I hope the virus does not keep me inside – by decree or by actually having the disease. I am very careful using Purell, soap, and 6 foot social distance. So far, I am able to spend around 4-6 hours per day out and about.
When indoors, I study and play with photos. I study the question “why we take photographs” – It seems appropriate that I should study the question since I ran the Photo Club here at TGO for many years.
This is number 8 of one list of many reasons for taking a photograph:
“8. PHOTOGRAPHY LETS YOU SEE THINGS THAT YOU MAY NEVER NOTICE OTHERWISE”
Taking a photograph lets me see things I never noticed when I saw the situation.I take hundreds of pictures some weeks. How can I do that?Do I cary my camera along with me all the time? – Yes, I do exactly that. My camera is my cell phone.
When I look at something with my eyes only, I can’t possibly take in every aspect that is within my vision. For instance, a beautiful sunset only lasts so long and I may not notice all aspects of how the colors play on the water.Or, the snake raised its head and look me in the eye for a split second but I did not notice the twitching of the tail.
Oh my – look at window sill
When back home, I look at the photograph on my computer.I have all time I want and I see see things I never saw when I snapped it.
But more important is, when outdoors with my camera, I saw things – like a wasp – that I was too slow on the finger to include in the photograph. By the time I snapped the photo the wasp was gone!So, I use PhotoShop to make the photo show you what I saw even though the camera did not catch it.
I do not use Photoshop all the time – some times it is really as I snapped it – Anyway here are some things I saw that I want you to see too – Some are real and some are fixed up a little to include things that I saw, wanted to see, and did not capture.Hope you enjoy these few snaps of my time out-and-about as much as I enjoyed being out-and-about.
Looking down our street – horizontal contrails cross rocket vertical contrailanother rocket launch thru clouds over our streetSame street at night – I see God’s rocket – called by us humans the “Moon”Drummond Island wasp nestFlorida modern construction – no shovel in hand – only cell phonesI love the palm plant , the seed pod color, and the “banana” like clusters above the purple podMom, Pop, and Baby out for a stroll – oops I mean slither!Love birds!See, diamond laden spider web near bottom – how about red dot near upper left? What is it?Oh my – a closer lookAs you swing thru life – Go out and about & look at the sky, look at the ground, look at the trees, look at the construction truck – look around at everything – it is fun
Well yesterday I took 6 big boxes of stuff – much I moved from NY, to Rhode Island, to Texas, to Michigan, then to Florida – to a “community-provided” service called shredding – Yea! Otherwise, I spend a lot of time studying things that I do not think about in non-pandemic times.
Of course I study the new way – with the Cloud using all kinds of software.
Here are five things I studied and I will pass on to you just for fun – I want you to smile after you read it just to show me it was fun!
1.Pandemic:A pandemic is a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents, or worldwide. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of infected people is not a pandemic. Further, flu pandemics generally exclude recurrences of seasonal flu
2.Nephophilia: A person who loves clouds; love of clouds; fondness or obsession of clouds.
3.Apophenia: is the tendency to mistakenly perceive connections and meaning between unrelated things. The term was coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in his 1958 publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia.
4.Pareidolia is a type of Apophenia. Some common examples are seeing a likeness of Jesus in the clouds or an image of a man on the surface of the moon.Pareidolia causes people to see patterns such as faces and images in everyday objects. People with pareidolia give human characteristics to random things such as doorknobs or vegetables or a house.
5..There are 10 major cloud types. In addition to cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and nimbus clouds, there are cirrostratus, cirrocumulus, altostratus, altocumulus, stratocumulus, nimbostratus, and cumulonimbus clouds.
What else do I do when in the middle of a pandemic? I look at and play with photos:
Saw this while on a bike rideI now added a cloud with a dog to the previous cloud – made it the dogs tail!- If you do not see it I will show you some more obvious ones later.Beautiful skyBeautiful sky at sunriseNow I see a baby faceNow I see a dog face – ignore man in tree. – His name is James!Ignore James and see the bunnyBeautiful sky – I did a little work to make the butterfly more obvious – but it was there – honestAs you swing thru life – Look at the sky – It is the best art gallery in the sky – No I mean the best art gallery in the world! – Smile now!
I know I am in the danger age for coronavirus – but so far it has not impacted me as much as some I know. My family in NY , NJ and CT sure has had major daily pattern changes.
Here in TGO all meeting, restaurants, churches, and more has been shut down – actually everything has been shut down. Some how my writing and photo groups have given me challenges via the internet – no meetings needed – just digital socializing.
Then, Heather sent me a photo of late winter and suggested I show that it is not discouraging to look at a late dusting of snow but show a hint that spring is really there. Again I was encouraged to take on a remote digital socializing challenge.
So here goes:
Bob sent this photo to photo club members and suggested we spend some time doing post processing on it.This is the result of me playing around while doing social distancing – sitting at my computerHeather sent me photo of her daffodils garden with a late dusting of snow. My friend Bob suggested we think of a song and the create a photo to illustrate the song or a verse in the song. I did, I thought of Frank Sinatra and “It Might As Well Be Spring” – See my photo rendition below.“It Might As Well Be Spring” – Love these digital social times – Heather, Bob, and others always get me to thinkin’. Heather ask me to make a photo to show that in her dreams she saw a warm spring around the corner – I felt sure Caroline was dreaming of a beach in the Carolines or the Crib – this photo is what I saw in my mind. That is my digital social thinking for this evening.As you swing thru life – Remember in a time of difficulty and uncertainty – contact with friends and family is so valuable – even if the contact is via some form of digital socializing
From Dave Cesari – Do not forget to go to the TGO Photo Page – Dave posted 7 photos just before he is heading to NY for the summer – But, he will post photos from NY, so keep checking back.
MY STORY FOR TODAY – I grew up on a Brethren farm in a Brethren farm community. So, everyone I knew was Brethren. Each family did nothing but farm. We each, basically, ate what we grew and we grew what we ate. We seldom went to the store, we kind of lived the way we all have to do now that Coronavirus is here. So, if we let our mind go back 80 years this new way of life, that the TV says we have to live, is really just an old way of living.
But, I sure have evolved a lot – If I do not go to store to purchase my coffee, my wine, my chips, my honey crisp apples, bananas, 5 kinds of nuts, soft cheese, frozen cherries, ………… You got the message – I really have evolved and am dependent on that grocery store? Bet you are dependent on it too.
It is not just the food store that I am dependent on – what about my internet – Like the advertisement on our TV – The guy gets mad and starts to throw things when his internet driven machine doesn’t close the drapes fast enough when he tells the machine to close his drapes – Satellite internet service is a requirement of our evolution!
Well this morning I went out my front door to watch SpaceX send 60 more satellites skyward to improve my internet! You see, important stuff is still happening – the internet is the new way of staying connected when social gatherings are discouraged – We are lucky to have that new technology. Now, lets hope the grocery store stays open and stocked during this new Coronavirus outbreak.
03 18 2020 – 60 new Satellites via SpaceX rocket
I know my neighbors in Florida and on Drummond Island want to go back in time, but I am, also, sure they do not want to give up the grocery store. Oh, you say “How do I know they want to go back in time?” I know because they keep images of prehistoric things in their lawns, driveways, and parking lots! I’ll show you just three of them.
In front of dry goods and grocery store on Drummond.In the front lawn of one of my neighbors in Florida – Dressed for St Paddy’s day.Beside a driveway of one of my Florida neighbors
In both Drummond and Florida, I bike around and see this stuff. I think about how it used to be – no, not just 80 years ago when my parents had a 2 acre garden, a barn full of cow manure to fertilize the garden, horses to pull the plow – but way back – back before the garden and before the internet talked to our drapes, … back to when getting food was a real dangerous chore every day.
Bottom line is this Coronavirus situation is real serious when it comes to getting food. Have you seen the empty shelves at the grocery store? Purchasing food is very important to us now that we have evolved. But, so has our creativity evolved – We will figure out a way to enjoy our new world. But in the mean time I played around with my thoughts using photos and PhotoShop to tell my story:
Way back, diner time was called a food chain.Back when caves and homes were not sanitized with Clorox
Since the Coronavirus, I do not even want to go get my hair cut – I do not know if they sanitize the electric cutters – Mom used the kitchen scissors to give me a hair cut 80 years ago but now I think I will be like Wilily Nelson and grow a pony-tail.
I was thinking, what if our ancestors were creative – got new ideas – take a look.
They had ideas!
That is how we humans evolved – Ideas on how to do new things, even, ideas on hair cuts, colored nails and all kinds of important things that we will find new ways to do in this new Coronavirus world!
Look at this lady after a trip to the Beauty Saloon and of course a trip to the jewelry story for a ring to decorate the finger with her newly painted nails. – Creativity!Finally I made this surreal photo just for fun while being home – thought about it on one of my bike rides here in The Great Outdoors. Still wearing a neckless for St Paddy’s day! As you swing thru life – Be creative – learn to enjoy going back to the old days for some things – but make full use of the new technology for staying in touch! Enjoy the new world with it’s integration of the old world and modern technology.
Go see Dave’s Eagles on the TGO Photo Club page – Remarkable.
Then read on below.
Forget the last quarter – Think about the whole game – I was reading a book titled “Art Before Breakfast.” by Danny Gregory. Here is some of my thoughts from the book:
Creativity isn’t a luxury. It’s the essence of life. It’s what distinguishes us from the bugs. And it’s why our ancestors survived while other less adaptive critters perished. They responded to change by being creative in some way, by inventing a new answer.
And that’s what you need to do to make the most of your life, every day of it. To be inventive, open, flexible. To have perspective on what matters to you. To deal with change without being overwhelmed. And that’s what creativity offers you.
Art is a way of helping make creativity become a habit that fits ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE. It doesn’t mean you have to be a full-time artist. It doesn’t mean you need lots of training or supplies. Or a lot of time.
All you need to do is play a little. Do it while waiting for a commercial to end, or waiting in a dentists waiting-room – take out a pen and paper and sketch.
Or, if you are retired like me – create just for fun. Take an hour in the morning with your I pad, a photo or so from you iPhone and play with PhotoShop. Here are several days worth of my playing around:
I took quick snapshot of a duck outside Glorias Art Club building in Titusville, FL – Just as snapped on my I phone.Next I removed all but head and breast of the duck – My he looks like a bottle to me. Try to use your creative thoughts and see a bottle. Ha HaSnapped this photo to ask Gloria which bottle she wanted me to buy – of course I added the duck and the selfie that I put on the label – just for fun – Creatively playing around – just for funLookin down our street. – A space shot on a cloudy day – again my iPhone and a image of what happens when the sonic boom arrives – Ha HaDave was telling me of what happens to the song bird population when we humans kill off all the bugs, – so I looked for bird photos in my library of iPhone photos -with the bird photo I decided to take a close-up of a flower I saw while biking last week and create an abstract art piece – Why? – ’cause I wanted to for fun.Made an abstract as a background for the ladybug – Just for funAs you swing thru life – Create something art just for fun – before breakfast if you can. – That is what the book says you should do.
Our TGO Photo Club has had a great year. – scroll down to read a little about it after clicking to the Photo Club Page to see some new Owl postings by Dave Cesari.
Some thoughts about the TGO PHOTO CLUB:
A. Susan Hubbard, Club’s corresponding sectary wrote:
“Huge thanks to Jim Dick and his amazing crew of many volunteers who hung 52 new photographs by club members in the Manor Porch Gallery yesterday!
Don’t Forget: Our reception to celebrate the opening of the new 2020 Exhibit will be this coming Saturday, March 7, 12 Noon to 2:00 PM in the Gallery overlooking the pool deck.
All are welcome. Refreshments will be served. Be sure to invite your friends and neighbors.”
B. Our new leader of the Club, David Spahn, will meet with committee leaders this week to plan for the next year.
C. A successful club has these features and the TGO Photo Club has them all plus more:
inclusive Environment
2, Opportunity to service the community
3. Offers help to members to accomplish mastery
4. A safe environment, non critical and inviting of newbies
5. Engagement in Learning – Learn by doing and sharing
6. Be an active participant in the future – embrace new technology
7. Many active members have fun together
8. Offer support to member’s passion
D. It even allows me to share my passion for creating surreal photos. They hung four of my prints in the Manor Porch Gallery:
The Club serves the community by providing photographers for the Canadian event each year – this was one photo I had fun creating from a photo they took of me at the event.This duck photo I took out by a pond in Titusville was just the right shape for this shelf – HaHaOne of my passions is to study photo composition – any time I make a surreal photo, I practice “rules” of composition – can you see some rules I applied?This is a couple of my varied family times wrapped into one surreal photo: With my Daughter-in-law with her Mini Cooper at a Mackinaw Bridge Mini Rally, A typical evening sitting at a Drummond Island camp fire, and Being with Gloria at the opening of her involvement with a new art gallery on Merritt Island, Florida (The buildings in the background are the Gallery) As you swing thru life – ponder and record with your camera, the fun times you have with family and friends – share and say thanks.
Oh, say you, why feature him here and on the TGO Photo Club page, which he normally post on?
Oh, say I, ‘Cause I have been studying photo composition and these photos of Daves show that he not only loves the hours he puts in to get these photos, he knows how to compose them. – I urge new photographers and those that want to improve their photography, to study Dave’s postings. Then read about composition and re-study the photos. – You will appreciate his use of lines, items of 3, rule of thirds, “s” patterns, and much more.
So, I posted here and the TGO Photo Page so that I could catch those readers that are not Photo Club Members or do not click the Club’s page on a regular basis. Enjoy!
02 22 2020 Dave Cesari02 22 2020 Dave Cesari02 22 2020 Dave Cesari02 22 2020 Dave Cesari02 22 2020 Dave Cesari
Dave did write – “See I can shoot something besides birds.”
02 22 2020 Dave CesariAs you swing thru life – The more years you put behind you, the more fun it is to learn by your association with others – That is my thinking for the day.
7 Photos came together for this seventh project! Gloria’s Art Gallery, Me with Sue’s Mini Cooper Rally on the Mackinaw Bridge, Elden’s camp fire on Drummond, Dyna’s smiling face, TGO’s road work signs, and one of my Drummond’s sunset all came together into one photo – as if by magic. – Oh I forgot to mention that the 7th photo – the sunset in the middle – is really a close up of a watermelon half!Charlie’s dog finds baby bird – of course Dyna watches. Photos included frosty morning in NJ, Heather walking dogs, and unique ducks at Florida High School)Shopping via the internet with Jim – he lives near the coast. I know the beautiful hard wood forest and the vistas from the lighthouse on Block Island – and of course Dyna – Guess that is why I put it all together.New York City and maybe the Oscars – not real anywayOh my – New York City in 2020 or is it 1776 discussing our Nation’s politics. Of course Dyna is watching.Dyna is everywhereeven hereAs you swing thru life – Here is my thinking – Take 2 hours each day, for a week, and see what you can do – I found it fun – I may even try it again?
Charlie’s dog finds baby bird – of course Dyna watches. Photos included frosty morning in NJ, Heather walking dogs, and unique ducks at Florida High School)Shopping via the internet with Jim – he lives near the coast. I know the beautiful hard wood forest and the vistas from the lighthouse on Block Island – and of course Dyna – Guess that is why I put it all together.New York City and maybe the Oscars – not real anywayOh my – New York City in 2020 or is it 1776 discussing our Nation’s politics. Of course Dyna is watching.Dyna is everywhereeven hereAs you swing thru life – Here is my thinking – If you are retired, still have a daily pattern – sort of like a “job description” – but do not worry if you deviate from it from time to time.
Shopping via the internet with Jim – he lives near the coast. I know the beautiful hard wood forest where Heather walks her dogs and the vistas from the lighthouse on Block Island – and of course 2 Dyna’s – Guess that is why I put photos from all of these places together.New York City and maybe the Oscars – not real anywayDyna is everywhereeven hereOh my – New York City in 2020 or is it 1776 discussing our Nation’s politics. Of course Dyna is watching.
