Outside Looking In

We all watched something two nights ago that we shouldn’t have. They called it a debate. I’ve heard also sorts of negative descriptions. They all fit. I can think of some worse ones, but they aren’t fit to print. I read that the folks who host the debates are going to change them. I read that they may put a mute button on the microphones of each speaker. Something better happen. I won’t watch another debate if one guy won’t even come close to playing by the rules.

I suppose the world saw in 90 minutes what we’ve lived with for the past 47 months. We are tired. We are scared. We are angry. Now the rest of the world pities us. I cannot remember a time in my life when one man has ruined just about every one of my days. If it isn’t him, it’s this damn pandemic which could have been in control except for that very same man. The liar in chief. The denier in chief. The loser in chief.

There. I’ve said it. I’ve had my rant.

I hate to leave like this so…

I think my photo world is starting to turn a little. I’ve licensed a lot of work out of my archives. I asked one art director how he found me and why he wasn’t looking at the inexpensive photo portals. He found me by Googling for NOLA photographers. He didn’t want to use portals because the pictures were either not so great or that they were derivative. Ha! What did I say a few says ago?

Derivative. Derivative. Derivative.

This has gotten me thinking. Maybe it’s time to build my archives in a very public place. Make them very searchable and let people license them for normal uses without me even knowing. And, for more special projects they could talk to me directly.

Maybe there is a way for photography to become real again. Don’t get me wrong. I like my other career. But, this is what I was built to do.

Pictures at an exhibition. The all seeing dog and I were out walking. We arrived at our bench and I noticed that leaves started falling and sticking to odd places like our park bench. So, I made this picture. It’s about as raw as it could be. I wanted to test a picture loading system forgetting that I hadn’t done any finishing work on the image.

Oops.

That’ll happen in this fast paced world.

Stay safe. Stay might. Wear your mask.