New Lotus...

I've been waiting most of the summer for this Lotus to bloom. We bought it in Arkansas and we hadn't seen it flowering so the curiosity was on the rise as the  bud started to form. I think Blue was a bit premature in checking it out, however he may have just been in a claiming mood. First come first served....

Three windows...

Looking through some files from the Paris trip I came across three images that seemed to call out to me. The provincial nature of Paris, the age of the buildings, and the subtle colors throughout the country are exemplified in these images. I really enjoyed being there and the people and food were amazing. It seemed as though anywhere I looked I saw an image screaming out to be captured. It always seems as though when in a new area my senses get tuned up for new "visions". This is not only in situations where I am traveling but also when on a job in a factory or plant producing images for a client. I guess that because I have been photographing professionally for 42 years that I should expect this kind of reaction to what I see in visual situations. I try to have my camera with me all of the time and inevitably when I don't,

I immediately regret it as a striking image will present its self and because I don't have my camera, it is lost forever.

The reason for no recent postings.......

You may have noticed that I have been somewhat AWOL recently from posting news on what's going on photographically. Just to let the cat out of the bag so to speak, my past self abuse and knee jealousy has caught up with me. About 7 years  ago I had my left knee replaced due to several "stumbles" and too many years playing raquetball. It just got too painful to operate correctly so I did the ol' switcheroo and had an artificial one put in. As the years have past and the combination of heavy yard work and making new photographic environments in the yard my right knee started to act up. In addition to that I started to get a sharp pain that is beyond description in my left thigh that just came from seemingly nowhere.

To make a long novel shorter, I'll just say that I am recovering from right knee replacement and I have a disk in my back that will soon start receiving steroid shots until it settles down. The disk is where my thigh pain is coming from. It comes and goes and sometimes signals that there is going to be the feeling that someone is jabbing a long knife into my thigh and twisting it just to keep me on my toes. When I get this feeling I try to micro move my foot until I can feel as though there is no "trigger" for the pain and can get up. Sometimes that works, most of the time it doesn't. We were out grabbing a quick burger at a diner last week and I couldn't find the "sweet spot" and just stood up. I think that all of the other patrons of the establishment thought I was dying, having a heart attack, or had nailed my foot to the floor. Their eyes were on me and saucer size with expressions of Holy ___
what's wrong with him. I did wail a bit.....

The knee is getting along really well and the first shot to the back is next week.....if that works start looking for some new imagery. Thanks for hanging in the with me.

Where it came from.....

I really never talk about the origins of my visual work but in the instance of the last post I feel as though I should. My fathers dad, my grandfather on his side, died when my dad was very young. As we were going through drawers at Mom's after she passed we came upon the fisherman...my fathers father with a stringer of fish. I've had no memory of ever seeing it before and on the back of the print was his name Claud D. Morgan. Sort of a piece of the puzzle came to light - what did he look like, what kind of man was he.......etc. I've had a ton of speculation ranging through my mind. He was a working man owning Carthage Foundry manufacturing articles for retail sales. I remember one story Dad told me when I was young, it goes as follows;

My dad and his father went down to the foundry on a Sunday so his dad could check on something. Leaving dad in his office my grandfather went out on the factory floor. My father spotted a putter and then noticed several ball bearings displayed on a rack on the wall obviously needing to be used as golf balls. After a while my grandfather returned to find the aspiring golfer with ball bearings scattered around the office and a putter dinged up from hitting the steel balls around the room. Sitting my dad down in a chair after examining the putter with the dings he told dad that he had really harmed the putter and another one would haver to replace it. He ended the conversation with the remark I still remember to this day, "You never get ahead buying the same thing twice". Lesson learned.

Seeing my grandfather with the stringer of fish in the photograph at the time I was assembling the post from yesterday really seemed to fit. Of course one other sideline is that the WWW should exist for as long as mankind, and if my relatives in the future stumble upon my blog they can see the only photograph of Claud D. Morgan taken after a good day of fishing.

Fisherman...

This has transpired over the last several days and may still evolve.....

Not real sure of the origin but fishing has always been in the family...