Photo:Engage

  “ The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ”  - Marcel Proust     Our old friend Marcus Aurelius's favorite poet, Heraclitus, once said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.” We all change throughout the years and who we were once is not who we are now. Neither are the places we've been before. Change is the hallmark of time's passing. May we all accept that change with gracious kindness and hopeful anticipation. As I wrote in my post on December 31, 2022...      Out with the old and in with the new, just like the rising of a vibrant dawn after the darkness of night reveals fresh possibilities. As we cross the bridge from one year to another, may the joys and heartbreak that marked our lives in the past year yield happily into the opportunities for love and growth possible in the new one. Happy New Year, my friends, and peace be with al...

  “ For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity. ”  - Henri Cartier-Bresson     Sure hope the new year is starting out well for you! I thought I'd offer you a hope I have for you and a small bit of wisdom for the ages in this first post of 2022.     I want you to be happy. More specifically, I want you to choose to be happy, regardless of your circumstances.     That's a daring thing to hope for in the modern age, what with everyone's feelings controlling so much of what they are. But your feelings, if not managed properly, can really keep you from being happy.     Let me tell you a quick story... When the town I live in didn't pickup the leaves from the curb in our neighborhood like they announced they would, I was concerned about the possibility of leaves clogging our storm drains and about how the leaves were simply blowing back into our yards after many of us had spent much energy and mon...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. ”  - Elliott Erwitt      Written shortly before the new year began, the day after Christmas in fact, I tried to describe how the years pass connected to each other but also commemorated by themselves for their significant events. 2020 doesn't stand out as a particularly good year considering the pandemic, the continuing racial strife, the uneven policing, and the polarized political environment. I was hoping to see better things in 2021, but perhaps I was too naïve. The more things change, the more they stayed the same. One can only hope that we see things get better especially with the COVID vaccination program ramping up. As I wrote on December 26, 2021...    ...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ Photography is a love affair with life. ”  - Burk Uzzle      The post-holiday blues are a common enough phenomenon. But some wise people have taken to reflection, finding peace in the "day before the day before" the special day or in the days afterwards. It's important for us to remember the meaning of our holidays. As I wrote in my post on January 2, 2021...      The second day of the new year always feels strange to me, even a little sad. Yesterday was the joyful holiday that celebrated the promise of new things, the potential for the year to come. We enjoyed staying up until midnight as the calendar changed and spending the first day exulting in the possibilities. But the second of January... that usually means the holidays are over, that most people are taking down their decorations and lights and starting to carry on with the business of real life.    ...