Blog

Hey – Use the click options to the left – In the Photo Page Dave gives some insight to his skill in photographing hummingbirds. – The other options are interesting too.

 

———————–MY THOUGHT FOR THE DAY ARE BELOW.

 

If the following words of this blog – trigger one helpful thought, I have been successful – the words are to trigger the thought of loving animals and sticking to a routine!

Daily routine – One of the first elements of a happy retirement. Routine, really gives you contact with others, gives you a reason to get up in the morning. For example, In this summer 2018 life, people go by my house and if I am not sitting reading at 7:00am they worry. I feel an obligation to be there – a commitment. – a reason to get up!  I have been fortunate to always love what I do when I do it – and I changed it often. In that sense I do what I want to do when I want to do it.- After a while you can change your routine to a new routine – keeps you from getting bored that way.

I retired – yipes – 30 years ago from IBM management – That was my first retirement.  But I have lived many lives before that and since then.  Been a Brethren farmer’s son, preacher, teacher, Summer Camp Director, volunteer, software designer, rancher, remote island resident, Chamber of Commerce video producer, livestock auction employee,  Florida retiree, private business manager, husband, and hopefully friend to many.

Throughout each of those lives – even into retirement – two things are common – Daily routine and love of animals.  

As I said, you could set your clock by what I am doing, but my summer does not include owning animals – I sold my horse this summer – but looking at my library of photos I see animals photos are a major portion of my library. – so I still have animals around me to enjoy and photograph.

This morning, while making coffee I looked out toward the Bay, expecting to see gulls, ducks, geese, sandhill cranes, and of course deer – I did see them  – if they were not there, I worry – see, animals also have a daily routine.

Here are a variety of animal photos from my life that I would like to show you:

Too friendly to the camera

This blog is working to represent four entities (Click on the menu to the left):  1. The TGO Photo Club (Click Photo Page), 2. Blue Heron Galleries (Click Art Page),   3. My thoughts on many things in life (Scroll down this page or Click JIMSDAILY Thoughts)  and 4. Selected art to share (Click Selected Art).

MY THOUGHTS ON APPRECIATION:    ——————————–

My subject today is really about APPRECIATION. Today’s specific APPRECIATION is for the art around you.  Which art – The art in the Blue Heron Restaurant of course.   Without it the walls would be so drab – they would be mundane. 

APPRECIATE that each artist spent hours putting in that last line, that last glint in the subject’s eye, or that last flash of color to lead our eyes.  These last brush strokes help us see beauty, experience emotion, or just unknowingly have the art relax us as we sip the drink before dinner.  APPRECIATE the artist and the hours they put in to create the art for us.

So, what is an artist?  An artist is someone who makes art. 

So, what is art?  From Webster: “Art is the product of human creative skill and imagination, primarily for its beauty or emotional power.”

How does art come to be appreciated? – Skill and Effort by the artist – That is how.

I was reading a story in the Washington Post about how news photographers freshen up mundane White House photos  – they are artist. They use their skills to bring out a story, even in a mundane moment.

“The helicopter lands. A Marine opens the door for the president. He is escorted to the presidential plane. The commander-in-chief salutes and disappears into the cabin of Air Force One.”  It has got to be a rather mundane news story – don’t you think?

The White House press pool was brought to the airport two hours ahead of his departure, giving the photographers time to consider their options for the best shot.

Brendan Smialowsk worked every second of his allotted two hours to plan and prepare himself to capture the upcoming mundane moment – his piece of art!  Laying on his belly for one half hour protecting this exact spot to capture the shot he wanted  – this is the art he got!   I feel he worked with his skills to create interesting beauty and emotion – art.

(Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)  The APPRECIATION that followed is what I read in the Washington Post article.  I understand Trump asked an aide to request a print of this photo.  APPRECIATION.

Your Blue Heron art is the product of the skills of 50 artists.  The Galleries are the product of the artistic skills of  each artist, supplemented with efforts of Gloria Brubaker the gallery manager, the restaurant manager, the CSA management, and volunteers from TGO residents and the CSA board .  Hundreds of hours go into to creating and maintaining the Galleries. — APPRECIATE them and ask your aid (husband, wife, or friend) to purchase a piece of art for you.  The brochure in the Gallery tells them how to make the purchase. Show your APPRECIATION with a purchase.

The current hanging has 35 pieces of art – I will display them all soon – but for now click the “Art Page” in the left column (near the top of this page) to see a beautiful selection from the Gallery.

I have more on Cuba I want to show you.  But, Dave prompted me to deviate today.  Go to the Photo Page and see Dave’s new Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and his thoughts on photo lighting and bedraggled looking subjects! They are great – Thanks, Dave.

After you go to Photo Page, return and see:

_________________________________________________________________

Why be a photographer?

For years, I have been helping to  shape the Photo Club at TGO and I do not really practice the technology of taking a photos.

But, I have a very strong philosophical view of practicing “your” reasons for being a photographer – at any technical level and encouraging you to decide if they want to advance your technical excellence.  I encourage you to advance their own reason for being a photographer and not worry about your photo technology advancement!

On the internet I have located a site that gives us 54 reasons for being a photographer.  I have presented that topic at several TGO Photo Club meetings over the years (and other Club meetings also).  At the bottom of this page I will give you that web link.

Here are four reasons I often think about as I whip my iPhone camera out of my pocket as I go about my daily chores:

2. NOTICE THE DETAILS

I love photography because photography changes the way you see things. I notice light, shapes, colours, textures, and I often ask myself “Why is that subject doing what it is doing?” …Everything around you looks different when you start to see the world as a photographer.

14. TELL A STORY

Photography is a fantastic story-telling medium. Whether you’re telling a story with one image, a sequence, a series, or an entire portfolio, the possibilities are endless.

Just ask yourself what story you want to tell, and photography can get you there.

21. CAN MAKE OTHER PEOPLE THINK

With your images you can also make people stop and think.

Just a glance at a powerful image can stop people in their tracks. Some images can change the way you view the world for the rest of your life. Strong stuff.

54. DEVELOP A LOVE FOR LIFE

No doubt, there are countless good things about being a photographer. After all these reasons, this one should just make sense. With all the beauty, joy, love, connection, variety, history, adventure, movement, emotion, and awesomeness that makes up life, how could you not be stoked to get out there and experience it?? With camera in hand, of course.

Here is the one link I told you about (54 reasons to go there): https://photographyconcentrate.com/54-reasons-why-you-should-be-photographer/

The Photo Page shows Susan Hubbard’s photos of flowers from Gary’s water garden – WOW – then return to see more of my visit to Cuba!

MORE ON CUBA VISIT:

Naturally, megacities have more than 2,000 people – To me that is a lot of people.

Hooversville, Pa – three miles from the farm I grew up on has 625 people.  TGO where I live in Florida has approximately 1,800 during the season – less than half that in the summer.  Drummond Island. Michigan, where I live in the summer, has 1,117.  The other Island I lived on for 15 years – Block Island, Rhode Island – has approximately 1,051people.  Stonewall, Texas in 1990 – just before we established the J Bar G Ranch 2 miles south of Stonewall  – had 246 residents. We left in 2007 but today, I understand it has almost 1,000 residents –  See, even Stonewall is on its way to become a megacity!

Back to my visit to Havana, Cuba – it has 2,106,246 residents.  As a megacity it makes,  for country folks like me, great photos, many questions, and great stories.  That is why I love to visit megacities for a day or two.

One question I had, what does the city of Havana do with the large number of bodies that need to be taken care of, each day, in a megacity of 2-3 million?

Let me tell you a story about one Havana cemetery and it’s handling the bodies of loved ones:

Now for a legend of Colon Cemetery:

The cemetery’s most famous grave is that of Amelia Goyri de Adot-  La Milagrosa (The Miraculous Lady).   La Milagrosa  died in childbirth at the turn of the century, and was buried in the cemetery with her baby. Legend has it that when the grave was exhumed a few years later, the mother’s  body was found intact and her baby, who had been buried at her feet, was found nestled in her arms. Her husband commissioned a statue of his beloved wife holding her child.

 

 

 

Hey friends – go to the Photo Page and see Jim Dick’s great U.S.A water falls!  Then come back and see my new page, below, on my Cuban visit.

__________________________________________________________________________

People, Color, Equality

I wanted to show you some photos of the colors and the people of Cuba. As I tried to select photos, I  pondered the people I met.  People are a product of their culture and the influence of their government to create that culture.

What culture elements did the Cuban government create? For example, in Cuba it is equal and free for everyone, they say?

We from the U.S. have not grown up with free college education for all, and free medical attention for all.  But on the other hand, we are not accustomed to having every college graduate being unable to get a job to earn enough to live on – or having the Doctor tell us about our health problem and telling us what drugs we need to cure the problem – but knowing that the drug is not financially available to us.

I saw so many people focused on getting enough to live on.  The folks on the street that were begging were focused on survival for themselves and their families.  One tour guide – a twice college graduate – held  three jobs – Not driven to have more but to have enough to live on – is what he said.

Last spring he said he taught school all day, worked a second job, and went to school two nights a week – on those nights, no sleep between the end of a school day teaching and the beginning of teaching the next day.  He was focused on making enough money to live on he said.

So, I went to the dictionary and to the BBC to get a political description of Cuba:

“The Communist Party of Cuba is the political party that rules Cuba,  although others exist without legal recognition or incorporation.

Cuba’s Communist government has survived more than 50 years of US sanctions intended to topple Fidel Castro.

 It also survived the collapse of the Soviet Union.   Exploiting the Cold War, Cuba, was  able to rely on strong Soviet backing. It received annual subsidies worth $4-5 billion, and succeed in building health and education systems.  But it fell short in building a free successful economy.”

In my brief visit to Cuba,  I saw that this history created a culture different from us in the good old U.S.A. – a challenging culture for the people of Cuba. A culture of getting enough to live on,  of secret ways to beat the rules, and of speaking very quietly (carefully) about the government and why things are as there are. Entrepreneurship seems tightly controlled to prevent the building individual wealth and the associated power that comes with that wealth.  I found the culture hard to define – but I can say, as I ask questions,  the people I met were wonderful to me.

 

 

On the  Photo Page to the left Eileen posted a really beautiful Egret photo, Bill White has a question for you, and Susan Hubbard is sharing photos of a trip to Black Point – to see them all click “Photo Page” on the left.

COLOR – Below are my thoughts on color upon my return from Cuba:

Every one of life’s journeys is a changing experience – I mean one experience changes how you look at the next experience. 

Cuba’s color changed my focus on the colors in my everyday life. I loved my brief experience in Havana Cuba.  since Gloria is an artist, she made sure each of our excursions on this trip included viewing Cuban art.  We did not know it at the time, but seeing Cuban art is easy – there is colorful art every where.

First, I will show you three images that the Cuban experience caused me to see more clearly in my everyday Drummond Island  life.  Then, I will show you images of Havana and some real color!

In Havana there is color everywhere. Cuban artists create murals as public art.  As I showed yesterday (See Older Posts at the bottom of this page) Cuban music includes dancers in a display of color. The old cars are pastels of blue water, green palms, red sunsets, and more. The buildings that line the streets that the cars drive on and our bus traveled on are a mosaic of the same blue water, green palms and red sunsets with yellows mixed in plus unpainted wood the color of an upside down row-boat laying on the shore.

Maybe another trip to Cuba may make sense for me. I need more time to explore what all this color means to these people who built tunnels for use during the Cuban missile crisis – for a people living under communist government rules of the kind we in USA have not experienced, for a people who need to go through a ton of Government approval processes just to get a permit to go fishing in a row-boat – I was told this process was required for fear their fishing trip may turn out to be an escape row toward Florida and to never to return to Cuba?

Enough of that – let’s look at some of the color I saw in Cuba:

 

I just returned from a great trip to Cuba. Before reading of my Cuba story -On the  Photo Page to the left Eileen posted a beautiful photo and Bill White has a question for you – click “Photo Page” on the left.

Below are my first comments on the Cuba trip  – Tomorrow I plan to post here a story on my observations of the “Colors of Cub”

Here are my first comments on my CUBA TRIP :

Let me show you what we think about when we think of Cuba? Bad statement – I should be saying, “I will show you what you think about when you think of Cuba?” – I do not believe it – That is another bad statement – I can only show you what I think about when I think of Cuba: Cigars, Rum, Old cars, and of course Beautiful dancing women.  Read on.

I found the Cuban people to be the nicest, most helpful, friendly, beautiful people – They were great hosts.  How did we get visa’s:  The governments (US and CUBA) allow visa to folks like me visiting so that we meet on a one-to-one basis. An opportunity for neighbors to get to know each other better.  Our cruise organized special one-on-one education tours. Gloria and I selected two tours  “1. Cigars, Rum, and Arts” and “2. The old Havana and the new Havana” –  They were very well run  wonderful tours!

There are some things of Cuba that I think are on the very dark side – In later posts I will tell you of some that I think I saw and heard – They may be only on the dark side because I grew up in our wonderful USA. But, I have spent much time working in many countries around the world and I think folks from some of those countries that did not grow up in USA would not find the same things “dark” that I did. I can only show you what I see and think.  This is part of neighbor getting to know neighbor.  That is why the governments are giving the limited visas.

But for now lets look at my photos of each:  Visa to enter Cuba, Cigars, Rum, Old cars, and of course Beautiful dancing women.

But, do not forget – more on this subject later.

First click PHOTO PAGE to the left – then return, scroll down, and see what I think about why we PHOTOGRAPH things.

—————————————————————————

I went to the Google and ask “Why do we take photos?”  Here is what I found:

1. Capture Memories

2.  Capture Moments

3.  Tell Stories

4.  Communicate with Others

5.  Improve as a Photographer

That is what the internet said – I think it is a pretty compressive list – But I want to add  one more.

6.  Stop, Look, Enjoy, Wonder, Ponder, Smile

Taking photographs helps you see the story. You could take the photo and then trow it into the trash -YOU WOULD BE A WINNER  because just stopping to study the environment for your PHOTOGRAPH gave you so much more than just taking a quick glance.

Oh my, Did I just say, even if you do not have your camera, study the things around you as if you are looking for the best PHOTOGRAPHIC angle – YOU WILL BE A WINNER. I did, ’cause it is true.

Your brain will be working to see your story, your memory, your moment – so you got your dollars worth from your vacation, your walk in the woods, or your stroll through NYC.  You are A WINNER – whether you take the PHOTOGRAPH or not!

 

 

 

After I wrote my last blog here, I was prompted to think about my hobbies – gardening, blogging, walking, biking, fixing things around the house – Oh my, none of them cost very much – of course blogging means I get to find hidden things in nature that I can tweak with my computer and figure out what to say about them to you, my  readers. Hardly spend any money doing that.

I do go to Google from time to time and ask it to show me a list of “Inexpensive hobbies” – just in case I want to do a new hobby for a while. My point here is “You do not have to have one hobby and you do not need to spend a lifetime doing your hobby.”  – switch off from time to time – I think it is more fun that way. In most cases the cost is near zero.

I will show you a few things I found hidden in nature, tweaked them a little, then sent them out on this blog just to show you.

Oh my – back to the original.  Did you notice the deer hiding there in the center watching me?

 

 

I determined that our young people are too busy – too important – to have a fun hobby.

Young people are working, running kids from piano to soccer to tutoring, keeping the house tidy, staying on top of e-mails, stuff like that.  How can there be time for fun.?

It has become a badge of honor to say, “I’m too busy” – it is a sign of importance.  Any empty time they have they need to look busy – they squander precious time on social media – Facebook, email, netflix, or some other kind of digital poison. 

Well, here are 6 benefits of not squandering time and having a life passion – a fun hobby.

Don’t miss out on these benefits:

1. STRUCTURE: Hobbies help you structure your “off work” morning or evening time – you schedule hobby time rather than just fill your  time by being busy.
2. FUN: Psychological flow – TV and surfing the web is vegging out – it does not create that feeling you get when fully immersed in a mental challenge of a fun hobby or passion.
3. FRIENDS: New social connections are found when birds of a feather meet.
4. ATTRACTIVENESS:  WOW, if you have a hobby you have something to talk about – you become a more interesting person.
5. SAFETY NET:  Not having all your eggs in one basket means not all eggs are broken when you have a bad day at the office, kids get a bad report. or whatever else make you gloomy.
6. DOLLARS:  Hobbies give you zest and zest makes you better at work so you make more money to spend on you hobby!

Be a fun structured attractive rich person with lots of friends, even on a gloomy day. 

Start now doing that thing you always wanted to do. Not sure what to do – try beekeeping, painting, photographing butterflies, collecting dead wood that looks like it has a face in it. Collect clocks, rocks, or docks (Pictures of docks that is). Anyway don’t say “I am too busy.”

All of the following photos were sent to me within the last weeks – INTERESTING PEOPLE having something to say – sharing the zest of their hobbies with me. I smiled at each.