Best of 2013: January

                   
                    

Delta Dragon

On this First day of Christmas, I begin my photographic year in review. This image might, indeed, be the best of the year, but I'll reserve judgment on that until all 12 are picked!

I shot the photo early Sunday morning, January 27, driving south on Highway 65 to St. Joseph to lead worship at Christ Church. As usual, I had left home early so I could stop and shoot along the way. The Sunday road trips I take to lead worship in nearby small towns double as all-too-rare opportunities to take pictures.

Delta Dragon was first shared on Google+ among a community of photographers with whom I was engaged in a mentorship program. Their response to it was gratifying. Thus, a couple of months later when the invitation to submit to Art Melt 2013 arrived, I knew instantly this would be one of my submissions.

Art Melt is the largest juried art exhibit for Louisiana artists. It is sponsored by Forum 35: Young Leaders for a Better Baton Rouge, and the art works are exhibited in the Louisiana State Museum for six weeks in July and August.

I was and am very proud that Delta Dragon was selected!

        

iPhone Diary

                                 
                                         

iPhone Diary: 17 November 2013

   

           

Things Unseen

                       
                       

Not Two

The brilliant Ken Wilber says that “the fact that life and death are ‘not two’ is extremely difficult to grasp, not because it is so complex, but because it is so simple.” And the equally brilliant Kathleen Dowling Singh, who has given her life to hospice work, says that “We miss the unity of life and death at the very point where our ordinary mind begins to think about it.”

--Fr. Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation

August 30, 2013

Industrial Evolution: Philly's Regional Rail

                          
                               

Making the Train Go

Okay, so... I take lots of nature shots: critters, especially dragonflies; trees and botanicals of all kinds, especially wildflowers; landscapes and waterscapes of all kinds. Love it and will always do it.

But cities and industry have their own beauty. Just came home from Philly a few days ago, and one of my favorite things about that city is regional rail. Of course, Philly has subways, trolleys and buses, too, and I ride those as well.

But the regional rail is special: clean, efficient stations and trans staffed with pleasant conductors. And affordable: $8 for a relaxing, comfortable 30-minute trip from the airport to Center City!

If Louisiana were a more forward-looking state, willing to invest in the future rather than pinch pennies in the present, we'd have one of these between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, maybe even interconnecting Lafayette. IMHO, of course!

Next time you're in Philly, hop aboard. "Mind the gap" between the platform and the car, as multiple signs warn you. But don't forget to look up to see some of the beautiful infrastructure that makes the trains go!

Photographer's Journal

     
                 

Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword

Back in May, I had to drive to Baton Rouge. As is my pleasure, I left plenty early so I could stop along the way and shoot.

Just south of Winnsboro, I noticed a small lake on the west side of Highway 15/425. A road or driveway, I wasn't sure which, turned off the highway and extended around the south end of the lake, but I drove in just far enough to pull off onto a grassy area and walk to the lake edge.

It's a beautiful site and I went back in September. Dragonflies abound. Birds and butterflies are there. The plant life is varied and interesting.

In September, I stopped twice in one day, in the morning on my way to BR and in the late afternoon on my way home. And in the afternoon I walked north along the east shore of the lake to a stand of cattails at the northeast corner. Dragonflies were everywhere.

As the light faded and I was about to head to my car, I noticed a dragon sort of hanging from the top of a stick up. "That's an odd perch for a dragonfly," I thought to myself. But as I got close, I realized the dragon was dead. And when I got real close with my macro lens, I finally spied the reason the dragon was dead!

But if you look really close, you can see that the green lynx has a stump for one leg. I'm guessing the Halloween pennant went down fighting.

Things Unseen

               
                   

Soul Inside Out

Did you ever feel so in touch with the beauty and the woundedness of the world and everything in it that you could hardly keep back the tears? Me, a lot. More and more.

       

Things Unseen

             
                   

Finding Butterfly Wings

Finding butterfly wings...

It's about death
and life.

Beauty and pain.

Love and loss.

It's about living,
and dying,
and about living
when you'd rather die.

Especially that.