CONTEMPORARY EXPLORER

  THE WOMAN WHO PAINTED FACES The two weeks of commercial work left Joel drained and tired. He needed this day. Free to wander with his camera shooting what he wanted, trying to recapture how he saw the world and who he was.  His wandering took him to a corner of SoHo were a row of shops formed an L to a small park. In the park a young woman with a painted face danced, swaying side to side in rhythmic motions like a ballet dancer. Evan at a distance Joel could see the brightness in her eyes and life in each dance move. His camera could not resist the opportunity. Joel moved closer and disarmingly said, "I'd love to get you picture, you embody so much of what New York is or could be." She stoped, looking surprised by him, but cautiously said, “OK, my name is Amelia, the island name where I was born, a picture would be lovely." Everything he sensed from a distance reflected in her warm smile. Joel said, “As you might guess, I am a photographer. You are a refreshing sig...

My Trusty 2010 Ford Escape I just put what probably will be the last set of tires on my trusty 2010 Ford Escape. I had a lot of cars, way to many. Every nameplate you can think of. I never drove a car more than 40,000 miles when I was in business. Always a new car or image beckoned.  This one has stuck though. Now I have over 135,000 miles on “old dollar.” I bought it in the desert and roamed almost everywhere since then. The high desert of Eastern Oregon, Canada, the vast Sonoran, across the country a couple of times (west to east and back again), big cities up North and now the gentle roads of the South who reveal themselves so slowly. I thought about a new car from time to time, not because of ego, like in the past, but because of concern about dependability. Still “old dollar” continues to move down the road flawlessly. More important it fits in everywhere. It still looks proud enough to take uptown, but not too gaudy for the small towns and rural South. Big splashes don’t work...

    These pandemic times spur a virtual Ferris wheel of divergent thoughts. Call it what you want, free flowing, spontaneous, reaction or non linear. They push and pull, manifesting themselves in new and numerous ways. There’s the romantic versus the practical. You dream about travel when it’s all over. You remember the well planned short trips of the past. Now though, your thoughts touch on the romance of taking a train or long voyage. Traveling through several cities on the way to your destination. Trips taking a month instead of a few days. There’s isolation versus being part of the whole. At times you just want to get away from it all. To divorce society and live remotely. But the extra time you have because of the pandemic affords more time to observe. And when you do, you see more about humanity. How hard people work, how they strive and at times struggle. How joy can be found in all walks of life. How rich and thick life is.  It makes you want to be part of the...