Burning the spirits free

I burned my old journals tonight.  More than 1,000 pages hand-written pages going back to 1980.  I’m am tempted to say that as the flames consumed the torn off chunks of pages in my fireplace, spirits were released from the papers—sadness, passion, confusion, existential angst, so many emotional moments "captured" in ink, until tonight.   Except that it would not make sense, even if one were to speak of “spirits” in a metaphorical sense.   You see, I painstakingly scanned all of the pages first, and then I backed it all up on an external drive.  I’m trying to get rid of paper, converting almost every scrap of paper I own into a pdf.   Therefore, there's no need for any "spirits" to be released from the pages, although looking at the haunting flames made me occasionally wonder.  Then again, if I were a spirit trapped in a piece of paper, I probably wouldn't understand anything about computers or scans, so I might nonetheless assume a haunting flame shape as my piece of paper burned. IMG_7252 Journal Fire IMG_7222 Journal Fire IMG_7231 Journal Fire IMG_7232 Journal Fire

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Early street photographer discovered

From Web Burgr:

Perhaps the most important street photographer of the twentieth century was a nanny who kept everything to herself. Nobody had ever seen her work and she was a complete unknown until the time of her death. For decades Vivian’s work hid in the shadows until decades later (in 2007), historical hobbyist John Maloof bought a box full of never developed negatives at a local auction for $380.

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Brain stretching Photoshopping

I'm still an amateur at Photoshop. I can do quite a few things, but nothing like what you'll see in the work of Erik Johansson. Check out these highly imaginative images. Here's a video of Johannson explaining his thought process. And check out this additional innovative project by Johannson - A chance to simulate looking down from the top of a building.

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Wire Pilots

For me, it's always a challenge shooting in the dark without a flash. I had some good practice tonight at a local concert. Guitarist Dan Rubright, percussionist Ted Rubright and bass player Rick Vice comprise "Wire Pilots," and they put on an excellent show featuring music composed by Dan Rubright. Dan's music (all of it instrumental) is difficult to classify, but it tends to be centered around salient memorable melodies supported by complex chordal and percussive textures. A special guest for one song was violinist Daniel Schmidt, a 10th grade student at Grand Center Arts Academy. The location was the Kranzberg Arts Center Studio in St. Louis. IMG_5300 Wire Pilots - Rubright IMG_5133 Wire Pilots - Rubright IMG_5165 Wire Pilots - Rubright IMG_5184 Wire Pilots - Rubright [More . . . ]

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