Photography

In the Queue

My summer goes by slowly.

Ever since the semester ended at the university, I haven’t had much work-for-pay. One job I hold there is writing consultant, meaning I assist students with their writing assignments (if they ask for help). The other job I hold is administrative assistant to one of the department heads, meaning I do anything he needs me to do in order to assist him with his duties.

The first job has mostly evaporated (temporarily) due to there being few students taking classes over the summer. The second job is hit or miss lately, with me working only when my boss has tasks for me to complete. I’m squeaking by in the pay aspect, with just enough work to keep bills paid until the fall semester will start. This is one aspect of scholastic work that I don’t particularly enjoy, at least at this university: the lack of a consistent paycheck all year ‘round.

However, with unexpected, though unpredictable, time on my hands, I have a few projects that I could work on when I don’t have much else to do.

Scanning

My mother is a shutterbug, and something of a photo collector. In the age before this one, when photography was analog, she amassed quite of lot of photographs. Now that we are living in a digital world, she would like these photos available to her on the iPad and in the cloud. That means scanning. She has procured a scanner (albeit a finicky one) that works well enough and quickly enough to scan in many photos in a session. I have already scanned a few albums worth, but have many more to scan. I think this will end up being more than a summer project, but it is in the queue.

Poetry

It is now two and a half years since I completed my first compendium of poetry, a book that has sold about four copies worldwide. And while I have barely written any poetry since, I am thinking about what my next poetic project could be, and I have an idea: a chapbook. My book of poems comprises several sections, and I thought it might be cool to create chapbooks of each section, and sell them individually as art projects containing both word and visual. I have saved in a wishlist online some appropriate paper, and a heavy-duty stapler that could aid me in creating these chapbooks, and all it takes is putting some together. My wife maintains an area on consignment in a local craft shop, and perhaps I could add a few of these chapbooks to that area and see if they sell. I don’t know that they would, but it is an idea in the queue.

Reading

I start to sound like a broken record in this regard, but I find it difficult to read these days. I wish I could read, but every time I think about opening a book, it seems an insurmountable task. But, I have a book that I bought a while back, Patrick Stewart’s Making It So. I would like to read that book this summer. It used to be I could read twelve books every couple of weeks, but maybe I can manage one book by September. I don’t know if that is achievable, but that book is in the queue.

Lately I acquired some scenery material: driftwood, sand, rocks, etc. and I aspire to use this to craft photo worthy scenes. While I’ve yet to use it as such, the ideas are percolating in my head of photos I could take. I have a few difficulties to iron out, such as a lack of room, not wanting to build permanent dioramas for the photos, and what to do with the scenery media when I am done with it, but I can’t shake the images I see when I close my eyes and dream of what could be. The pictures shimmer in the queue.

Organization

My wife and I moved into this house just after Christmas Day in 2024, which means we’ve been here almost six months now. The house is just now starting to feel like a home, and as such, it needs a few things internally, that thankfully aren’t plumbing or maintenance related. No, I am speaking of decorating and organizing. I have made great strides in the craft room (what was supposed to be the master bedroom) in terms of both decor and optimizing storage, layout, and usability. But the living room, the kitchen, and even perhaps the bedroom could use some help.

The kitchen in particular has very little decor, and still bears the marks of being moved into hastily, with little organization, optimization, and isn’t terribly user friendly. It does the job, but it needs TLC. The bedroom we are only in for sleep and whatnot, so that is low on the priority list, but the living room is the third most used common area (after kitchen and craft room). It, too, needs a little thought and love. Decorating and organizing thoughts drift through the queue.

Clearly, I have plenty to do. It has helped to streamline my priorities just in writing them down. Before I had vague ideas, but now I have action points and even some hazy plans. Yeesh, that sounded too much like a few of the committees I was on for work this past year. Shudder. If I could accomplish even half of these queued tasks, though, I would feel like I had a great summer, and my environment would benefit, as would my creative expression which needs, um, expressing.

And also in the queue? R&R. I can report that I have been already availing myself of some of that, and with a trip to Boston planned for the end of July, I can even take some time to see another part of the world. Won’t that be fun?

Update: May 2025

Wednesday in north Texas is supposed to reach triple digit temperatures, on the Fahrenheit scale anyway, so I guess summer is about to make a bold entrance in 2025. I thought I would take advantage of the brief time before the heat arrives to take stock of where I stand as I head into the imminent summer.

Health

Tomorrow marks three weeks of my change to healthier eating. I am experiencing increased energy, decreased lethargy, and I am staying awake longer than I have before. Important numbers are down, and in general, I feel better. I relish the change, and while weight loss is not a goal, it’s happening anyway. I am able to wear a 2X shirt for the first time in many years, and have more room in my jeans than I used to. I enjoy purchasing new clothes from time to time, and now I may have an excuse in the near future to do so. That’s exciting!

Andor

Light spoilers follow for a TV show. Skip the next paragraph to avoid.

I continue to watch Star Wars: Andor and it continues to not be my jam. I understand completely what they are doing with the story and the horror of the Empire’s rule, I just don’t think that it is necessary to see in stark “reality”. A recent episode showed a brutal massacre, and it was very difficult to sit through. I prefer my Star Wars more lighthearted and adventurous than dark and depressing.

Making

I started to build more with LEGO in the past weeks, having built one MOC (my own creation) out of an official set, with more custom building to follow. I even bought a few new shelf units to spread out my “on display” LEGO collection to provide more room to expand my MOC. I plan to build an entire street or two in a small Tatooine town, hopefully. I also bought a few Ultimate Collector Series sets (well, one was free due to reward points I’ve been saving over a few years!) that I can’t wait to build: the X-Wing Starfighter and the TIE Interceptor. They are updates of the first two ever UCS offerings that first appeared waaay back in 2000. Twenty-five years is a long time to wait to finally own the pair (though I did own, briefly, an interim UCS X-Wing that debuted in 2013, but I sold it not long after building, as was my habit back then).

Other making includes a diorama for my Star Wars action figures. A while back I bought miniature replica skulls of a rancor and a mudhorn, and I’ve finally got a few ideas of how to photograph them. I need to purchase a few materials to complete the dioramas, but once that is complete, I think I can break out my camera and finally snap a few photos. It will be a long time coming, but worth it. I also recently bought some new texture paint I can’t wait to play around with that might lead to even more creative dioramas and photos.

The past few weeks, or months, I remained busy with stuff around work and other pursuits, but I think I will finally start to dig into my hobbies with gusto. Especially with the summer coming up with less responsibility at work, I will have larger blocks of uninterrupted time. All that remains is to put down my phone and pick up my paintbrush or break out my bricks. That part sounds easy, but as most know in these futuristic times, putting down the phone is sometimes difficult.

Baseball

The baseball season must travel a bit before it reaches the dog days of summer, but things are heating up with the weather as the competition gets going. I love watching the Cleveland Guardians play, especially as they are a young team finding their way. Excitement abounds with each game as different players step up each game with a direct impact. Far from being a “one-man-show”, the Guardians showcase a true team effort. I’ve also been watching the Texas Rangers some, and the Boston Red Sox, as I always love seeing the always iconic Fenway.

Speaking of Fenway and the Red Sox and traveling: I am going to Fenway in-person this summer! Towards the end of July I am taking a trip to Boston to take my dad (who is a huge Red Sox fan) to finally experience all that baseball has to offer in one of the oldest baseball towns in America. This is going to be a really fun trip! We will also be able to visit the U.S.S. Nautilus, which is now a museum in Connecticut, but was once a key part of the US NAVY, aboard which my grandfather served for many years as an engineer. I very much look forward to seeing the first submarine he ever served on, and get a glimpse into what his journey under the sea might have been like all those years ago. Other highlights include meeting up with an old friend (possibly two), seeing some of my wife’s family I’ve yet to meet, and being a tourist. We still need to plan a few details, but I am getting more excited for the trip each day.

Challenges

I still can’t read. I feel sad about this, as reading has been a huge part of my life for a long time, but focus and motivation to read remains absent from me. I recently purchased Patrick Stewart’s memoir Making it So but have yet to crack the cover. I have other books I would love to re-read, or explore further. Maybe as my physical health, and as an extension my mental health, improves I will be able to try to read again. I did recently read through the audiobooks of the Lord of the Rings with my wife, a thoroughly enjoyable time that gave me new insights into the story that I want to dig into academically in the future, but again, finding the mental impetus to do so remains difficult.

An aside, of sorts, here: when I do have time, I don’t reach for a book. Part of it is an irrational feeling of not being allowed to. I feel as if I would be wasting the time spent reading, even though I know time spent reading is never wasted. I don’t know why this is, especially when I usually spend the time I would be reading doomscrolling on my phone or playing Scrabble instead. It might mean just taking the plunge, but that is a leap I’ve yet to make. If I am going to sit around anyway, I may as well be reading instead of scrolling social media.

I know the world, and my country, is much not good right now, but I cannot carry that burden myself. Yes, I am deeply concerned, scared, and angry about what my government is actively doing to so many innocent people, but I feel for me, right now, the best resistance is to deny the evil-doers the ability to darken my soul. The best resistance I can mount is to live a good, positive life. That is how I defeat, not with hate, but with love, and love starts with loving myself. I cannot pour from an empty vessel, but with a self full of love, I am able to love others and pour into their lives. That is how the way will be won.

All in all, I feel as if I am in a good place in many ways. I want to continue to build on the progress I have made thus far, and see where the future takes me. I have many pursuits on my horizon, and endeavors I would love to reach towards, and journeys to take. It is a wide open summer.

Obsessions

I’ve written before of my appreciation for Adam Savage, YouTube personality and former Mythbuster. He loves to make things, and one of his (many) catchphrases is “Stay Obsessed!” which he inscribed in my copy of his book when I recently met him. For Adam, obsession is a way of life, and it means to inculcate yourself into every aspect of something you enjoy.

obsession, n. an idea or thought that continually preoccupies a person’s mind

When an idea takes hold of Adam, it is usually something that he wants to make. He most often crafts replicas of movie props (he made his living for a while making real ones), or really any esoteric thing that grabs his fancy. One of his current projects is replicating the St. Edward’s Crown. Adam saw a truly absurd object and thought “I must have one!” and set about making his own. Currently he is working on a 3D printed version. (A difference between Adam and I is that I would see that absurd object and wonder why anyone, British royalty notwithstanding, would want one.)

I am obsessed with Star Wars. I am also obsessed with J.R.R. Tolkien’s universe; with Star Trek; and with other worlds and flights of fancy. In the making vein, I am obsessed with photography. To support my photography habit, I am obsessed with action figures. I love to make dioramas for them to be posed upon, and to be photographed creatively therein. I enjoy the making of the dioramas, the painting and weathering, of seeing something emerge from simple materials into something that looks real at scale. I also quite enjoy Lego. In fact, my toy photography habit started with what I called the Lego Portraits, simple photos of my minifigures. I got more elaborate at the setups, taking them into the “real” world, or building large Lego dioramas to photograph.

Many things have happened in life that has tempered my creative output: depression, work, obligations, and unfortunate circumstances have all conspired to curtail what I put out into the world. My current living arrangement is one of the most recent. I am constrained in my diorama making ability by not being able to set up a workshop, either for action figures or for Lego. I quite simply do not have the space. But I remain obsessed by the idea. I can’t help it. It has preoccupied my mind.

I bought a new camera, new action figures (though no new Lego – yet!), and continue to dream. Adam takes each new build, no matter what stage of completion it is in, home to wonder at it, consider it, and to deepen his obsession. Often by viewing it intently, some new avenue of creation or idea of how to proceed occurs to him and he is off to his shop to continue making. I have the three new action figures I purchased on my dresser where I can see them frequently and I continually wonder how I might photograph them.

I am trying to live up to Adam’s exhortation. “Stay obsessed!” he says to me, challenging me to not give up, to not surrender to what surrounds and what threatens to derail my creative process.

Even now, I am considering ideas of how I might continue to create, constrained as I am. Part of the trouble is that I don’t know how long this set of constraints might last, but really, there is always something in the way, if I’m honest. That depression, for example, which I’ve also written much about, never quite seems to go away.

At the end of the day, these are all so much the smoke of excuses. Adam didn’t always have the nice workshop he has today. He variously created in an apartment he shared (he admits he was a terrible roommate!), a warehouse, a college dorm room, a basement, a borrowed shop, and other places. What matters is that he never allowed himself to be defined by what he couldn’t do. Another mentor of mine, once upon a long ago, had a saying, “Restrictions breed creativity.”

I’m certainly restricted now, in physical making space, in time, in materials, in other things, but I can still create. I can still allow my obsession to fuel me, to spark, and to ignite that which I love: making things. Making will look different but that is ok. Even if it remained the same, I am afraid it would stagnate like a ditchwater pond on a hot day. Change and constraints work together to keep things new and fresh, thrust forward by obsession.

The question then becomes: what will I create? Us creative types are always being asked where our ideas come from, as if we have a compendium of genius that we keep, able to draw from at any time. If so, I haven’t got a key to that particular Pandora’s box. Adam Savage seems to have an unending supply of fanciful ideas from which to make each new thing, but he has also intimated that sometimes he simply gets struck by something that turns into his next obsession. Even he doesn’t always know what to do next. Another of Adam’s sayings is to “follow the process, not the plan” which means more to go with the flow than to rigidly work through a blueprint.

Camera. Action figure. Setting…setting…hmm. Almost there. I need to stay obsessed with the idea of a toy photograph, and see where the process takes me. I’ll just stretch out here, turn on some tunes, and get to work letting inspiration strike.

Stay obsessed.

The Ecstasy of Guns

Trigger warning: guns and gun violence is discussed.

America has a gun problem. That much is obvious. Death by guns is the leading cause of death for our children; the NRA has bought and paid for politicians who continually block sensible gun control legislation; and one can barely turn on a television without seeing something gun related on the screen.

It is this last part I want to discuss today: the rampant image of the gun on screen. I am old enough to have been a teenager when the Columbine school shooting occurred and I remember then that many people blamed the violence on video games. I believe that myth has since been debunked, that violent video games do not directly cause gun violence, but I think it is still a related topic.

Guns are glorified in America. They are made to appear “cool” and “desirable” and as positive means of solving problems. Their aesthetic design is one such to make them as slick and natural an extension of the hand and arm as possible. The sound design of films and television shows is done in such a way as to enhance that glorification. Have you ever noticed someone in a movie using hearing protection when firing guns? I can count on half a hand. Guns are loud. I can tell you this from experience, but guns are never really that loud in film, unless it is germane to a funny plot point. Everything about the way guns are presented is to minimize their faults and maximize their luster.

That simply cannot be an ancillary fact, ignorable to the overall desirability of gun shaped weapons. And when a gun is seen as “cool”, and shown over and over again to be the solution to, dare I say, any problem on screen, then it cannot be coincidence that guns are turned to as the solution to many real-world problems as well.

I watched a mid-grade science fiction film the other night, the new 65 starring Adam Driver and Arianna Greenblatt. Driver is a pilot of a spacecraft that crashes on a world of dinosaurs, and quite unbelievably to the plot, he has a convenient locker filled with survival gear including, you guessed it, a futuristic assault rifle. The rifle is the solution to the dinosaur problem, it makes a nifty sound when fired, and looks amazing when the rounds explode from the barrel. Without it, the marooned pilot and friend would surely have perished. Not only is the rifle a lazy solution to a light plot, but it is also just one more example of guns superseding ingenuity in a difficult situation, cinematically.

A popular film franchise starring Keanu Reeves, John Wick, I believe exists solely because American, and to be fair, world wide audiences as well, love gun play and gun violence. In fact, John Wick is lighter on plot than 65 is, and almost the entirety of all four Wick movies to date are almost entirely comprised of various gun battles. The camera lingers on the guns themselves and shows them in the best of lighting and situations so as to amp up their already prodigious role in the films. This is nothing new. Guns and gun violence have been apart of cinema since the beginnings, with western films and others. The 70’s and 80’s were heydays of “action” movies, with “action” being a codeword for “gun violence” in many cases.

Before 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, there existed three ratings for movies: G, PG, and R. G for General Audiences, PG for Parental Guidance suggested, and R for Restricted, meaning 18 and older only. Steven Spielberg wanted another rating between PG and R to keep his younger children from asking to see Temple of Doom, and he petitioned for, and received, the first ever PG-13 rating. Suddenly a new genre of film was born that could include much of the violence (read: guns) of other films, some non-graphic nudity, and swearing (without more than one fuck) and be acceptable for children 13 and older.

There is much to say about the ratings system, but for now my point is that gun violence, which primarily had been restricted to adult audiences, was now widely available to teenagers for the first time. Temple of Doom didn’t have a whole lot of gun violence that wasn’t cartoon-y, but it had some. But many, many other movies have had a lot more. John Wick is still an R-rated flick, but others with only slightly less gun violence are not. What have we unleashed with this bright, technicolor tableau of silver screen gun violence? I don’t believe it directly causes real world gun violence, but I believe it is contributory to an overall culture that glorifies the gun.

Such horrific weapons as guns should not be glorified at all, should not be presented as solutions to problems in fictional stories, and should not be desirable objects to possess. They are far too destructive. As our stories take us as humans, there our hearts and minds go. Make something “normal” or “acceptable” on screen, and we will start to normalize it in real life as well. Usually, I would champion this for acceptance, for representation, and for many other things, but when used to negative effect, I must condemn it.

To take another example for a moment: show characters making racist jokes in a positive light in a popular movie and wait and see how long it is before you hear those same jokes in your world. Our former president unleashed a slightly hidden part of our culture by making sexual harassment, racism, and all sorts of evil acceptable from our highest political office and the effects are still tearing America apart. Presidents, and movies, can do that very well.

I don’t have an immediate solution to Hollywood’s obsession with guns, but I can do one, small thing and that is this: I will no longer glorify guns. I find myself doing it in a small way: one is when talking about photography. For some reason that I have not researched, gun metaphors are used for photography. Shooting film, getting the shot, taking a shot etc are all code for taking a picture. As much as possible, I don’t use these phrases. I don’t use a film camera, but I can get a picture or take a pic instead of a “shot”.

Another example is in my toy photography. I love Star Wars as a franchise (despite it, too, glorifying shooting weapons to a degree) and take a lot of pictures of Star Wars action figures. Almost every single figure comes with, or has a place for, a gun shaped object. To display or photograph them naturally is to have a place for their tiny plastic gun. Going forward, I want to only take photos of the figures in positive aspects, and to minimize or remove entirely their weapons. This will be difficult in a conflict heavy galaxy far, far away, but I believe it can be done.

The journey towards de-glorifying guns starts with personal choice and action, much like the decisions to reject sexism, racism, homo/trans/etc-phobia and many other evils. It some ways, it starts with me. I want to see positive change, therefore it is incumbent on me to evidence that positive change. I stopped going to gun ranges for fun a while back, I am choosing less violent (gun-centric or otherwise) movies to enjoy, and changing my photographic vocabulary and the object of my photographic endeavors is a part of that. Ultimately I believe positive change is possible, but it takes many small steps along different paths than have been previously traveled.

An Internet Timeline

I still remember visiting my first webpage: LEGO.com. It was in 1996. Little me was nine years old, and if I remember correctly the page featured a picture of some bricks, no animation, and a little bit of information about the LEGO company. The internet, LEGO’s website, and I have come a long way.

My brother signed me onto the web then, over dialup. It was not AOL, like a lot of people had, but it was some local provider I think. We looked around for a few minutes, and then logged off, because dialup only worked over the phone lines, and meant no one could call the house. My mom, as ever, was an avid phone talker, and never wished to miss a call. It wouldn’t be until later that my dad would invest in a DSL connection for the house, allowing for (mostly) unlimited and simultaneous talking and browsing.

Around that time, I first learned about social internet use. There were these things called message boards where one could be a member of an online community and share a mutual passion for something, or many things. I found a Star Wars centered message board called BlueHarvest.net, which is now something in French and not that anymore. Back then it was where I hung out. It had been founded by a Swedish woman, and a lot of the people I met were pre-teens from Australia and Europe. We chatted and posted about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and wrote really bad fan fiction. Actually that was my first foray into sharing my writing, and I wrote an entire short story on BlueHarvest before I was in high school.

Now, of course, there are many social networks and message boards are, in my experience, not nearly as prevalent. There were all sorts of early social networks that I do not remember, but the big three (Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace) came out while I was attending various colleges and universities. I was never on MySpace, but Facebook I signed up for to stay in contact with a girlfriend, and Twitter was a fun thing that has since become largely toxic and stressful, though I still maintain an account there. Later I signed up for Instagram to share photos and find photos of things I enjoyed.

That, too, has changed. In an effort to monetize their networks, the overlords of social media have invited advertisers in and now do an incredible amount of work to drive views and clicks and interactions with the ads on their sites in order to feed the great demons of capitalism and profit. It has made the experience of social media much, much poorer. Half of my feeds now are so interlaced with ads, I can hardly see the posts of my friends, family, and those I follow. Facebook and Instagram in particular have become almost unusable. I despair and long for, at the risk of being an old man yelling for the kids to get off my digital lawn, the halcyon days of the internet.

But I have been made aware of a new-old green space online. Tumblr is a blogging social network where a user can post almost any kind of media they want, be it photo, video, text, or reblog someone else’s media. Tumblr was that in the early days, and it soon became full of mature content, which pushed away users who didn’t necessarily want to find that there. In a somewhat controversial move, Tumblr almost entirely killed their site by banning, or hiding, all of that content. People left in massive amounts, seeking elsewhere to post their risqué stuff. Now, in that same space made new, Tumblr has emerged as a haven for photographers that want a simpler, cleaner interface.

Lately on Instagram, which is full of reels, or short videos, which makes it difficult to see the photography that grew the site, there is a movement to exodus to Tumblr. At least for now, Tumblr promises that with rare exception, their users will only see posts from those that they follow. No suggested posts, few ads (which the user can hide with a paid subscription), and a clear focus on the content the user wants to see. It is so refreshing. I had a Tumblr from ages past, before I got started on WordPress for my blog that you are now reading. Apparently I never actually did anything with it because I had no posts and hadn’t set anything up, which I discovered when I logged on for the first time in years last night. I had simply created an account and then seemingly abandoned it. I think, if I remember correctly, that the old format of Tumblr was a bit clunky and difficult to use. Plus, the ads were atrocious and the experience was not easy or fun. Things are different now.

I’ve restarted my Tumblr, PhilRedBeard.tumblr.com, and have begun to post mostly old photos along with new photos as I take them. If it remains a platform I enjoy, and if more of the photographers I follow on Instagram sail to clearer waters, then I may (mostly) abandon Instagram altogether. I would not be sad to go. Even this morning, when I went back to Instagram to try to catch up on my feed, it felt cluttered, claustrophobic, and closed off. Tumblr, by contrast, felt open, inviting, and refreshing. And I even enjoy the process of composing each post and seeing those I follow.

I don’t know what the future of the internet, or social media, will be like. Will it be augmented or virtual reality based? Holographic? Some new technology yet to be invented? Almost certainly the latter will drive the far future, but the near future, I hope, will be better about removing toxicity, and allowing a free, safe, and fun exchange of ideas, creativity, and passion, no matter what format it takes. And also somewhat ad free. I know that hosting and maintaining a social media takes money, but I don’t think every spare pixel needs to be monetized. I hope Tumblr stays that way for a long while. It may not, and I may be compelled to migrate somewhere new, but that is getting exhausting and I just want a space to see what I want, and ignore what I don’t want. Is that too much to ask? Maybe. But for now, Tumblr doesn’t think so, and so I am happy to be there.

So Far, So Good

At the beginning of January, I set a few challenges for myself. I want to read, write, take photos, and complete a few larger projects. I have felt ambitious, which is not something I’ve been able to say in a long time.

I have read one and a half books so far this year. First to be completed was The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. The title is unfortunate*, as the latter person in the story was afflicted with a common, yet debilitating, mental illness, and had he been born in today’s world, it is likely that he would not have suffered as he did. Treatment of the mind has come a long way in the intervening years since that man lived. To categorize him as a “madman” is unfair and ableist to say the least. The story itself was a bit over-wrought, over-verbose, and more than 1/3 too long, but it was an interesting narrative anyway. To whit: it was about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, in which both men, the professor and…his associate contributed greatly. There is a film of the same name based on the book that I have on my short list to watch, if nothing else to see how the filmmakers handled the text and the men’s lives.

*(I just discovered that the book’s non-American title is The Surgeon of Crowthorne which is much better, in my estimation, as it doesn’t stigmatize the man to which it refers. He was a brilliant doctor, and remained so despite his mental illness.)

The other book, that I half read, was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. I had been hearing about this book for a long time from my muse, Adam Savage, as it is a favorite of his, so I picked it up. It was not my cup of tea. Mostly a book of philosophy and understanding of the world, the framing story was hard for me to get into, and the way it was written was off putting to my particular vibe. I found the philosophy interesting enough, and even thought most of it to be a helpful way of viewing the world, but the rest of the book didn’t suit. I gave myself full credit for the attempt, and have moved on to a wonderful history called River of Shadows by Rebecca Solnit, ostensibly about the creation of motion photography. So far, it is so good.

I have been following my 52 Week Challenge for photography, and just completed week 6! It hasn’t been easy to take one photo every week. Not so much because the photography itself is difficult, but finding the time and motivation to do it regularly. I am used to taking a photo when the mood strikes, and to perform like clockwork is the challenge. But I have liked most of the results and am excited to continue. At this point it is incredible to me that, if completed, I will have 52 photos to show for it.

Week 6: Golden (of the Golden Ratio, and, of course, droids!)

Along with my photography is an ongoing project that I have surprisingly found myself continuing to work on. That project is the creation of scenery pieces, or dioramas, for my photography. These days I am quite taken with action figure photography, preferring the six inch scale variety of Star Wars figures from the Black Series and Archive lines from Hasbro. To make those photos more interesting, I created some sets. Crafted from spare styrofoam packing taken out of various boxes, acrylic paint, superglue, and various bits from random plastic model kits plus a few 3D printed parts from the internet, I have managed to create useful and visually interesting background elements. The work continues little by little, but I am happy with the direction it is going and ecstatic to be so often finding the motivation to do said work.

I wrote three blog posts in January, and this is my first in February, so that is proceeding apace. I completed no fewer than three other projects of a personal nature that I have been putting off for some time, or that newly came to me with the turning of the calendar. One was for my sister, and I can’t wait to see her reaction to the result. In fact, I am doing so much, and checking things off my list, that I am already wondering if I should not brainstorm more challenges for myself so that I don’t run out and stall. The 52 week photography will obviously go all year, as will the writing and reading, but as I’ve already knocked out several of the larger, single-go projects, I don’t want to find myself nonplussed and searching for something to do come summer. So, To Be Decided, I guess.

Overall, I’m chuffed to bits to be where I am mid-way through February. It is more than a solid start, and I hope the trends continue. What are you working on, or challenging yourself with this 2022, and how is that going? Drop me a note and let me know! (You can find my contact information elsewhere on this blog.) For now, I think I may read and discover more about how video was invented.

Category: Photography