New Mailer :)

"If we were talking to you on your first day here we would say, 'Welcome to planet Earth. There is nothing that you cannot be or do or have. And your work here—your lifetime career—is to seek joy.'

"As you think thoughts that feel good to you, you will be in harmony with who-you-really-are. And in doing so you will utilize your profound freedom. Seek joy first, and all of the growth that you could ever imagine will come joyously and abundantly unto you."

-- Abraham

Question: "I'm a doctor/attorney/teacher/computer programmer/sculpter/President-of-the-United-States... What do you do?"

My Answer: "I seek joy." :)

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"Your hands are tied in action, but your hands are not tied in imagination -- and everything springs forth from the imagination. Everything."
-- Abraham

Merry Christmas... To Me.

Brand new cards = a very merry Christmas.

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"Follow your dreams, for as you dream you shall become."
-- Anonymous

But Color Rocks, Too...

Okay, okay, okay. I know that I just posted about my obsession with black and white photos, and how much I love them, etc. Yada, yada, yada. But - I do have to admit - every once and awhile there are certain images that, when drenched with color, make my heart melt.

Here are just a few...

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"As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs."
-- Sam Abell

What Boredom Produces...

It's not uncommon, if you've had a session with me, to (very randomly) receive freshly edited prints as far as six months after your shoot. Because editing photos is one of my favorite things to do, I'm always going back and tinkering with previous shots, applying newly learned techniques, and just appreciating every beautiful image that I was fortunate enough to catch on film.

Here's a photo of Baby C - who I shot last September - that I just finished touching up. I totally bypassed this image when I was initially editing his session... But now, close to three months later and after browsing the pictures again, I found this particular shot to be, well, priceless.

If this is what boredeom produces, I think I'll be "bored" a little more often. :)

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"The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity."
-- Ellen Parr

The Beauty of Black & White

Black and white photos always make me sigh. In a good way.

There's just something so raw and beautiful about a black and white photo. Hauntingly poetic, ruggedly real, and absolutely stunning in a bare-naked, hard-to-ignore way. A portrait shaded in blacks, grays, and whites always, always, always, makes my heart flutter. Those colorless images will forever be my absolute favorite prints.

Here are a few black and white pics that - you guessed it - make my heart flutter.

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"When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in B&W, you photograph their souls!"
-- Ted Grant

Image of the Day

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"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
-- Ansel Adams

Two Roads...

Last Tuesday's photo shoot with Shaunise was so much fun that... that... Well, I honestly can't put it into words.

What photography has done for me this past year is indescribable. It's not only provided for me a huge, gigantic creative outlet, but it's also instilled in me a feeling of hope. Hope for a future that is, as we speak, expanding oh-so-beautifully.

So, with that being said, it makes me wonder - in an I'm-just-curious sort of way - why I'm continuing to partake in things/situations/events that are, to put it mildly, less than pleasing. When there is something (photography) that brings me so much joy that I can't even express it in words, it seems almost self-destructive to consistently surround myself with people and put myself into situations that cause me to feel, well, the exact opposite.

With 2009 coming to a close and a brand new year just around the corner, I'm suddenly finding myself at a crossroads. It's almost as if the Universe is forcing me to make a choice. Urging me to come - finally - to a decision.

I know what choice I desire. But I also know what choice is safe.

I'll make my decision. Soon. And I'm almost 100 percent sure which one it will be. As I've said before, the safest route doesn't always end up being all that safe.

I'm reminded of an old Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken. Lately it's been running over and over in my mind, wearing a trail through my thoughts and playing with my dreams. It's absolutely beautiful - always been one of my favorites - and seems to be prodding me in the right direction.

As for now, here are some more shots from my session with Shaunise. Beautiful girl = beautiful pictures. Enjoy!

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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-- Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Sneak Peek: Shaunise :)

Okay, so maybe that's more than a peek. ;)
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"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
-- Oscar Wilde