Up North

Fang Valley

Fang City Flowers

Fang Strret Food

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai – Loi Kratong Festival

Chiang Mai Street Food...mushroom curry

Fixing Things

I had friends over for dinner Friday, and I just sat back and let them talk, as it so difficult for me. They were both very entertaining, so it was easy to sit back and cook and make this happen. I like to get two friends from different circles to meet, as it is a reflection of my diversity. The following day, I drove to the beach to cliff overlooking it to meditate for two hours. It was a beautiful calm day, so it was not too cold. I would break every so often to drink tea. In the middle of one meditation a furry puppy just jumped into my lap content knowing I was so peaceful. I was not shocked or surprised, I opened my eyes to his female owner yelling, “NO!” I opened my eyes and said, “he is just a puppy and yet he knows I won’t hurt him, give him a break.” He stayed around, making sure he was safely under my arm. When the owner relaxed, then the puppy left easily. When I was done with my two hours, I felt so much more relaxed. I have quite a few things on my mind, and they were just released from the worry mode. I was lucky enough to have friend over that night for dinner, and he was so kind as to show some techniques to photoshop my photos to look as good as they do on the camera. The sky on this shot was this spectacular that night, just before a cold front came in.

Night Vision

One thing we often forget is the beauty that is right in front of us. We often want to get away from it all, thinking that by going somewhere else we will find things different. But when we arrive we are still the same person. One way get over this idea one has to find the beauty that lies inside. This upcoming silent meditation, will make me stop the noise of life that I often use to fill my life. When I go into retreat I can see the quiet wisdom lurking in my mind.
I have also found someone who shares my interests in photography while inspiring me to reach higher. They have proposed to me that if I can survive my brain injury, then I can put the same energy to a better use. A calling has not quite taken any form yet. But, at least this photography ignites the flame inside. Sometimes I like to think I am there and we can relax. But do I really? Life is ongoing, new problems will always arrive and to learn and get the most out of our precious human life we have to work hard. Looking at myself, I know I can be better in most everything, including how I see life and react to these same problems. So by going out at night, I hear the ambient sound, and see the slumbering city in quiet seduction. No phones, no net, no TV ...a kind of mini-preview to meditation. My new goal is to try to convey this with what I have always had in me with my vision in photography.

Create Simple Beauty

There is simple beauty in a lot of things in life. I sometimes take photos of things because of what they remind me of. Maybe a dream, a place I traveled or time spent with a loved one. Besides photos, smells and sounds or music can quickly change everything in our mind. We assemble our memories however we see fit at the moment. Do you remember the first time you smelled the rain on black top and what memories arise? Or that kiss from grandma when you arrived for the holidays? We can instantly create love, pain or disappointment. Sometimes, we find it way easier to assemble negatives, so to counteract this we need to remember that simple beauty….so what do you smell or hear when you see this photo?

Era of Dreams

Dream catcher, Kent Couch flew 193 miles in a lawn chair fixed with 105 helium balloons. Wow! I had the same dream as a kid especially after my father gave me a weather balloon. I thought about trying to jump off the roof, after he filled it with helium he had from his garage shop. I ran around the yard jumping up, hoping it would lift me up. He tried to explain how much it would take to lift me, but I was already lost in dream projections of where I would fly. My father had he own dreams of flight after scaling the fence at Lockheed, to sketch planes as a boy. That later transferred to him being in the air force, sadly disqualified from flying by rheumatic fever. Nonetheless, he photographed enemy bridge building in Korea. We went to air shows watching old planes duel in the sky. One time watching the brand-new 747, skim the air show runway in its proud largess out of the blue. It was an era of dreams and possibilities. I often think if we had money he would have paid for me to go to flight school. As he grew, much like me, we still had the dreams morphing into many other areas. My father’s dreams where in his art, and sometimes spilled over in drunken discussions with me. I tried to become my own person, confused by who I am, oftentimes rejecting his vision to prove myself. But alas, no matter how I tried to be different, I am still a son of an artist who flew… if only in his dreams.