10,000th VIEW

Thanks to everyone who has shown recent support towards my work and a huge to those who have shown continued support along the way! I appreciate your comments and favorites tremendously and would like express my gratitude! Your support continues to be a source of motivation!

featured favs!






Photography... What Does it Mean to You?

Some of you may have been a part of photography for so long that you don't know how it made anything different. I got my first camera (Pentax Spoto F) from my Grandpa way back when I was a child and ever since then, the world has looked like art waiting to happen. It felt like I just got glasses or something, and my eyes worked the way they were supposed to. The world is so beautiful, and my camera is my means of preserving that beauty. What I personally like so much about photography is how the little frame into which you put only a little part of the big whole can enhance that little part, give it a life of its own, a meaning of its own. You can pick out beauty, make it seen where others would say: "What on earth is he/she on about, why does he/she want to take a photo THERE?", to only later say about the photo itself: "Hey now, THAT was there? Never noticed!" But as a photographer you begin to notice, and yes, indeed, you "see" differently, you get "new eyes". And I find those "new" eyes are a very valuable addition to my life. They make it broader, fuller, more complete.

I have always appreciated other's photos but have always wonderd if others feel the rush in and excitement in seeing my own shots. Photography was a hobby I just fell into but nothing else I have ever done has made such an impact on how I view my surrondings. My girlfriend and friends think I'm crazy when I talk about how much I'm in love with the art of photography and often get board as a go on and on talking about a location I have found or a new camera I have aquired. I get great pleasure from shareing the beauty that photography has put into my life, I'd like to hear about how it has effected yours. What does photography mean to you?

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A special thanks and a big to the following for their support:








"The enemy of photography is the convention, the fixed rules of 'how to do'. The salvation of photography comes from the experiment." - Anonymous

This feature will be the photography of =aptrick

aptrick also known to the DA community as Moonunit Tuba Jackson Steve BOB, will knock your socks off with his unique flavour of photographic art! Stunningly detailed images of textures and surfaces collected from the caves of kansas city leave the viewer in aww and wonder, perfectly paired diptics that scream with originality and artisticly composed and insightful street photography can be found in aptricks gallery. Here is a collection of my personal faves from the works of aptrick [link]









For your viewing pleasure, visit aptricks gallery and see more of his brilliant photography! [link]



Rant: People are Stupid

"The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity." - Voltaire

If you ask people why they do the things they do in life, they will give you sensible sounding reasons which seem to explain their decisions. We like to believe that we exercise sound judgement, especially in the important decisions of our lives.

I think that this is rarely true. I think that standard operating procedure for human decision making is to do what feels right to you at the time, and then to give logical sounding justifications for what you were already going to do anyway, whether you had justifications or not.

So, if you are pregnant, and want to get an abortion, you will be able to give any number of reasonable sounding explanations why this is the right decision. You're not ready to be a parent, or you need to finish your education or get to a better point in your career, or you don't have enough money, etc. If instead you want to keep the baby, you will explain how even though you will have some extra difficulties due to the lack of money
or whatever, you will certainly be up to the challenge to make your life work with the baby, how being a parent will be good for you, what a great parent you'll make, how it will bring you and the father closer together, and so on. In either case, none of these will be the real reason for your decision. The real reason for your decision will always be, "I did it because I wanted to do it".

This method of decision making may have worked fine earlier in human history. However, in a highly complex technological society, the inevitable result of this is that people behave in extremely stupid ways.

For example, the average north amarican household now has $8000 in credit card debt, on which they pay an average of 19% interest. Is there any good reason to be running an $8000 debt? No. Did these people all run into major life crises which forced them to run up huge debts or else become homeless? No, they spent it on furniture, clothing, televisions, etc. Is it logical to spend $1500 a year in credit card interest? Clearly not. People do this because there isn't extra money in the bank, but there is something they want to buy, and the positive feeling they get from the idea of having this item is stronger than the negative feeling they get at the idea of their monthly payment going
up by another $20.

For example, marijuana is illegal in most of the world, while alcohol is legal, despite the fact that alcohol is a far more dangerous drug than marijuana in every way. People consider marijuana to be a dangerous drug, while they think of alcohol as being a fun beverage. They consider those who sell marijuana to be drug dealers, the scourge of society who should be hunted down and imprisoned, while those who sell alcohol (wine makers, grocery stores) are of course not placed in the same category.

Logically speaking, it should be the other way around. Alcohol tends to make many people aggressive, leading to a variety of violent crimes, while marijuana does not. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, and leads to a serious loss of coordination and motor skills. At larger doses, alcohol renders one completely unconscious. Drunk drivers cause enormous numbers of automobile accidents and deaths. Marijuana is not a central nervous system depressant, and while one probably shouldn't drive while intoxicated on anything, it simply does not cause anywhere near the loss of motor control that alcohol does, and is only a fraction as dangerous as
alcohol in terms of driving. And, a large enough dose of alcohol can and will kill you, while the same is not true of marijuana.

But people are looking at this based on their feelings. Marijuana feels like a drug to them. It's illegal, isn't it? Alcohol feels like a fun beverage. It's legal, and socially acceptable, so it feels ok, so it must be ok.

All of this is illogical and stupid, and typically human. And I could give countless other examples of this, but I'm sure you can think these up yourself. Just look at how people behave in terms of politics and religion.

And, I think that when you see ridiculous and idiotic behavior and decision making in other people(or in yourself), you have to consider it to be the inevitable result of the nature of the human psyche.

A special thanks and a big to the following for their support:

I turn 25 today....

I'm not exactly sure how i feel about this...

Hmmmm....

Cheers!

Here are some exceptional Favs for you to look at and appreciate.









Thanks for takeing the time to have a look...

good day.

So I picked my camera up from Nikon after it being in for repair for the last 2 weeks only to find they didn't even fix it... I'm a slight bit frustrated about this. I'm going back to film! I never once had a manual film camera let me down because the shutter wouldn't fire consistantly. Just venting....

Cheers!

5000 views!!!!

Thanks a million to all that have shown intrest in my work!!! I can't thank you guys enough for all of the wonderful feedback and support! The DeviantART community is full of incredably talented artists and I am honoured to have my photography displayed with such talented individuals.

I have been only shooting film the last few weeks due to my dslr being at Nikon for repair. Fourtunatly I recived word that it is fixed just in time for the fall leaves! I hope to have some new work posted very near future. Since I'm now stuck with a pile of exposed BW film, I'm going to dust of my enlarger and spend some time back in the darkroom. The roll count has to be over 50 so it may take me a year or so to get threw them but I will post as I go.

As a special thanks for helping me get to 5000 views, I am displaying a collection of my all time favorite work from DA photographers!! I hope you enjoy!!!

Cheers!

Architecture...






People & Faces...








Nude...







Photo-manip...






Landscape & Nature...






Amazing faves...






I hope you enjoyed! Cheers!

I'd like to welcome my talented friend Patrick Kerby [link] to the DA community! He is a gifted artist that excels in photography, drawing, mixed media and graphic design and has been a huge inspiration to my photography! He never ceases to amaze me with his ever improveing photography ability and his sketch work is outstanding! Patrick is a uniquely creative and determind individual and his work is more then worthy of your attention! I hope you will all enjoy the work of Patrick Kerby [link] as much as I do!

Heres some of his work!









This weeks feature is on the photography and art of Tom Mortimer [link] better known to in the DA community as TOIYI. Tom has a keen eye for creating images that are powerfully thought invoking! His style is dark and speaks with intensity, making the viewr face reality from a diffrent perspective! Toms photogrpahy is cutting edge and unique, his art work is filled emotion and although I have never heard him perform, i have heard through the grapevine that he is a talented musician as well!

Here is some work from the very talented Tom Mortimer!









I hope you enjoyed! Cheers!

I have decided to start contributing a little more to the DA community!! I will be doing features on artists that Inspire me and in my opinion, deserve the attention of the world!




My first Feature will be the work of ~thishollowhill [link] better known as Kyle Howard. Kyle shows a unique perspective through his stark use of colour and contrast and creative compositions of subjective context. He has a talented vision that has allready shaped the mindsets of many of his fellow photographers and continues to push his own artistic boundries. Dramatic linier elements and conceptual cunning can be seen in the uniquely obscure works of ~thishollowhill!







Cheers!

A GIANT thanks to everyone that has helped me get to 3000 pageviews!! I am truely gratful for all the support!! You guys are amazing! wow:

I was recently asked why I have so many self portraits and I got to thinking about the subject.
In many was it helps get me out of my head...
Some days I try to put forth an image of how I feel and sometimes it's the exact opposite of how I feel.
I take them as a means of self expression and examining where I am at mentally and emotionally in the photos.
I also like to look at how I am evolving or how I have evolved from photo to photo.
But as though it may seem, it's not just an "all about me" thing.
In all reality, I am the most convenient subject to photograph because I am always present.
Just my thoughts on this topic...

Art worth looking at from notable deviantart members!









Cheers!!

Wow! I never thought id hit 2000 pageviews! It's really nice to see that people enjoy my work and I really appreciate the support! I can't express in words how happy it makes me to know people enjoy my photography! A big thanks to everyone of my friends and everyone that has commented and favorited my work!
Cheers!!!