300mm f/5.6 1/400s ISO250

    If you're like me, and spend most of your time working, then you might also be guilty of forgetting how big the world is. There was an eclipse a few days ago, and I totally missed out on photographing it. By the time I got out to make some images the moon was barely in front of the sun, so I ended up with a few awesome photos of what looks like a pac-man. It's easy to lose track of events, but it's a shame to miss out on an experience because of work.
    So, instead of some awesome photos of an eclipse that only happens every so often, I am left with this image of a common weed. This weed is a bit different than others, though. This weed is often given to children as a talisman that grants wishes. I'm sure you were at some time given a dandelion and told to blow it's seeds into the wind while thinking a wish. Children are often taught little rituals and rhymes concerning wishing. Blow out the candles on your birthday cake, make a wish. See a star at night and recite 'Wish I may, wish I might, first star I see tonight...' Children are encouraged to wish at the strangest opportunities. It has always amazed me that adults aren't encouraged to wish much at all.
    As an adult we are accosted with such phrases as 'Wishful thinking' and a host of other derogatory words when we make a wish. Is it any wonder that our wishes came true more when we were children?
    The little poems and strange behaviors we are taught as children were something akin to magic, like spells by which we can attain our dreams. It seems silly when you think about it as an adult, but is it ever a bad idea to instill in anyone the habit of wishing? When we make a wish on our magical dandelions or when we see the first star on a fresh night sky or when we blow out the candles of our birthday cake we are telling ourselves what we want. Making a wish is having a dream, and a dream becomes a goal before it grows into an accomplishment. 'Wishful thinking' it may be, but no great feat happens without first being born as a wish.
    I encourage you to remember the magic of your youth and make a wish today. Use a dandelion, a star, or whatever other method you remember from your childhood, and wish for something that you truly desire. If you keep your wish a secret, it just might come true.

70mm f/8.0 1/320s ISO100

    It's Friday the 13th, the second one we've had in 2012. Believers in superstition feel this occurence to be an unlucky omen. Not only is 2012 the year the Mayan calendar ends, not only is 2012 a leap-year, but Friday the 13th is quite an unlucky number.
    I am not superstitious, so I naturally don't place much stock in numbers. Any scholar of the history of man loses their belief in superstition after learning how different beliefs are the world over.
    Why is the number 13 considered unlucky? It's not actually 13 that's unlucky, as numerology deals almost exclusively with single digit numbers, however the number 4 is believed to be a bad omen, and since 1+3=4 13 is unlucky. Any combination of numbers that adds to four is usually un-lucky. In America we avoid 13, we often skip the 13th floor in buildings going from 12 to 14. It seems that the 'evil' attracted to the 13th floor is negated simply by avoiding the label. In Japan all values of four are omitted, 4, 13, 22, 31 etc. They don't simply skip these floors, since their evil spirits can count, so they build their structures normally then wall off the floors associated with that number. If the Japanese are right, every 14th floor in America is haunted.
    For the 9-5 workers of America Friday the 13th is still a good omen, promising two days of rest at its conclusion.
    Sailors had a different view of bad luck, while the average believer in superstition would go to great lengths to avoid bad omens, sailors would keep the symbols of those omens close at hand. It was a common belief that having a tattoo of the number 13, or the grim reaper, would cause bad luck to pass by. Bad luck would believe the bearer of the tattoo to be kin, and thus not trouble his brother. Sailors have a very involved set of superstitions involving tattoos, one of the most common is based on the phrase 'pig below the knee, safety at sea' and is the cause of many pig tattoos on a sailors foot. Another common phrase resulting in a tattoo is 'Cock on the right, never lose a fight'. The pig is tattooed on the left foot, and the rooster on the right of a man who wishes to win fights and not drown.
    Of course there are better ways to win fights and avoid drowning, but superstition and the belief in magic seems to be a part of human culture since the neolithic age, and possible even before that.
    Modern psychologists have proven that bad luck is truth to the superstitious due to a concept called 'self-fulfilling prophesy'. When you believe something will happen, you act in such a way that causes it. This concept is nothing new, as far back as 1000 C.E. Kings have issued decrees against predicting anything negative against royalty, and many people have been jailed, hung, or burned for publishing negative predictions in their almanacs and horoscopes. Since the Royalty believed in the power of prediction, they naturally feared it.
    In America the tradition of the carnival has given us much insight to the palm-readers and crystal-gazers, and with that knowledge we are free to indulge in such things for fun, enjoying the art and fantasy created by the great showmanship without the heavy-hearted belief in them. 
    Superstition is very real to the superstitious, and much money has been made selling amulets, charms, and spells to ward off bad luck. These trinkets work by the same psychological concept that causes the curses to work, self-fulfilling prophesy. If you believe it will happen, it probably will.
    Enjoy this Friday the 13th, and take a moment to remember our collective history filled with magic and fancy without the superstition.

40mm f/8.0 1/125s ISO100

    In these times of cellular phones and cheap digital cameras the power of the portrait is often overlooked. This technique is not lost nor dying, many powerful and successful men and women use the power of a portrait to shape their image in your mind. Every politician and author knows the importance of a good portrait, so does every CEO, lawyer, stock broker, and the list goes on. Even realtors take the extra step of obtaining a great portrait.
    A great portrait isn't simply a good photo. What makes a good photo a great portrait is less about the subject and more about the reaction. It's easy for a portrait artist to compose an image that portrays you in any number of ways, and the power portrait is simply a good photo that makes people feel your power when they view it.
    There are a variety of 'powers' that people use in great portraiture, depending on what the subject wants people to feel about them. Many realtors use portraits that give the impression they are successful and professional, but easy to approach. Most authors choose a portrait that visually portrays the personality they wish you to believe them to be. Many CEOs select a portrait that makes them look dignified and polished. Power portraiture is a big industry.
    You don't have to be a CEO or Wall Street executive to reap the rewards of a powerful portrait, having a great photo of yourself can remind you of the best in you, and being reminded of our best encourages us to do and feel our best. The power portrait is a kind of magic we work on ourselves. Choosing to see ourselves in a certain way actually coerces us to act more in that manner. If you want to feel powerful, looking at yourself as a powerful person will increase your chance of actually being powerful. If you want to feel attractive, look at an image of yourself that IS attractive. Too often we humans fall into the habit of feeling ugly, old, worthless, and a visual document proving otherwise is just what the doctor ordered.
    Anyone can take a picture, but it takes a special type of individual to make you feel powerful, attractive, young, successful, etc. and that's exactly what a good portrait artist does, and the emotion you feel will translate to an image that will remind you who you are not just
every time you look at it, but every time anyone views the image you will be reminded that THEY view you in that wonderful way as well.
    I encourage you to try this simple trick.

55mm f/8 1/100s ISO250

I started taking pictures many years ago. I was taking pictures for almost a decade before I started photographing. I simply love making images, and I enjoy sharing them with people. It's an amazing experience to listen to people in a gallery talking about images that I made, hearing their interpretation, how the images makes them feel, or what memories are conjured while gazing at them.

Many religions condemn 'graven images' and I understand why. There is a certain magical power that images have over us. They reach inside and pull out our memories and emotions and make us feel them, like new, again. It's simply magical.

Artists are sorcerers and everyone knows it. There is some mystical quality that surrounds a great artist, as though some deeply buried part of your brain recognizes that ability to manipulate your emotions, and that's what good art does, manipulates our emotions. Art can have a profound effect on us personally, as a society, and one day it will create future civilizations' interpretation of us, just as we examine art from earlier times and use it to create our view of the past.

When I bury my time capsule with my greatest works, I'm going to include some photocopies of my rear end. I'm sure that will be just as funny in the future as it is today.

So, before our civilazation is destroyed in a zombie apocalypse, go out and create some images that will tell your story. Use whatever you have, pens, pencils, brushes, blood - just DO something, CREATE!