Quote of the Day

"Striving for perfection is the greatest stopper there is.… It's your excuse to yourself for not doing anything. Instead, strive for excellence, doing your best."
– Sir Laurence Olivier

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"A heavy downpour. Stand and face the rain, let it's iron rays pierce you; drift with the water that wants to sweep you away but yet stand fast, and upright in this way abide the sudden and endless shining of the sun."
Kafka

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"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." -John F. Kennedy

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Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart
And try to love the questions themselves
Do not seek the answers that connot be given you
Because you would not be able to live them
And the point is to live everything
Live the questions now
Perhaps you will gradually without noticing it
Live along some distant day into the answers.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke

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"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
~Nelson Mandela

New Eyes in New York

discovery consists not
in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes
marcel proust




For 4 years I lived in New York City. A place filled with people all in a hurry to get somewhere, including myself. But I carried with me two of my favorite cameras, the Holga. One had color film. The other had black & white. The camera itself is referred to as a "toy camera" because it is made of plastic and even has a plastic lens. It commonly has light leaks and vignettes and has only two exposure settings. But I fell in love with it. I learned all the nuances. Mostly I love the ethereal quality it gives to the final images. Someone once commented that my toy camera images look like snapshots of a dream! That was such a huge compliment to me!

The other thing I loved about carrying these two cameras with me at all times was that I began to see things differently. In fact, I began to 'see'. All those things and places that we walk by in our busy daily lives bacame fascinating to me. And my world opened up, visually.... I had 'new eyes'...

This quote was in my head this morning when I woke up. It's a favorite. It doesn't need any explaining but it speaks to me about my passion for photography... It's been my passion my whole life but I tried a few other routes in life. It never felt right. Those 'desk jobs'... oh so tedious and taxing on the soul!... So I followed my calling. It hasn't always been the 'easy way' but I couldn't have any other way...

"I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time." - Jack London