Michelle

It is the angle. Diagonal. She slides in from the corner of the frame. Quietly.

Bridge Across Time

Many people will recognize this spot. To me it is a bridge into the past. It is from those long long days of my youth travelling to Terrace to a drama festival.

I have become entranced by these photos from my long dead youth. Years of film. Pre-digital.

Maybe this will be a week (or more) of old photographs.

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear... The Lone Ranger rides again!

Another picture shot in the old days of film. This one at the Williams Lake Stampede in July of 1979.

Film. Scanning these pictures are a huge reminder of how irritating dust can be. All those years of being so very careful in the darkroom and now a digital camera removes dust from the equation.

But those thrilling days of yesteryear are with me again as I scan slides and film andtry to remove spots with the immortal Photoshop.

Insome ways I really miss film but in other ways . . . not so much.

The Tree

February, 1978. I was a strapping young lad, well, maybe no strapping since I really don't know what that means. I will have to look it up. But I diress.

February, 1978. I shot this picture using Kodachrome 64. Canon F1 camera. I had wanted to shoot this tree on Scout Island in Williams Lake for quite some time but it never looked rightuntil this foggy morning when the sun seemed to hang in the branches.

I made a print on Cibachrome. Beautiful material. Gave it as a gift.

I recently saw that print and it was like going back in a time machine.

It did feel good.

Angle

These windows have some fascination for me. The angle (was it an inside corner or outside? can't remember) has a dynamic force.

It would have been nice to have a face peering out.

Musical Star

People have many talents. You meet someone and put them into the lttle box that makes it easier to remember them. Hidden is a talent that you might never know existed.

Makes me jealous because my talents are so well hidden that even I haven't found them.

The Colour Rises

Sometimes the world seems bleak. Ugly. A tangled mess of unappealing trash.

But if you look closely you will see that little bit of beauty hidden. Waiting to be discovered.

The same is true of people.

There is something good inside even the most wicked of people.

I hope.

Stairway to Heaven

Would it not be nice to know where each stairway leads? The same as knowing what lies beyond a door before you pass through.

This is not to take the mystery out of life but to help make choices. Why climb the stairway to nowhere when the stairway to heaven might be next door?

Archaeological Dig

I like to watch National Geographic t.v.. Archaeologists digging up past; finding long buried relics.

What will happen in the future when archaeologists dig up the crap we leave laying around?

Circus Onion Rings

My mind is dancing like a monkey at a banana festival. It just can't seem to be still at the moment. Unfortunately by body cannot keep up.

The body is tired. Needs sleep.

That is a bad combination.

The Doors

Some doors just seem to stand around all day waiting for a fella to come along in his innocence and fire off a few rounds. This clearly marked entrance maybe a bit weathered and nearing the end of its useful life but I find something very attractive about it. It was very inviting. It attracts my primal spirit.

There was a prostitute across the street waiting for a fella to come along with less innocence and fire off a few rounds. Equally attractive and inviting. A bit weathered and nearing the end of her useful life and probably ending the end of her life. Still attractive.

I photographed the door.

Should have talked to the woman and photographed. Yes, woman. Don't want to think of her as a prostitute. A troubled woman.

I kept my camera pointed away and now have regrets.

What A Fun Guy

Well, maybe not so much fun. Frustrated at this blogger.com because it has been a bugwah to get on. Is it time to move off into a new direction?

Nah. I shall continue for a time.

What A Difference A Day Makes

It would be so nice to look into the future. Not just 20 years to see if life is going to be worth living but even a day to see if there is someway to stop someone from hurting.

Or be selfish and find a way to stop yourself from hurting.

I started thinking about the future while looking at the pile of crap that I surrounds me. Why do I keep the stuff that I keep? Books? Read them and put them on a shelf. Why? Get rid of them. CDs and even floppies from long dead computers with long obsolete progams that no-one will ever use. I actually had some until a few weeks ago when I tossed them.

And memories. Why keep happy memories that just make you sad in the end? Press the delete button and assign them to some trash can.

On second thought it is better not to know the future. There would just be more to forget.

Autumn Goodbye

It is always a surprise how quickly summer turns into autumn. The odd thing is that after July there is this feeling of a slide into winter with little thought of what comes between.

The transition is forgotten and comes as a surprise that it is an entity unto itself. It loses its identity and is regarded more as an infant winter taking its first steps.

Spring has more identity than autumn. It is fresh. New. Welcomed.

Autumn is the forgotten season.

Sweet Tequila

Take a deep breath.

Can you smell it? Well, not from this distance but if you cross the street it starts. Go around the left side of the building and it hits you "like the hot kiss at the end of a wet fist*."

The smells coming from the vents are beyond descrition. This is the middle of the day when no-one has been inside for many hours. The smell is still being pumped out.

And you thought the odours in this town were from the pulp mills.

*Nick Danger - Firesign Theatre

Taggers Tag.

First of all, Chuck, what is the deal with wandering around like a dog spraying on every wall in sight? I just don't get it. It is kind of like wandering around with a chainsaw mutilating trees. Well, maybe not quite as bad.

The other thing, Chuck (or should I call you Chucky), why is the "y" so low? Is it an artistic statement or just poor planning that you hit the edge of the wall? Maybe next time start with the "y" and work backwards. That way you won't run out of room.

How To Remain A Virgin

Is it so bad to be a virgin? I was one for many years. Many many years.

Then . . . well, all hell broke loose.

Actually, according to Merriam-Webster, I never was a virgin because you must be an unmarried woman devoted to religion or an absolutely chaste young woman or a female animal that has never copulated. Recently the word "person" has been added but that is just petty politics playing into our lives and corrupting the etymological intent but I digress . . .

My point is that it would not have killed me to remain so. Granted my son would not exist and that would be a crime against the world. That aside, how does my huffing and puffing contribute to the welfare of the world?

Now, how to remain a virgin. Just be a man. As a man you were never a virgin. Therefore you cannot lose your virginity.

Therefore you are still a virgin.

And what does this have to do with the picture?

Not a damned thing.

It's curtains, baby.

Blah.

That is my day in a nutshell. It is, of course, nothing to do with the world but more to do with what is inside my being. Just feeling that I should drop the curtain on a day of general dissatisfaction. Send the audience home. The performance is over.

Getting to Second Base

October is an odd month of transition. This is when you know for sure that winter is on its way and soon second base will be covered with snow.

It is also a time when I start looking forward to spring. New colour. New life.

I guess this is also the time to get my skates sharpened and think about rocketing around the oval.

Copper Days

I like warm autumn days. Those days when you can wander around in just a t-shirt. Well, not just a t-shirt. I think you understand.

We have had a few of those. It is inspiring. Inspires me to have a nap.

Shy

Why is it so wrong to be shy? Shy people sometimes feel like criminals because they hide, look away, move furtively through crowds in what might be considered to be a skulking manner.

Maybe shy people can get special stickers for their cars and get to park in special spots. Have special washrooms.

Maybe bracelets that say "In Case of emergency - leave me alone!"

Humming in the Bath

Sometimes I do things that just feel good and can't seem to stop myself. Like humming in the the bath. Not really just humming, more of an ahhhhhhhh that turns into a hum. The feeling of the bath is just too good. The humming feels good. All good.

Canadian Urban Beaver Hunt

I went searching for the Great Canadian Urban Beaver as my personal Thanksgiving adventure. Where to go? I selected Hudson's Bay Slough just off Queensway in Prince George. If you know Queensway in Prince George you know that is where many Urban Beavers have been known to lurk. They are mostly nocturnal but have been spotted in the light of day.

This is a shot of the Urban Beaver habitat. I can be a slippery slope into the smelly underbelly of urban life if you are not careful.

This a shot of a relieving flow. Without this flow to relieve the pressure there is chaos.

This final shot is evidence of the Urban Beaver presence.

In the end, I failed to spot any Urban Beaver. This may be due to the Holiday weekend but I have been told they do not observe holidays and can be seen anytime.

Metaphors

I was thinking about my life. Well, not really my life but life in general. I was thinking about life as a metaphor for life. Then I started thinking about the future.

It is easy to focus on your future health; future finances; future friends.

Thinking about that lead me to think that perhaps you should look not at the most obvious things when planning your future; you should look at the fuzzy part of your future.

What is lurking in you peripheral future?

How do you plan for the part of the future that you can't see?

That is when I heard an intelligent man (whose name I cannot recall) talking about how you cannot control what the world does to you but you can control how you respond. It struck me as the answer. Why should I worry about the future. I should accept events, good or bad, and prepare myself to respond.

The future does not exist.

It is all the present.

Shadows

Have you thought about the benefits of shadows? Not only do they give definition to objects but they also allow us to see thing that are somewhere else.

You can see the post and chain without really looking at them.

The same is true of relationships. You don't need to look directly at a relationship to see the state of health. Look in the periphery, in the shadows. That is where the truth resides.

A Word to Work In

Have you ever wanted to bloviate? I do it often in this blog and admit it is a private joke. The very act of using the word bloviate is an act of bloviation.

Go to bloviate to get a definition of bloviate.

Girls will be Girls

Have you ever seen someone doing something and you just cannot figure out what is going on? Why are these two girls holding their arms out? The one on the right looks quite unhappy. The one on the left is holding something and I assume that the one on the right is also holding the same thing.

What is going on?

Rules

How does on learn all the rules that need to be learned? The things that no-one teaches you but you instinctively know. Things like behaviour at the urinal. Never use the middle of three if there is no-one there because if you do and someone comes in he has to stand beside you with no buffer.

There are so many unspoken rules and there seems to be more every day. Rules about how to behave in various situations. At a bus-stop. On the internet. Driving in your car.

Oh, yeah, don't take pictures in washrooms.

Lost

Have you had one of those days when you just feel kind of lost? Drifting? Floating along without purpose?

I seem to have one at least one day every week and that day is generally tied to my sleep pattern which is somewhat inconsistent.

I look forward to the day when I can return to sleeping like a regular human being.

Where Is U?

This Post Office letter slot in Barkerville intrigued me with its lovely colour and the patina from years of use. The beaver and the lion seem that they should be too inimical to share this emblem but what do I know?

But where is u? Email me or leave a comment if you can tell me.

Starry Night

I traveled many kilometres yesterday hoping for a photograph and shot not a single one. I looked but failed to see what I sought.

I figured it out. I was looking for the image that I had in my mind and failed to see the images that presented themselves to me. Couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Or the stars for the universe.

I think you understand.