ST AUGUSTINE"S BEACH AT SUNRISE

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I HAVE WALKED BOYLSTON STREET (BOSTON) BEFORE!

As many others, I watched the horror that was this years Boston Marathon. I live in Florida but I've spent most of my life in Massachusetts. I walked Boylston Street many times over the years. I walked beside people of all ages, colors, sexes and political parties. Like many great cities in the world, Boston is a mixture of all people: some friendly, some not so friendly, some generous, some not so generous, straight, gay, business men/women and students, athletes and the not so athletic,  Republicans, Democrats and some independents. But independent might be the one word to describe most Bostonians.  I could have been on my way to a movie, a great restaurant or at a few times, to photograph the marathon. I have walked Boylston Street before.

It was like so many others that I watched the news with a mixture of sadness, anger and bewilderment. Like many, I was looking for  a reasonable explanation of an insane act. I am sure we will hear reasons spoken, even the very words of the younger of these two deliverers of evil, death and hate. The sad part is they will not be new reasons. Whatever the words, the message is always hate. I have walked Boylston Street before.

I am a photographer and my eye is trained to see beauty. In the lands of this planet, it's fauna, animals and humans. I look and find beauty, I cannot and will not waste time looking for ugliness. That does not mean I do not see it, I see it. I have walked Boylston Street before! 

The ones that either overtly or without thought propagate these feelings of hate and distrust throughout the years are killing this planet and I'm not speaking ecologically. Hate in the name of religion or national pride is not new. It can be traced back thousands of years. But just like all crimes against people, it is just as disgusting and vile now as it has always been. I have lived through years of great men being killed for the same reasons and not just in this country. I have seen the hate of Munich and Mississippi of the 50s and 60s.!!! I have lived through years of mass graves and mass hate. I have walked Boylston Sreet before.

I could not help but hear John Lennon's words this week from his great song 'Imagine'.

"Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us 
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today.

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life as one."

I love those words. I find great value in the message John was delivering. Yet he, too was taken from the world by a madmen's bullet.

I visited Manhattan with my wife during the week after 9-11. We, like everyone, had seen the destruction that hate brought to the world on that day. A week later standing at Broadway and Liberty in Manhattan, I saw men and women of all colors and races with tears streaming down their faces. I have walked Boylston Street before and I am growing weary of the walk.

As I said, I am a photographer and find beauty in all the faces of all people. Let me share some today. Look at these faces, see the beauty in them all! Can you hate these people you do not know?  I know there are those of you that can and will. We need to all pray/hope that they change or that more people in the world do not and could not ever feel that hate. We need to change. There is danger from so many places and when people feel scared, they react out of fear and usually, many innocent people die.

 " You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.
    I hope some day you'll join us and the world will be as one.
    I hope some day you'll join us
   And the world will live as one."

Make no mistake, if this does not change, our planet will die as one.
     

           We have all walked Boylston Street for too long!!!

THE DEVEL IS IN THE DETAILS ( in Venice)

The quote in this title refers to the fact that the small details in something is what makes it hard. It's a great quote but my favorite quote about details was written by Henry David Thoreau and simply states; " Our life is frittered away by details....simplify, simplify!! Thoreau said it with more class than just "Keep it simple stupid" but both are accurate in my opinion. One of the great photography gods, Henri Cartier-Bresson wrote; 'In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject'. When I am photographing a wedding or a travel shoot, I always look for the details; those small images that I will probably never use in print (Ha Ha) I found a way !!! These are images that help me remember the trip more fully. These types of images are like the seasonings you might use in cooking. People cannot pick them out but they make the dish taste great!!

In this post I have assembled such images from our trip to Venice, Italy. They might be anything from a meal we ate, an alley way, a women peeking out from hanging laundry or just a combination of colors and shadows that captured my eye. It could be a beautiful young lady sitting on a bench alone while I wondered who she was waiting for, or a small window in our hotel hall or  that same hall late at night, or maybe a women slicing meat in the window of a small cafe. 

The first image was shot between a small opening in a door. I noticed there was a carnival mask hanging and didn't want to use flash. As you will see these are small images. As always I would love to here how you feel about the details and which images you enjoyed the most!!

WE ARE FEATURED IN THE WEB MAGAZINE;TREASURE COAST NEWS,BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY

We are very proud and happy to tell all our fans that we are featured in this month TCNBC Magazine. We would like to thank Althea Garner, it's Editor In Chief for choosing us for this high honor. One of our images is on the front and back cover. There are also six images on the three page spread inside the magazine as well as an interview with Phyllis and I. 

Click on the link below to see the issue;

http://www.joomag.com/magazine/treasure-coast-news-business-and-community-ap/0899621001364567324

OUR FINE ART PRINTS ARE NOW AVAILABLE

After receiving many inquires concerning the purchase of our Fine Art Prints, we are proud to announce our new store front. Here you will find a fast, easy and economical way to purchase our prints. These are prints that we have taken in the USA and Europe, many of which you have seen on Facebook or on this blog.

http://www.collages.net/PhotogEvents/Events.aspx?UID=4837b4eb-0264-4efa-a586-07a53e7001c7
Some of the prints are below;