, that’s me. Coffee that is their life actually was their life.

Mr. & Mrs. House up at 6:30am, by 6:35 they are sitting at a small kitchen table built for two. Yellow formica table top with four rusted steel legs two chairs that are permanently wrapped in a thick plastic with faded pink flowers imprinted on the cushions.

My Mom makes the coffee like a sacred ritual. She opens the big blue can, takes a deep breath of the grounds and then four large scoops into a stainless steel coffee pot that was given to them as a wedding gift. They sit at that table and wait the 4 minutes and 32 seconds for life to begin, again. After the 1st cup is drank my father pours the 2nd cup for the both of them and then looks at his wife and says, “Don’t say I never do anything for you.” He says this everyday and not much else to her. My Mom just smiles and reads yesterday’s newspaper.

This is what I wake up to; the smell of coffee, and two fat parents in a small kitchen who could care less about me. To be fair, at least they treat me like all their others kids. The siblings seven: the two oldest in jail for drugs, next set got the hell out of here over ten years ago. I don’t see either of them very often but they do send me books and music at Christmas and on my birthday. That leaves the two siblings that I should be close with, my brother & sister. I am not for no particular reason. We do not fight or have different views; we are simply distant from one another. It’s like when you see a cousin every other year at a family event. Sure there is a family resemblance and polite conversation, nonetheless he is a stranger to you. That’s us as siblings; strangers who are polite.

As for me being born as lucky number 7, well that is not clear to me yet. To say that my arrival into this world was a surprise would be an understatement. If the New York Giants did not win the Super Bowl in 1987 there is a good chance that I would not of been born. But here I am at this computer telling you my stories and hoping somebody out there is reading them. They say that you choose your parents before you’re born in the great Hall of Bluff in Heaven. I have no idea what I was thinking up there in the after life or the before life or whatever you want to call it. All I know is that I must have been up for a challenge choosing Mr. & Mrs. House.

Nine months and 12 days after the Giants won the Super Bowl my parents finally got around to giving me a name. There was no debate or thought as to what to name me; they just didn’t get around to it.

On day 12 of life they decided on a name for me. At 6:39am one minute before the coffee would be ready. Mrs. House holds ups her beloved blue can of coffee and looks at Mr. House and says “How about Maxwell?” So, Mr. & Mrs. House named their 7th child after their true love. That must mean something, right?

Searching for life,

~MH

*****

Dear…

It has been 4 years since the abandoning. I live alone on a small plot of live land on a dead planet. As far as I know I am the only one left. When I say dead planet, I mean dead. If you walk off my land the world is gone. No people, no buildings, no trees, no plants, no air, no sky, no water, no memories; only death. It is like one of those photos of the Moon or Mars, a crater of dead rock suspended in space with no purpose. Accept for my small plot of land.

Is this purgatory or paradise, paradise lost or paradise found? I have not discovered that answer yet. Why was I spared from the abandoning? I do not know. I am the last of humankind, all extinct but me enveloped in silence, the last to speak or to use language.

Why publish these letters if nobody is left to read them?

The abandoning left me with this land, one working computer and an internet connection. A single solar panel on the house powers the computer and there must be a satellite left up in space that I can get an internet connect from. This is all just a guess. I have no explanation for this and have stopped trying to find one a long time a go.

The internet is filled up with the wisdom of my ancestors; I will have no descendants to tell my stories to. The Abandoning left me this vessel for communication. It must mean something, and this is why I write these letters.

Searching for life,

~MH

*****

Dear…

Up at 6:30am, I must be a creator of breading, I say to myself out loud. No coffee but black tea and raw almonds provided by the land. This will do. Twelve raw almonds I must eat every morning before I start my day. I have no inkling why it has to be twelve, but twelve it must be. OCD in purgatory or paradise.

Day 1,468 I sit in the kitchen as my parents did. Starting out the same bay window, with the same smoke yellowed curtains with a blue dove pattern. From this window I can see the only other sign of life left on the planet and it’s actually a sign. A real sign; a billboard. A billboard that sits on the very edge of my land and a death planet, separated by advertising.

This billboard is not the typical roadside billboard that you’re used to seeing, it’s enormous. Think of the Las Vegas strip on steroids. This black and white structure stands 50ft high by 100 feet long and it reads…

Ye are all GODS
and it’s about time
you start getting good at it

Searching for life,

~MH

*****
Dear…

Yes, it was maddening. The world is gone. I awoke to nothing. No violence, no war, no rapture, no explanation, nothing. Writing this I am not sure if I am sane or insane. This is no dream. The land and the billboard told me so. Not in a voice or a feeling but their existence gives me reason to believe.

My land is perfect. It is everything I need to sustain my life; hell it has everything I need to grow old and fat. Freshwater stream with fish, an orchard of fruit trees, rows and rows of vegetable gardens, birds in the sky, squirrels and chipmunks on the ground. I live on the perfect farm; a land of perennial bounty with none of the work.

Traveling this land I now know so well I feel guilty if a have to kill any animal for food since now these animals with the land are my community…my people. My only predator is time.

I have to go now. The sun is setting and I’m losing power.

Searching for life,

~MH

*****

Dear…

I play guitar, a 67 Martian acoustic. This instrument holds memories of the life I was living before the abandoning. I played too well not to be a professional musician but not well enough to be noticed in my profession. Now I sit at the edge of my land under the shade of the billboard and play for the audience that I wish was listening.

Reminiscent sounds of clapping in the distance...could it be?

Two walking shadows at the foot of the billboard move towards me. I cannot understand nor believe it. I run towards the billboard.

“Hello Maxwell.” Says the man.

“Why...how...who are?” I ask dumbfounded

“You say that every time we meet Maxwell.” He says with a strange, knowing look on his face. "This is my wife Eve and I am Adam."

Reminder ~ This Monday

Photograph Pittsburgh at Night– Photo Walk
Monday November 9th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be cold on the overlook.

Moment

Current Reading: Traveling Clothes by Bill Deasy
Current Music: If On A Winter's Night... by Sting
Mood: Death
Sounds: TV
Smells: Nothing
Temperature: Cold
Thoughts: I am not looking to preach but I do want to convert.

Craig Photography Charity Gift Calendars

Craig Photography would like to announce that we are now offering 2 types of gift calendars you can purchase for your friends and family for this upcoming gift-giving season. All proceeds will be donated to the Three Rivers Adoption Council, which is an organization that devotes its efforts to finding permanent homes for children of all ages.

These 12-page, 8.5 x 11 calendars are $30 and will include your choice of either John’s art photos from his Ambient collection or his Pittsburgh at Night series collection. See below for the photos included in each.

So help us raise money for a very special organization! Contact us for more information.

Yesterday's Workshop Notes & Dates

Thank you to all who attended yesterday's workshop. The questions asked were remarkable.

If you would like to download last night's notes you can (HERE)

Upcoming Photo-Walk dates:

Photograph Pittsburgh at Night– Photo Walk
Monday November 9th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be cold on the overlook.

Pittsburgh Light Up Night – Photo Walk
Friday November 20th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be very cold and crowed on the overlook.

Q&A Session & Connect-n-Grow
Thursday December 10th 7 to 9pm
Meet up: My house
Cost: Free
What to bring: Your questions, camera, good attitude and a friend. Let’s build the community.

E-Book released
January 2010
The Photographer’s Blog
Cost: $10.00 download

Recommend blog readings:
Craig Photography by Elizabeth
David Burke Shoot N' Learn

Short Stories

I have been wanting to write short stories as of late, nothing new to share, yet. Re-living my personal greatest hits.

No Demons
Rainbow in a ghost town
I Dream of Heaven
The Shepherd & Alpaca
I never thought the afterlife would look like this
Rooftop Sanctuary
Joe the Ugly Art Critic

But, I think my next story will have something to do with this quote “Ye are all GODS…and it’s about time you start getting good at it.” & a single billboard left to stand on a dead plant.

Street Portrait

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 1/8000 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 100 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed:

Life is odd...isn’t it?

The things we do just trying to stay alive are odd obsessions, don’t you think? We want to preserve the NOW while constructing a FUTURE, remembering (or better yet) trying to forget our PAST to build all things anew. When in the end we are all just squirrels trying to get a nut. Then we find out we're allergic to the nut.

Things that goes well together:
Miso soup with cumin,
Vanilla yogurt & pumpkin seeds,

Did you know when you have an almost 4yr old Halloween becomes a month long event? These are things that a hospital should tell you when you take home your baby for the first time.

~ Get the best dust buster that money can buy
~ Make sure you and your wife agree on what the temperature of tepid water is
~ Putting shoes on a baby is hard. Practice it, repeat the practice and deal with it. Dummy it's only shoes.
~ Little princesses enjoy trying on dress a lot, seriously a lot
~ Every holiday is no less than a thirty day event
(add to the list this could get honestly funny and useful)

Going to spend all of February in Florida this year. Stock photography, family vacation, in all truth it is a BIG step for me.

Looks like in March we will be utilizing a studio space.

“Ye are all GODS…and it’s about time you start getting good at it.” – mashed-up quote by Jesus, Stewart Brand & me

Life is odd, isn’t it? ~ but good, very good…

Photo of the Week ~ Ambient Art

Pittsburgh Photography Workshop Reminder

Little reminder about our upcoming Photography 101 workshop coming up on Nov. 1 from 1-4 at 502 W. North Ave. Pgh 15212.

There are still a few seats left so we hope you'll join us!

For more info click here.

Moment

Current Reading: Whole Earth Discipline by Stewart Brand
Current Music: Seeds by Martin Sexton
Mood: In a rush, preschool photo day
Sounds: Dishwasher
Smells: Coffee
Temperature: 70 degrees
Thoughts:"We are all Gods, & it's about time we start getting good at it". -Stewart Brand

Slow Photography Movement

Let me start with a story of how this idea came to me.

Scrolling through the blog of one my favorite local photographers (&person) she had posted this photo.

When I look at this photograph I often wish I had the opportunity to take this photo.

I do not know how this particular photo was taken. I can’t even venture a guess, at least not a good one...yet. It has me thinking….maddening yet wonderful thought about how I can do this.

I am not looking to plagiarize Joanne's work but I desperately want to be a chameleon to it…

Joanne's photo paired with my recent workshops, photo walks, conversations and e-mail discussions has me thinking about what is a complete photograph?

For me the least important thing to a great photos is the snap of the shutter; I am most interested in what happens before capture.

Composition, environment, emotions & inspiration…

The things that I do not care to know: Type of camera, camera setting, what lens, software, and post-production work was done.

If I can make an artistic guess it would be that this photo was completed in Joanne’s mind's eye long before it was captured in camera.

This photo brings me back full circle to a question that I asked on Facebook last week: What is the “Right” problem to fix in photo-education?

Thank you to all who answered. Your responses were remarkable, appreciated and the foundation for this article.

The feedback I gained can be listed in three categories/problems that need to be addressed.

Ethics, Ego & Stuff

A photograph is none of these things. A photograph begins with a thought.

A photograph is not: an obsession with equipment, an ability to purchase gear, it is not biz skills nor people skills, it is not using auto-canned-modes on your camera, hell it's not even about being able to shoot in Manual mode. (Manual mode is super important…. it’s your foundation)

I would ask photographers to think about their craft as:

Art, Morals and Truth

Tackling the right problem, that is struggle. Expanding your range of options rather than narrowing your perspective. A photograph is about YOU, not buying into someone else’s techniques or tips. It is about you developing and eye and situational problem skills.

Joanne's photograph has me thinking about how to weave patterns to discover interesting stories. And to question the purpose of how it was imagined. And doing all this while removing boundaries of what my conception of visual art is.

For a good two weeks I have been thinking about this photo and never once have I picked up my camera to try to replicate it. I can honestly tell you that I am a better photographer today than I was two weeks due to this process.

Slow Photography Movement…what is it????

It a philosophy about photography on how to transform and include yesterday's foundation of photography with the technologies that photography has to offer today. It is about the all-encompassing topics of art, morals and truth.

This is the start of a conversation; join in…more to come on this topic.

Let’s discuss….

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 1 sec
Aperture: f/22.0
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

Yesterday

Up at 7am after going to bed six hours earlier, feeling good. Proof of God for me is found in a coffee pot. Simple revelation but nonetheless true.

Cold morning walk thought the streets of PGH on my way to a PHOTO WALK. I love these gray skies of Pittsburgh; this city becomes more alive to me everyday. Autumn in this city is brilliant. The colors of fall backlight this town with a glow that is noticeable by walking across the bridges, tree lined hillsides, reflections on the rivers and the urban jungle energy that's all-encompassing to this place.

Started reading a book by a local author, Sherrie Flick “Reconsidering Happiness”, enjoying it…it has a female Kerouac feel to it. This book has description, emotion and a journey to it; it leaves me wanting to travel and to experience small town dinners and tuna fish on wheat bread.

Photo Walk ~ Reminder

When: Sunday October 18th 9:30 am

Meet up: Heinz Stadium Gate A

Cost: Free

What to bring: Camera, passion to learn and your walking shoes.

Topics of conversation: understanding exposure & creative exposure

If there is cancellation due to weather I will post it on Facebook at 8:30 am

4am & a Thought

Woke up early, again, very early 4am. Coffee is extra good at 4am and the computer screen is bright at 4am, painfully bright.

Been thinking about getting a hand grinder for coffee beans. There is something about brewing a cup of coffee that appeals to me.

Finished reading “Change By Design” by Tim Brown last night. The book ended with a quote by Tom Kelly that has sparked a thought in me.

“Innovation begins with an eye.” ~ that is the photographers job; to create something new and different. A photograph starts with a thought.

For 17 years I have been working in photography and in that time I have never felt like an inclusive photographer. I am not techie, nor do I subscribe to any photo magazines and have no interest in the latest gear. For me, my passion and effort has been pulled towards the compositional aspects of art. I think of myself as “I create therefore I am”, type of artist….my ego just exploded, sorry for the mess.

Nature. I am drawn to nature as a teacher of the arts. I figure that nature has a 4.5 billion-year headstart; maybe there is something that nature can teach me.

This is my compositional process: read books and go for walks in the woods, feel philosophical about myself…good thing egos are self-regenerating; I am on my third one today. Is this the correct process for photographers? No idea but it is the correct process for me.

Working on a post for next week: “Slow Photography Movement”. Raining outside, going to read a book by the fire.

Question

I posted this question on Facebook and Twitter yesterday, I wanted to open it up to the blog. So what do you think?

What is the "right" problem that needs to be fixed in photo-education???

Moment

Current Reading:Change by Design by Tim Brown
Current Music: Under The Rose by Rahim Alhaj & Ottmar Liebert
Mood: I feel good, as sung by James brown
Sounds: My wife reading a book to my daughter
Smells: Coffee
Temperature: Low of 37 high of 49
Thoughts: Getting up at 5am is productive...can I do it two days in a row?

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 30
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

On Building a Photo Community

I have a passion for photography; a love for the business that Elizabeth and I built and a commitment to the next generation to leave it stronger and healthier.

About a year and half ago on a cold night after being frustrated about not being able to find a parking spot, I walked late into David Burke’s studio where he was holding a Shoot N’ Learn networking group. That night was the catalyst for what I am trying to achieve today. I thought David’s working title for his group, “Shoot N’ Learn”, was perfect. In addition to that title I wanted to pair it with “Connect and Develop”.

The characteristics that I hope to instill upon the community will be:

~ Passion for learning
~ Effort and discipline
~ Good health; mental & physical
~ Foster a love for getting outdoors
~ Service to others
~ Using your camera in Manual without having to drudge through reading the manual.

What I am proposing to change about photography education is the “how” and “why” in the ways that we learn.

Two core principles for the photo community are:
Shoot N’ Learn
Connect and Develop

Create something new. That’s it, that is my goal to collectively achieve. Daily I am asked the same question, “What camera should I buy?” The question that should be asked is “How do I use my camera?” You cannot purchase your way to being a better photographer; the best camera to own is the camera in

your hand. Technology is great and it has pushed the frontier of photography into new and better directions. But the past is the foundation that needs to be deeply explored and understood.

There is a need to understand the Manual aspect of using a camera. A camera is a tool and I want people to understand how to use it, properly.

The reason to build this community is to discover what ideas need to be fulfilled. To connect people with problems to the people who have answers. This community is to position those for success, (whatever you deem success to be) not a guaranteed success, but to permit and promote it in others and ourselves.

The community will generate conversations in which we will can gain feedback, learn, connect and grow. The only guiding rules for the community are to be authentic, to listen, and respond by doing some good for society. And lastly to learn how to take remarkable photos.

For me, personally, this photo community will be successful when it is not the last word on photography but the first words; the starting place.

I invite you to join in on this ~ connect with me on facebook (HERE)

So, curious, let’s discuss

Photo Walks & Workshop Dates - October - December 2009

Photo Walk
When: Sunday October 18th 9:30 am
Meet up: Heinz Stadium Gate A
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, passion to learn and your walking shoes.

How To Everything Photography: Workshop 101 class
Meet up: Sunday November 1st 1 to 4pm
Where: Historic North Side of Pittsburgh at Annie O’Neill Studios
Cost: $55.00
Event details (HERE) Class limited to only 15 people
PS. It’s the Steelers off week, no traffic or parking issues…

Photograph Pittsburgh at Night– Photo Walk
Monday November 9th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be cold on the overlook.

Pittsburgh Light Up Night – Photo Walk
Friday November 20th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be very cold and crowed on the overlook.

Q&A Session & Meet-n-Greet
Thursday December 10th 7 to 9pm
Meet up: My house
Cost: Free
What to bring: Your questions, camera, good attitude and a friend. Let’s build the community.

E-Book released
January 2010
The Photographer’s Blog
Cost: $10.00 download

Artist Statement ~ Ambient Art

Ambient photography is conceptual experimentation in which the camera technique is a hybrid format with the quest to produce contemporary art.

Photographic abstractions, with the use of organic shapes that have shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology to construct the substance, is a reflection of the elements that focuses on the power of natural light.

I want to kill the idea of a subject to remove the focal point in a photograph. Design a photograph that does not disregard the background, but evolves within and for its environment.

Thoroughly I feel that this project is generative art in that it flows in balance with nature, and that I will never be able to capture the same frame twice.

Ambient collection was photographed over a five-year period in the woods and rivers of Pittsburgh PA.

From My Morning Walk

Moment

Current Reading: 52 Rules of Thumb by Alan Webber
Current Music: Different Kind of Wild by Bill Deasy
Mood: Not sure but strong coffee is good....
Sounds: Computer fan
Smells: Dog & Coffee
Temperature: 66 degrees and cloudy
Thoughts: Photographic abstractions, with the use of organic shapes is ambient art...

90 days ~ Natural Method Conditioning

Part 7 of a 12 part series every Tuesday....
Getting hard to write about this process, staying the course. Be well.

30 Days, Updates & Social Corporatism

I have been walking a lot these past thirty days. I walk to the bank or to the post office or I’ll take the train into Pittsburgh and walk to my destinations. The purpose is to do creative thinking and see my surroundings in a different light. Driving at 65mph does not give you a clear view of your surroundings. Walking two to three miles at a time opens up the universe to you.

I am thinking about buying an electric bike that has a small motor that kicks in when you need it. It would be nice not to have to use a car for short jaunts. I am lucky enough to be about five miles from everything I need. Which is food, books, wine, bank, post office and other random errands that my wife could send me on.

This week I will go out to do some scouting for nature and ambient photography. I’m looking forward to that. Thursday night I will be attending a book reading by a local writer. She is also the writer and teacher of a workshop I attended this past January that got me into short story writing.

As I am typing this my home is filling up with the aroma of butternut squash soup that “E” is making for us today. I will be cooking chili later in the week. There is something magical about aromas filling up a home. Slow cooking, slow walking, slow living; not a bad formula to be productive.


Current thoughts:
The term Social Corporatism has been swirling around in my head. Do we have choices? Is there competition in the marketplace today?

In Pittsburgh if you want to hire a photographer there are at least ten people that I could think of that would be our competition. And you know what? They’re good and they’re also our friends. That seems like a competitive marketplace; collectively you have to be good to stay in the game and your competitors, who are also your friends, help you grow and sustain a business.

I wish I could say that about my cable company or phone company or all of my utility companies that I pay monthly to.

In the healthcare debate the public option is good for the public and it is bad for those bigger than government, which is the Social Corporatism elite. We are a socialized nation. It is not controlled by the government, it is controlled by the corporations and that is not free market capitalism when there is no choice.

Workshop: NOW BOOKING

Is this you?
-You take great pictures
-Everybody tells you that you take great pictures
-Your friends and family always ask you to bring your camera
-You bought an expensive new DSLR camera
-You have no idea how to use to it, except on AUTO
-The camera’s manual scares the bejesus out of you
-You love photography and want to get better

Who should take this workshop?
-If the list above is YOU
-You love taking photographs
-ISO, F/stop, shutter speed, and aperture are words that means nothing to you
-You have no idea what DSLR means
-If you want to able to tell your camera what to do
-If you want the mysteries of the photo universe reveled to you

What you will learn
-Understanding exposure
-How to use your camera in manual mode
-How to take a photo “correctly” in camera
-Natural light techniques
-Understanding your lens

Who should not attend this class?
-If you have an understanding of exposure and are able to use your camera in manual mode, this class is not for you.

Location: Historic North Side of Pittsburgh at Annie O’Neill Studios

Date: November 1, 2009
Address: 502 W. North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Time: 1pm-4pm
Cost: $55.00

Contact Elizabeth Craig at 724.355.9079 or by email at craigphotography@mac.com for more information and to register.

Pittsburgh Wedding Photographers

Photo of the Week

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 65 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 3200

Photo Walks & Workshop Dates

Photo Walk
When: Sunday October 18th 9:30 am
Meet up: Heinz Stadium Gate A
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, passion to learn and your walking shoes.

How To Everything Photography: Workshop 101 class
Meet up: Sunday November 1st 1 to 4pm
Where: Historic North Side of Pittsburgh at Annie O’Neill Studios
Cost: $55.00
Event details (HERE) Class limited to only 15 people
PS. It’s the Steelers off week, no traffic or parking issues…

Photograph Pittsburgh at Night– Photo Walk
Monday November 9th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be cold on the overlook.

Pittsburgh Light Up Night – Photo Walk
Friday November 20th 7pm
Meet up: West End Overlook
Cost: Free
What to bring: Camera, tripod and warm clothes ~ it will be very cold and crowed on the overlook.

Q&A Session & Meet-n-Greet
Thursday December 10th 7 to 9pm
Meet up: My house
Cost: Free
What to bring: Your questions, camera, good attitude and a friend. Let’s build the community.

E-Book released
January 2010
The Photographer’s Blog
Cost: $10.00 download

90 days ~ Natural Method Conditioning

Part 6 of a 12 part series every Tuesday

Today is day 37 of my 90 days conditioning project. This is what I have learned:

The old saying “ Your body is a temple” is true. A temple is tall and strong on the outside and on the inside it is a place of quiet and contemplation.

The project has turned into a complete natural method conditioning in more of an expansive way then I would have predicted. Yes, it is about diet, exercise and meditation. Today the project is more about life. It’s odd to me to type the word “more” because actually it is all about less.

Live slow
Deliberately less

The purpose of meditation is not to sit on the cushion, it is to get up off the mat and live to carry with you the calm, balance and centered-ness that the mat gives you in your daily walk.

A daily walk has taken on a whole new meaning to me these past months. It is my creative time, my dual purpose time; it is my natural method to condition how I want to live.

G-20, No Zombies & Me

Walking across the Stanwick Street Bridge on the morning of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh had an eerie feeling to it.

Getting off the “T” I walked through a military security post when two soldiers gave me a stern look, never saying a word and just watched me walk by. Eerie.

Military boats in the river, army helicopters above, all patrolling the city in preparation for a possible terrorist act and I am walking into town thinking “What in the hell am I doing here?”

Alone. I am alone. Walk into town and there is nothing; no life, all empty streets, no sound. It felt like a horror movie. I waited for a zombie to walk around the corner. I waited to see life.

By the time I hit Sixth Street I see life; people on bikes, people on foot and best of all no zombies, at least not yet.

The city had the police forces out in full… well for lack of a better word…force. There they were--thirty cops on one corner and the next street had another thirty police in full riot gear. No zombies, not many citizens and I am hearing the theme to Dark Vader in my head. This city is locked down and I am out for a photo-walk.

Two hours of walking through downtown and not much was happening yet. The city was peaceful. No protesters? Two weeks of media buildup and no hype. It’s just me and about a thousand cops, no zombies and the happiest bikers Pittsburgh has ever seen. People on two wheels owned the city for the day; barely any traffic and just pedestrians walking the streets.

At this time I was getting ready to call it quits for the day. The only thrill I had seen all day is a couple of people offering me salvation in Jesus Christ. One person explaining to me why Allah is the one true God, I was bored. Stop at a bar for a beer.

Insanely useful photography tip:

Here is a lesson learned that I feel the need to pass on. When having a discussion with police officers on the street choose your words carefully.

Me: “ Excuse me Mr. Police officer what are the chances of a riot breaking out today? “

Police officer: “We’re prepared and if anything happens I expect you to not get in the way.”

Me: “ Don’t worry officer if anything happens I will just sit back and shoot the crowed.”

Police office: “Son, you better choose your words carefully when speaking to me.”

At this time he stands back and places his hand on his gun and a second officers shifts his position to stand behind me.

“Open the bag son.”

Me: I open my camera bag slowly and let him look inside. “Lesson learned officer, have a nice day.”

I walk away thinking that this could have turned out a lot worse for me.

Next:

Chanting, I can hear chanting in the far off distance. This is it… the protest of the G-20 is happening now. A crowd gathers, police congregate….see my photo (HERE).

Photo of the Week

Photo taken at G-20 in Pittsburgh, more photos to come on Monday.

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 120 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

G-20 & Street Photography

Why Does the Pursuit for Peace Start with War?

I will be photographing the protesters of the G-20 Summit today that is being held in Pittsburgh. Not sure if I will be able to get close enough to get any good photos but I figure it's worth a try.

I will be taking the ”T” to Station Square and walking across the bride to the city. I had a conversation with a reporter friend of mine and he told me to expect three thousand media people on the street. Not sure how many protesters-for-peace will be on the street along with them.

I am not one for promoting protesters, even those with the best of intentions. I have a personal belief that if you want to create change you should put down the picket sign, walk off the street and walk into a soup kitchen and serve your community (or shelter, or VET hospital, or animal shelter or whatever cause you stand for). Or walk into any place that helps to educate the young and volunteer. Those are my thoughts; speak citizen to citizen.

Nonetheless this should be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see global action up close.

Good Kharma Creates Great Exposure

CONGRATULATIONS ANNIE O'NEILL! I am so incredibly thrilled to announce that local photographer, Annie O'Neill, has been chosen as this year's recipient of the ShootQ photography grant.

"The ShootQ Grant is a $10,000 grant given to a photographer to fund a project that raises public awareness about an important social, environmental or economic issue.
ShootQ's goal is to free photographers from the tedious tasks of running a business. With ShootQ Grant, our mission is to empower photographers to use their free time to give back. More than a monetary award, the ShootQ Grant will provide photographers the opportunity to work on a meaningful project, unencumbered by daily work, with the creative freedom and financial support necessary to produce photographs that raise public awareness about important social, environmental or economic issues."

Annie is working on a photography project to document the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on Americans. From the stories Annie has told me so far this is going to be a very touching, difficult and VERY needed project to shed light on a subject that is often ignored. I'm so unbelievabley excited for her and can't wait to see the results of her efforts. Knowing Annie, this should be interesting.

So congratulations Annie. GREAT WORK! ;-)

Moment

Current Reading: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Current Music: Under The Rose by Ottmar Liebert
Mood: Happy
Sounds: TV
Smells: Coffee
Temperature: 72 degrees with rain
Thoughts: Why is citizen to citizen health care an issue?

90 days ~ Natural Method Conditioning

Part 5 of a 12 part series every Tuesday

Be strong to be useful ~ George Hebert
Eat food, mostly plants ~ Michael Pollan

If you have been following my journey I am glad to announce that I have been healthy and alive for the past seven days.

Today is day 30 of my 90-conditioning project.

Yoga and meditation has been strong. I have nailed the crane pose into a handstand (only once so far). Poor handstand but nonetheless I held the pose strong.

On day 1 my starting weight was 161 lbs today my weight is 157lbs.

I am content with that. For the first time in my life I no longer want to lose any weight. My waistline could use toning, no six pack there. Where to go from here…nature.

I have been walking in the woods with my daughter after I pick her up from preschool. The woods are a gymnasium and my daughter is showing me why. Every fallen tree is a balancing beam and every low tree is a pull up bar, every hill is for running and every rock is for climbing. I watched her run, jump and sing out loud as she sprang her way through the woods; the jungle to her.

Walked in the woods with my wife yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks and that was great. We have been preparing meals of simple foods.

Pittsburgh autumns are beautiful. The first hints of fall colors are starting to break out. Splendid.

Till next week…