The Passion (or the Curse)

"Photography Kills."

"You Can't Live With It...You Can't Live Without It."

"A Picture says a Thousand Words, but I can't say the same about the Photographer."

Let's face it, those of us bitten by the photography bug know all too well the euphoria of the rush and the pain of the addiction. It's a serious affliction, this image-seeking, light-metering, manual-focusing behavior.

But the rewards are well worth the sacrafice, and many times these results come from days on the trail.

This guy knows.
This is Benjamin Burner of Burner Photography. He's got a blog and website of his hikes and photographs (alot of wide majestic mountainscapes and grand views of the Sierra Nevadas and Yellowstone area). Check it out - and he's been working on a photo book.

Until my next chance to hit a trail for the Trail Challenge, I'll drop in some pictures and thoughts from my other travels around this planet. At the top of this post is a shot from the edge of the Taal Volcano in Tagaytay, Philippines.

And here's my own description of my personal style of photography:

"Documenting an Event (no matter how trivial) helps to mark it's fleeting existence in time and human memory. Even the smallest Event, with a supposedly minute significance to outside observers, is, by definition, the Here And Now for it's immediate participants. This gives this Event a meaning and significance far surpassing any prior Event, therefore deeming it worthy of Documentation. A Documentation of this sort allows one to acknowledge this meaning and significance, to recognize its place as a Moment in Time for it's participants and preserve its existence in the collective memory of society."

"Whether it's on the other side of the planet or in our own kitchen, I guess we're always in Discovery mode- of what's inside and outside of ourselves- through the the uses of letters, words and sentences as well as shapes, lines and color. Hopefully, my blog has been a vehicle for sharing some of that discovery to my readers, as well as a catharctic activity for myself...even if not all of the pictures rank up in the category of Fine Art. (Originally written for What's Up in Our World)

Ansel Adams says: "Do not depreciate the importance of a snapshot. While to many it is the symbol of thoughtlessness and chance, it is a flash of recognition. It represents something of value in the world, which -for many reasons- we wish to perpetuate. It represents something seen, it may have real human and historic value. The more we look, the more we see... the more we see the more we respond. When we begin visualizing our response to our world in terms of images we become photographers in the most rewarding sense of the word."