… a selection of edited images from the past ten days…

… this morning it starts to feel like the downhill race to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year… the middle of Week 46, less than seven weeks to go…

… HCR meter encouraging… the case for holding 45 accountable is being built, slowly, steadily… the Trumpublicans get crazier and crazier… Representative Gosar only the latest iteration of bat shit crazy with his tweeted anime wherein he decapitates(?) AOC… there is justifiable outrage… all the Trumpers in congress care about is disciplining the 13 congress men and women who voted for the infrastructure bill, a broadly popular bill that their states all desperately need… absolute loyalty to the party is all they care about… it is a necessary condition for authoritarian rule… this quote from Liz Cheney is amazing:

_ “In this time of testing, will we do our duty? Will we do what we must? Will we defend our Constitution? Will we stand for truth? Will we put duty to our oath above partisan politics? Or will we look away from the danger, ignore the threat, embrace the lies and enable the liar?”_ she said. “There is no gray area when it comes to that question. When it comes to this moment, there is no middle ground.”¹

… i am in love with Liz Cheney… a politician with strong integrity… i suspect i disagree with most of her politics, but on the issue of where we are and what we need to do she is bang on…

… i continue to struggle with refining what i am doing photographically… struggle is probably too strong a word… i am evolving and refining what i am doing…

… oh my, did i finally turn off autocapitalize?… it seems i did!… so exciting… no more having to escape capitalization!…

… back to what sort of photographer am i?… i have begun to center on the iPhone as my camera of daily choice… easier, lighter, and damn, image quality is getting so good!… this, coupled with the very easy workflow of native camera app to Ulysses to Micro.blog has pushed me in the direction of publishing photos as i go, without editing, without careful selection of images to include… photography (and writing) of-the-now… i am publishing photographs in color, some of which i later import into Lightroom, turn to black and white and edit more careful in general… i have decided to be increasingly selective with that group, while maintaining a broader selection on the iPhone photo app… in color… part of me wanted to share color photographs with the Salon last night… instead i prepared a selection of images in black and white from the past ten days… i did not present them as there were an abundance of photographers wanting to show their work, but i reviewed that set several times and i feel good about it…

… so, the practice is evolving as both an of-the-now practice and one that then filters the of-the-now body of work into a more considered body of work with a focused and edited sensibility to it… this is the body that will coalesce into portfolios, book projects, photo poems…

… H wound up in a much better mood yesterday afternoon and evening… they went for a walk with Chas, an idea they sneered at when i suggested it in the morning… “it’s boring, my back hurts” they told me… they did the dishes while i was Zooming with my Salon buddies… i have this nagging question about yesterday morning… did they, for some reason, conscious or not, feel the need to torpedo my good mood and high spirits?… they did an excellent job of it… i can’t help but wonder…

… on the alcohol front… last couple of nights i have limited myself to beer… this seems to be working out… no mildly debilitating effects the morning after… for some reason, perhaps its volume of liquid, i am not as prone to overdoing it with beer… and last night’s meal was kielbasa roasted on a bed of onion, red pepper and red cabbage, glazed with peach preserve and mustard, served with mashed potatoes… beer was a perfect accompaniment, though Corona might not have been the perfect beer for the meal…

… frustration and irritation yesterday… too many intrusions on time set aside for writing and photographing… too much to do to acquire groceries, cook meals, maintain house and yard… too little help from H… i am determined to hold my creative time sacred and inviolable…

… and, on the creative front… i am moving towards something new yet old, something i know the broad outlines of, if not the specifics… i am continuously refining it… making clearer what i am doing… the major elements of it are the Notes On Attention Paid blog, the concentration on the phone camera as principle camera… the development of a new workflow centered on the smartphone, Micro.blog, Ulysses, a writing, walking and reading practice… working against that system is my weakening eyesight… what i really want to do is edit on the iPhone exclusively, but it is difficult with my aging eyes… i have grown tired of the cumbersome Lightroom… i have begun thinking that editing photographs to the nth degree is a waste of my time in the system of make and post possible with the camera phone… i have all of this camera equipment that i no longer seem to need… this new way of producing and delivering is, interestingly, allowing me to bring to fruition what has been at the core of my effort all along… a daily cataloging of observation… nothing more… nothing less… and it is rendered on the www… the complex of tools has finally fallen into place for a seamless and efficient workflow…

… HCR meter, the shit show that is the Republican Party… generally it is a race to see whether they implode or seize control of the government for the rest of my life… Big Bird is a villain for promoting vaccinations for children which they have done since the 70’s… conservatives are currently dying from COVID at more than three times the rate of liberals… the result of conservative anti vaccination stance… i wonder if it will have any impact on elections?… conservatives are already dealing with a minority of the population for support… justice department announces indictments on ransome ware criminals and seize their ill gotten gains… it is one year until the midterm elections and there is so much to do… will voting rights ever become a priority?…