Photo:Engage

  “ For most people to be happy, there has to be a person, place, or thing involved in their happiness. In true happiness, there are no things involved. It's a natural state. You will abide in that state forever. ”  - Robert Adams     Forgive the long gap since my last blog post, dear readers. The topic involved in that June post was absolutely dreadful and required me to take some time to recommit to my purpose. But I'm back now, although in truth I never really left. I continued to photograph and write. And found happiness again. Here is work from my post on April 30, 2022... Happiness Is When by William Arthur Ward Happiness is our heritage when Faith becomes our constant companion; Self-discipline our tireless teacher; Integrity our competent coach; Truth our trusted tutor; Discernment our careful critic; Optimism our able advisor; Goodness our gifted guide; Beauty our infallible inspiration; And love our blissful benediction. Clicking on the image will open it ...

  “ Photographs open doors into the past, but they also allow a look into the future. ”  - Sally Mann     There's not much that's better than knowing something fun and exciting is about to happen. Remember the last time you had a big vacation planned? Just thinking about all the amazing things you were going to do away from the cares of work and home would fill you with joy. Looking forward to the thing was often as good, or better, than the thing itself.      I love that aspect of anticipation. And once the great thing occurs, when we've had the great experience we so looked forward to, we feel the appreciation for all the effort it took to make it happen, that the thing exists to be appreciated, for all the people who make the thing extraordinary.      And no matter how the event actually turned out, because maybe that vacation had a few off days or a few things that didn't quite work out, we can still be happy about the experience ove...

  “ A great photograph is a full expression about what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense and is thereby a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety. ”  - Ansel Adams     How strange to sense the presence of love while simply observing two trees on a hillside. But then, the forest, the mountains, and the mist can fill you with a sense of wonderment you might dismiss as folly were it not for the obvious intimacy and constancy those two trees share. And what marvelous lessons we might take with us from watching them resist the wind, one tree mostly full with branches and the other less so but still hanging on, still fully engaged. We could learn much about loyalty from such trees as these. As I wrote in my post on December 18, 2021...      Out by the edge of the forest on the hill, sits a tree that radiates pure magical energy. It’s a wizened old tree, bent but never broken by the wind, backed by the clouds...

  Photo:Engage     a photography blog you  want  to follow “ A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera. ”  - Dorothea Lange     I get so discouraged sometimes from the pervasive divisiveness in our society. People so often seem to look at other people as obstacles...      Other cars going too slowly, too many others on the sidewalk or in the stores, wearing masks to slow the spread of the pandemic virus (the virus is real) or not wearing masks because of personal freedom (it's a conspiracy), vaccinations or no vaccinations, too much traffic, not enough workers, impatience at the restaurant or in line at the gas station or when waiting for a government service. Not to mention how everything is political nowadays. The list of ways other people bother us is seemingly endless. And yet, as I wrote in my post on July 24, 2021...      Other people aren’t problems; they’re fellow people with their own t...