My friend

A short dedicated to my dog and everyone who has said goodbye to a pet.


Cutting straight up the side of the mountain, I yell out, "Brutus! Brutus!", but to little avail.  A regular occurrence, it has become expected for my most loyal friend to take off up the side of a mountain with careless abandon at least once, each time we hike.
His favorite thing to do is to completely ignore me, running into the forest, and then about 15 minutes later be waiting for me further down the trail.  What a fantastic game right.
I was familiar with this game and we'd done this same hike together dozens of times.  Thus, undaunted,  I trek on. Around each bend I expect to see a tired and content Husky mutt laying on the trail waiting for his ever so slow "master".  I enjoy the scenery and the solitude for about 20 minutes then I begin to look around and call out, "Brutus! Brutus!" with increasing urgency.  5 more minutes pass and I am in a mild panic.  My mind racing with possibilities. Is he sparring with a mountain lion or black bear, did he chase an animal too far and lose his way, did he hurt himself dashing and darting through the trees?
I turn and head back up the trail, thinking that possibly he is waiting further up and I traveled to far.  My anxiety has made it impossible for me to walk at this point.  I am running back up the trail, "Brutus! Brutus! Where are you, you dumb dog?"  I sprint up and down a half mile area, thinking this to be the drop zone where he would exit the trees.
Okay, I stop to catch my breath, let's think for a second.  Maybe he came out much further up the trail.  Forget this half mile area, I decide to walk all the way back to where I left him.
Exhausted at this point, my sprint has turned into a jog/walk combination.  My mind races. Oh, I'm the worst dog owner ever.  I should of left him on a leash.  I know he takes off like this, what was I thinking?
Just as my anxiety is reaching a peak.  I see a familiar looking dog ahead on the trail.  And he's on a leash?

I run up to a friendly couple maybe in there early forties. They have 3 dogs on leashes, one of them happier to see me then the other two.  I put my thoroughly self satisfied dog on his leash and scratch behind his ear, I just can't stay mad at him, while I chat with the couple.
The woman explains, "We found him walking the trail alone, and couldn't get through to the number on his tag.  So we put him on a leash and were going to take him back to Boulder" (the opposite way then where we were parked). "but", she continues, "he just laid down on the trail and refused to move.  Eventually we decided okay let's walk the other direction. He seemed satisfied with that decision, and here we are running into you."
I'd rarely been so proud of Brutus.  I guess my rebellious dog is loyal after all.

Numerous stories like this have been flowing through my mind over the past week.
Saturday May 5th, 2012 we took Brutus to a quiet spot by a gentle stream, surrounded by woods and wildlife. An empathetic veterinarian who is also friend of my brother met us there.  Brutus was old and just not able to enjoy life like he used to.  On our last day together he ate steak, and we slowly walked a level path through the woods, until he was so tired his legs were giving out.  I laid with him on a blanket and as we watched the grazing deer pass by, we realized it was time.  It was his time.

He was my dog, my friend, my family.  We had him for 14 or 15 years, so long I can't remember which. Some may find that strange but it's the moments more so than the years that have meaning to me.  He was a constant,  always there, to go on a hike, to laze around, to listen.  He was stubborn, he was independent, but he was also defiantly loyal, in some ways I suppose a reflection of me.
Vacant spaces now occupy his favorite areas.  Physical and emotional places that are filled with memories of happiness, reflection, and loss.
I don't know what I've learned, or how to process this loss, but all I know at this point is I miss my friend.  And hiking is a bit more lonesome these days.

You Inspire my Face!

What inspires you?  To try something new, to work harder, to get out of bed in the morning?
Why do sometimes we feel uninspired and just sort of blah, and other times we feel like diving head first into the world with an artist brush, or a pen, or climbing shoes, or a surfboard, or a camera or whatever you happen to be into at that moment.  
More importantly, I suppose, is how can we stay inspired. 


It may always come in short bursts but here's 5 potential inspirations to creations. 


 - - - editors note: So I began with a rather pragmatic list of well thought out practical suggestions.  Then I read it again and again (not a hyperbole, I read it twice) and I came to the conclusion that practical and pragmatic basically sucks the life from inspiration and creativity.  So I hit select all, delete, and I bring you a more organic less thought out list to potential inspiration.  Feel free to offer your suggestions . . .  




1.  New Adventures 

2. Music - - Especially live.  (any type as long as it's heartfelt) 


3.  Watch the sunrise outside. Listen to the silence.

4.  Walk.  In the mountains or on the beach if possible.  

5. Perspiration.  Do.

"Inspiration exists.  But it has to find us working".  Pablo Picasso


In the end inspiration is individual, and we are all inspired by something or someone.  But usually it doesn't come knocking on the door or drag us out of bed, we have to get out there and find it.  




P.S.  Also, there is always Ice Cream.  

Post production or postmortem?

Your graduation picture is important.  For some of your friends and acquaintances it might be the picture they remember you by.  It will bring back all the memories they spent with you in the magnificent and miserable formative years.

 
Yet Sometimes that photo can be so over edited and "fixed", that the uniqueness of the subject (who in this case is you!) can be completely lost.  Thus was the case with my grad photo.  In an overly enthusiastic effort to polish over each and every flaw, my personality, my individuality was lost, destroyed even. Fittingly this picture has also been lost, or possibly destroyed as I could not find any to post.

This brings us into the much debated topic of post production in photography.

I embarked on writing this thinking I was for the most part opposed to post production in photography.  That is to say digital photography at least.  35mm Film post production, where you're hand deep in chemicals, working isolated in the dark, seemed more pure and true of an artist.
I felt that the instant gratification of quick fixes in a sub-reality "photoshop", or for that matter even the ability to instantly view your pictures on the back of the camera kind of destroyed some of the purity of an art revolving around patience, timing, and quick thinking know how.  Being able to snap a seemingly unlimited amount of pictures and then distort them to any end, in any number of different ways; to me simply destroyed, the beauty of patience, timing, and skill.  The ability to navigate a computer program gained precedence over the artistic eye, reflexes, and quick thinking required to capture a moment in time.

I admit most of this viewpoint was based on misguided romanticism and a general inability on my own part in using programs such as Photoshop.  Thus not really appreciating it and brushing it aside as cheating or laziness.

As I've done more research, I've gained more respect for those who excel at post production, and realized even with hours of post, garbage is still garbage, and beauty is still beauty.  Post production is just one more process in the art of photography.  In post you can saturate colors, dodge and burn just like in the dark room, soften, sharpen, and an endless amount of other manipulations or enhancements if you will.  If used with purpose and restraint, these tools can truly enhance the story, theme, and visual appeal to a photo.

That said, the over use of post production tools, or a reliance on these to fix boring or uninteresting photo's will be the death of your photography.  How, you ask? Reliance on post production will only lead to the endless taking of more and more boring and uninteresting photo's.
For example, imagine you are learning to grill steak.  If, right from the first steak you grill, you season that piece of meat to death, you'll lose an understanding of how really to bring the flavor of the meat out properly.  Just relying on the seasoning you limit your ability to truly cook a masterful meal.
On the contrary, if you cook, using very little seasoning, you will know best how to cook the meat itself.  Then down the road perhaps, you can use slight amounts of seasoning to best bring out the flavors of the meal.

Post production is a little seasoning to an already delicious meal, just a little finishing touch to highlight the tastes and aromas of the food.  Not half a bottle of hot sauce poured over a bland, dry meal simply to make it palatable.

So, here is my advice.
Don't begin your photographic career using photoshop or any other post processing program for that matter.  After you've discovered how to take a quality photo, then start experimenting with different tools, perhaps this could be even a year or two down the road.  In my opinion, at this point your eye will be sharper, what you wish to accomplish will be more clear, and in the long run you will truly have the ability to create art.

Thus is my opinion, feel free to comment and continue the post-production debate.


Here's a couple examples of Pre- and Post- Produced.

Photo straight from camera . . .

After editing in gimp (upon second look, I'm not sure if I improved it even) . . . .

Another example
straight from camera . . .

After photo has been gimped . . .