Technology.
It can be our friend and companion. It can also be scary and threatening. I prefer to go with the former while maintaining a healthy respect for its darker potentialities. Without technology, I probably wouldn't be able to create images like you see above: the same image in color and in black and white, transitioning magically from one to the other over and over. And if you put your cursor over the image, you can pause it to study further. This is just one small example of how technology makes life more interesting and easier. Things like microwave ovens, wi-fi, DVRs and the like. I am old enough to remember our first microwave. I remember my first transistor radio I could carry on my walk to elementary school. And how about those first recording devices that allowed to capture message from missed phone calls and "tape" our favorite TV shows. Imagine life without what technology can do now? Sometimes it baffles me. I get frustrated when I can't connect my printer right away or my smart phone is a tad slow. How quickly we come to take for granted what not so long ago seemed like a miracle. I remember my grandparents talking about the first crank wall phone with a party line where you had to go through an operator and/or wait your turn for ours who shared your line to finish their call. I seem to recall my grandmother telling me about how her father, a baker, baked his store's bread in a wood-burning oven. Imagine. So thank you, technology for your advances and conveniences. Life is somewhat easier I suppose. It can be much more fun if you just keep an open mind and are willing to learn the latest ways, hopefully before the next version comes out and makes that knowledge obsolete.
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Photography
About six years ago I became interested in photography. I went on a photo shoot outing with the Redlands Camera Club with my good friend, Marty. Marty loaned me (and later sold me) my first (and only} digital super-duper Canon 50D SLR with telephoto lens. I was hooked. I have continued to go on various photo safaris with Marty, another good friend, Dave, and on my own. I have taken my lens to Santa Fe, Arizona, Santa Barbara, Joshua Tree, several botanical parks, museums and art fairs and more. I even took a digital camera to Italy last year and Michigan and more. It is amazing what you see when you look at the world with an eye toward photographing it. I have become more aware of light and color, the subtle changes in each at various times of day. I love to capture random images, like those captured recently above. I like architectural details of buildings. Alleys intrigue. And people...people just being people on the street. I have also occasionally shared my work in some local galleries and at a few local art shows. To my amazement, I have actually sold some of my images to appreciative "patrons". That is a very nice feeling of affirmation and pride. This is why I am so thankful to have discovered and pursued this fun hobby. I try to take a camera everywhere, because, as any photographer type will tell you, you never know when you might snap! If you'd like to see some more of my images, click here: Qwerkipix I would love your feedback. Excuses, Good Intentions and Diversions
You know what road is paved with good intentions, don't you? I guess that is the road I have been on this weekend. Actually, just here was I traveling down that fabled path. I was enjoying the trees it seems leaving me unable to see the forest. There were too many chefs for my broth. I put all my eggs in one basket it seems. Okay, I'll stop. Old proverbs, maxims, aphorisms, axioms, adages, saws, tags, mottos, epigrams, dictums, expressions, phrases, and formulas can't cover a lack of gratitude. And for that I guess I should be grateful. It keeps me humble. I set out to do 22 days of dedicated gratitude blog journaling. I got to Day 8 and faltered. For that I can be forgive, yes? No? Maybe? Pretty please? Is anybody reading? And should I care if they are? If you are? I would hope to tell you it is so. So today on this Monday the 12th day of gratitude giving, I pledge to return to my due diligence. For to be ungrateful is unacceptable...unforgivable...un....well, you get the point. I am grateful for four days of excuses, good intentions, and diversions. They remind me how easy it is to get on the wrong track. The signs are always there, just sometimes in a foreign language or faded from the sun. But it is the individual trees that make the forest. And I plan to see as many as I can. This week has been a rolly-coaster of emotions with election results both hoped for and dreaded, another mass shooting here in California, Ruth Bader Ginsberg appearing all too mortal, and the continuing incivility of politics and just day to day living. It makes it difficult to maintain a positive outlook. I try not to go into those things a lot. What you give your attention to, persists. The watered plant thrives. But it's not easy to ignore. Yet my hope for the future remains high. We will move beyond all this madness too. Right now the sun is shining, the air is crisp and clear and I am spending some time doing things I enjoy. With all its trials and tribulations and the constant threat of doom, life is still worth living. Even as I mourn those who were killed senselessly this morning doing nothing more than enjoying friends and music, I can see tomorrow. We will go on. And so that is why it seems appropriate to give thanks for the hope of tomorrow. It is not promised that it will come, but everyday the sun rises. And we rise with it. In spite of it all. 11/7/2018 0 Comments 22 Days of Gratitude: Day 7 - YesIts 9:16pm and I could just as easily gone to bed after a long day and shined this blog on. But I didn't. I am here, writing on Day 7 of this gratitude journal blog exercise commitment thing. I said "Yes" even though I really felt like saying "no". And that little devilish voice kept whispering, "Go ahead. Go to bed. No one will notice." And so on. So that is why, even though this may be a short write, I am glad I said "yes" to the page. To often of late I have been saying "no", And that just isn't gonna cut it if I want to write and be a Creative. One must say "yes" even when one feels like "no"....at least when one knows it is something one will be glad or at least proud one did. Grateful for "yes". When you say it, it sounds so much better than "no.' Not that "no" is a bad thing to say. Sometimes it is exactly what must be said. But for now, for life, I plan to say "yes" more often, as I am able. And for that, yes, I am grateful. |
Rob McMurray,
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