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July 23, 2018

TO APPRECIATE SEEING

... after a trip to bangor to have my car checked (which, as i suspected, found one of the tires slightly out of round), i picked up john for a little wanderabouting ... we made our way up along the kennebec river to the west of the wyman lake impound in moscow ... it was drizzling, so rather than a muddy walk down to houston brook falls we decided to explore the shore of the lake ...
   
  
... for ten-days john's been non-stop taking pictures at the maine international film festival ... this, the day after the end of the festival, i was surprised he managed to stay awake ...
   
  
... so, in the midst of maine's beautiful back country, what do you take pictures of ... right, a teensy-tiny rubber toy dinosaur ... 
   
  
... i was quite proud of myself for getting down so low—as for getting up, well, i think the picture was worth my groans ...
   
  
... since the beginning of photography, i doubt if any photographer has ever managed to never snap pictures such as this ...
   
  
... all sorts of technical problems, but still i really like this image (a good example, by the way, of one of the art's few true "rules") ...
   
  
... john and i shared a nice discussion about this, the so-called "rules of photography" ... he talked of a photographer he knew who had been taught these in his photography school classes ... i said, "well, nothing wrong with all that stuff, as long as one remembers that 'rules' are the antithesis of art" ... john smiled—he knows ...
   
  
... it was brightness of the flowers contrasting against the rock's harsh grey, that's what first caught my eye ...
   
  
... i shot a few pictures for john at the film festival (a very, very few, compared to the many thousands of frames he exposed) ... this is one of my favorites ...
   
  
... and this, which was a most difficult image to capture ...
   
  
... while waiting for one of the movies i somewhat surreptitiously used my new wide-angle lens to snap a picture of another movie goer ...
   
  
... in the hallway i found this composition ... "why," you ask ... truthfully, i've absolutely no idea ... that's how my eyes work ... i like this image ... you may like it, too, or, equally likely, you may not ... that's how your eyes work ...
   
  
... (facebook users: yes, you've seen these—but more'n half the people who follow my journal do not use that social media site) ... i stopped at the house and asked chad if i could borrow the kids for the afternoon (two were off for the weekend with their ma) ... he protested for quite awhile, but finally gave in, "okay, all alone in this big ol' house i guess i can find something to do" ... !!! ... with that we were off to north new portland ... after a quick stop in north anson for vittles, we finished the drive to the wire bridge ... the water was absolutely perfect ... this, as always, is a great place for memory building (and, believe me, i've many volumes of them neatly aligned on my mind's forever shelf) ...
   
  
... brothers ...
   
  
... they used to be so little ... [sigh] ... how fast they grow ...
   
  
... i sat on the shore hand-holding my ancient nikkor 300mm ... this, from the opposite bank of the stream, clearly the image stabilization built in to my sony a7ii works ... !!! ...
   
  
... this is clearly a "danny place" ... i'm pretty sure that each time we visit he inspects every single rock, stone, and pebble in the carrabassett river ... really, everysingleoneofthem ... !!! ...
   
  
... watching the kids one morning while em ran errands, i clearly didn't use a "portrait lens" to take this portait of grant ... instead of an 85-105mm glass i had great fun snapping away with my new rokinar 20mm ...
   

... from a little around town wanderabout ... question: for you, if this picture does evoke meaning, memory, or emotion, what is it ... it makes me feel rather—well, i guess i'd have to squish together two words to express it, "lonelysad" ... (yup, as i thought ... i went to my super-duper thesaurus, couldn't find a word that was any more precise than that ... interesting) ... why does it make me feel thus—no idea ... 
   
  
... just playin' around ...
   
  
... i am, and for this i do know the word, absolutely enchanted by this picture ... it makes me feel happy ... i don't know why, nor do i care ... being happy is good ...
   


Some deem I'm gentle, some I'm kind:
It may be so,--I cannot say.
I know I have a simple mind
And see things in a simple way;
And like a child I love to play.
   
I love to toy with pretty words
And syllable them into rhyme;
To make them sing like sunny birds
In happy droves with silver chime,
In dulcet groves in summer time.
   
I pray, with hair more white than grey,
And second childhood coming on,
That yet with wonderment I may
See life as in its lucent dawn,
And be by beauty so beguiled
I'll sing as sings a child. 
   
 ROBERT W. SERVICE

... those in the know, as well as those of you who are good at reading both the lines as well as the spaces between them, are aware that since december i've been working very, very hard towards—well, towards a goal which before had never required much effort of me, that of learning and growing to become a really cool old guy ... i've had a lot of help, thank you very much ... even more important, i've learned not only to allow others to help me, every day i am getting better at both asking and accepting such ...

... so much to see, so much to learn, so many wonders ahead ...

... what great fun this is ...