Grand Canyon Skywalk, highway robbery, off-road, torture

Grand Canyon Skywalk


Well I’ll tell ya, if you’re thinking about going to the Grand Canyon Skywalk on the western side of the Canyon, don’t drive your own car. There are 14 miles of unpaved road (each way) that will tear your vehicle a-part. And when after over an hour of navigating ruts, dust and trenches, be prepared to pay $20 for the experience (parking). Then another $30 (per person) for a further bus ride to the walk itself. I couldn’t justify it, no sir. Ate the parking fee and turned around. Especially since a rock flew up on the way back and dinged the windshield. Fortunately, it was a rental. I didn’t stop vibrating for days. No wonder everyone I saw heading back had a look of “get me out of here” in their eyes.

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Artist Statement, Foot In Mouth

Artist Statement Anyone?


Always puzzling is the desire by those in creative arts academia to possess a photographer’s ARTIST STATEMENT. The danger being that much of what makes an image powerful is neatly defused in the explanatory prose. And some of the fun, the mystical, is removed from the equation. I love the feeling when an image stirs up questions; when it taps into some great internal resonant current of wonder. How disappointing it is to read an over-worded statement of creative intention that reduces a potentially magic property into a thesaurus of junior college art school ho-hum. In this day and age too many things are over-explained. Look into why any of the great photographers why they did what they did and chances are they’ll say that they just wanted to see what a particular scene looked like on film. (Of course, you are free to completely ignore my OWN artist statement, ahem.)

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Leica M6, mexican food, michigan, snow

Taqueria Munoz

West Michigan. I got gasoline here years ago and now, caught in the cold of the lake effect snow belt, it is hot and spicy with tacos. (There’s a little food/snack shop down the road from this place that serves the migrant worker community. In the back is a cool case of small-bottle Cokes that are made with cane sugar.)

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breakfast, grease, joy, Leica M8, mcdonalds, trash

Sometimes…

Sometimes, you just have to give in. And when you do it’s like fine wine. Memories flood back, colors look brighter, music is everywhere. The sun shines. Then you shake hands with the clown, excuse yourself and say you’ll be seeing him again someday. Far down the road. Another time. Maybe we’ll have something to laugh about. Then. Down the road.

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celebration, deflation, frozen foods, hanging, Leica M8

Frozen Food Month

Did you know that March is National Frozen Food Month? Who knew? But it is. And to celebrate a local frozen food aisle pulled out all the stops and went tropical. From end cap to end cap it was fringe, hula girls and exotic animals. Some a little less lively than others. Picked up a box of frozen chicken patties in their honor.

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confusion, hand-wringing, Leica, Leica M8, puzzlement, silly, wonder

The New Leica Web Site

And speaking of German cameras, a question: have you seen the latest marketing effort over at Leica? http://www.leica-camera.us/ Seems that the way to sell a Leica nowadays is to treat it like soap. And pretend it’s the opulent 1980s before all bubbles burst. Very puzzling.

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