Photographic (and other) Inspirations.
I’m using the Internet to learn as much as anything, not just to meet up and chat with people, but to see what they know, what has been published, what there is in the world that I haven’t experienced yet. Fine, on that last one, there is a lot, no need to remind me. Perhaps that is why I have tried so many different social media platforms, with varying success, and built up a small circle of good friends.
My big thing for learning at the moment is Google Plus. I’m not going to get into advertising for the service – which would work against me anyway since I have a bet running that Google Plus will not overtake Facebook this year – but I thought I’d just mention why I like it so much, and admit that I have claimed to like other sites at first too, but then found their weak points. There may well be many weak points with G+ too, but that will come with time and, perhaps one day, there will be an even better service which I fall all over.
I told someone recently that I like G+ because it is the intellectual – or better still, the intelligent – side of social media. I’m sure it has the OMG brigade there too, but I am not forced to see them and have not, yet, really been plagued by them. The recommendations I’ve received have been sensible and fit my personal interests which, as far as G+ is concerned, revolve almost exclusively around photography.
Where else, I ask myself, can I find people who take their own photographs, publish them for all to see, allow their methods to be seen by all and gain real, almost live, commentary? The small groups available – the hash groups – concentrate on themes and styles and that is a big bonus point. You’re unlikely to find something too off-topic there simply because those who moderate (curate) the pages are active and interested in what they do. They’re not G+ staff, but individuals like you and me. So you can find, for example:
whole groups interested in photographs of squirrels amongst many other things.
I’ve decided to limit myself, however, to the one or two groups which I can play an active part in and where I know I can get a half way reasonable image out of my camera: architecture, broken down into windows and doors and sacred buildings, and vintage cameras. I hope, sometime in the future, to be able to take part in street photography, but I really need to learn a little bit more about producing good results first, and I am prepared to take the time rather than just dive in.
But what I really enjoy is the sensible and informative conversation. If someone has a question or a comment, it gets a reply. A few days ago I uploaded a photograph of a door, but I had forgotten where the door is. Almost immediately I got a comment back fgrom another photographer with a link to a newspaper article telling me that the door is in Havelberg, Saxony, and all my memories of my visit there came flooding back again. Where else, someone asked, can you upload a photograph of a door and have another person tell you where the door is?
And I am learning, slowly but surely. Seeing the work and reading the descriptions of their work by photographers who have been taking their pictures for years – some for decades – and some of whom are professional is a big bonus too. Thus, as you may have noticed, the list of photographer’s websites which has appeared on the right hand menu bar.
Life is a learning process, and it is wonderful to know that there are people out there prepared to give of their time, their experiences, and share with a beginner.
Love & Kisses, Viki.
Photo Source: imgur.
Reading Matter.
Keeping up with the times is essential in this day and age, and there are some things which you can’t get on the Internet, surprising as that may seem.
One of my interests is architecture, so I made a point of getting the latest edition of Architectural Digest over here. It is an American magazine but with local color added and produced in German and, I thought, would give me some new insights into architecture and buildings in general in Europe. How wrong I was!
The editorial was about a street photographer, now in his eighties, from New York. The bulk of the articles were either on decoration – cushions and chairs, that sort of thing – or how to make a small room look good. There were a couple of good articles on design in general but precious little on architecture. Perhaps the direction changed since it was first published and they didn’t want to lose the name?
And I will also add that I was not convinced to buy this particular magazine because of its wonderful cover … a colorful interior – in Paris, I think – with a quality print on the wall showing, amongst other things, two naked women lying on their fronts, feet towards the camera, watching television. In the States this would be top row material, not for the eyes of anyone under 21 or so and probably wrapped!
Makes no difference in the end, I enjoyed reading it and learned new things about photographers which was good. Might even take another glance at it next month. Still, I want a magazine on architecture …
Love & Kisses, Viki.
Sex Secret.
I’m not sure whether this is really a secret or not, it certainly seems to be for some because they’ve never heard of it or, at the very least, never try it out for themselves.
Productive.
Today was a good day – well, almost. I decided to concentrate on my photography, despite the weather, and see what I could find on a particular theme near here, coming back with about one hundred and twenty images of doors and windows from abandoned and derelict houses. I still have to work my way through them and see what is really worth keeping and what could be worth keeping with a little bit of adjustment (I’m testing Lightroom 3 at the moment. I wanted to do Lightroom 4 but the compressed data wouldn’t open for me).
A good deal of fun and chat on Google Plus, and I even managed to clear my backlog in mails, which is saying something.
On Google Plus I added a few photographs to some of the groups and was surprised by the more than positive responses I received, making it all the more worthwhile.
As to the well, almost: the server disappeared for a while today and my website wasn’t available, but the webmaster managed to get it back up after a while and nothing was lost…
Tomorrow it’s back to the hard work and college, with a little bit of play and fun in between. Hopefully I’ll be able to get out with my camera a bit more, I’ve even borrowed a tripod! – and see what strikes my fancy.
And then there is the writing too, which didn’t interrupt my day today. Plenty of ideas – and a wonderful Guest Writer post coming up – which I will be working on over the next few weeks.
Always plenty to do, never a dull moment here!
Love & Kisses, Viki.
Comments.
This afternoon the one thousandth comment made its way through my filters and hit the big world out there. That is, the one thousandth comment that someone has been kind enough to leave here, on my small Blog, after reading one of my posts and being inspired to spend a few seconds typing something in and communicating with me. The interaction that I have with people who read my Blog, either through the comments or through mail, is one of my (many) pleasures in life and it is one of the main things that really makes blogging, for any blogger, worthwhile. There are not many people who write just for themselves; I suspect that we all hope to find someone else who either appreciates what we have written, has thoughts on it or simply acknowledges that we are there.
I’ve also had a couple of mails in the last few days from those who say that they don’t want to comment too much, to fill up the posts with their thoughts, or that they could comment on almost everything I write. All I can say is, go ahead! Humans are social creatures who love being social, interacting with others, sharing, and I am no different to anyone else. It makes little real difference to me that roughly six hundred people visit this site each day – it’s good, but still – when they just pass through without a word. If I only had ten a day and they commented, I would be even happier, even more inspired to write and to create, to pass on my thoughts and my feelings.
A weblog is a social platform just as much as Facebook or Google Plus are, just with a slightly (!) smaller audience and a much more concise if not compact subject area. Some have many writers, some just one, but they all live from what other people say, how they react, what their thoughts and feelings are. The wonderful feeling of having people from all over the world contact you with their own personal insights cannot be played down. And it often brings new ideas, new topics, certainly a better understanding of a topic which might have been covered with only personal knowledge.
So, don’t be afraid to put your own 2 cents worth in my comments box – critical as well as complimentary – as often as you wish, even anonymously, which I can fully understand on some of my posts! Or, if you wish, send me a mail. I may not answer immediately, but the input is just as good, just as welcome.
Love & Kisses, Viki.
Expanding The View.
In case you haven’t noticed it, my small Blog seems to have become a little bit more serious this year; not that erotic subjects aren’t serious, but I am taking one of my New Year resolutions fairly seriously, and that is to look around a bit more and see what else is going on in the world.
You see, such things aren’t the only things on my mind. Travelling to Europe has opened my eyes to a completely new world, as well as giving me a different view of my own homeland. It isn’t always pretty, but then, nothing in life really is when you scrape beneath the surface.
But don’t worry, I will still come back to the finer things in life now and then, whenever something really grabs my fancy or tweaks my imagination!
Love & Kisses, Viki.
Photo Source: Tumblr.
They Can Touch.
I caught an interesting meme this afternoon which seems to sum up the present political climate in the United States quite effectively. It is a very simple one, but shows considerably more background than many people may wish to think about.
Over the last few years we, as citizens, have let our political masters rule over us as if they know everything and everything that they do must be right. It must be right because otherwise, as many people told us only a decade ago, the terrorists have won.
We had campaigns to smile, to continue our way of life, to go on as if nothing was happening, nothing changing us after the attacks against the United States. The standard phrase seemed to be do this or the terrorists have won; everyone played along.
Well, almost everyone. There were, and are, a few who questioned the wisdom of what was happening in Washington and the direction our legislation was being forced in. But, from the mass public, there was little or no objection. We allowed ourselves to be pushed in this corner, then that corner and always with the warning that, if we didn’t do this, if we didn’t follow, the terrorists would have won.
But what exactly does this mean? These terrorists haven’t invaded us. There isn’t a foreign power ruling in Washington or in any of the states. We are not dictated to by someone we haven’t elected. Aside from personal opinions about specific people in – or formerly in – positions of power and responsibility in our government, we are not under a dictatorship and none of the scenarios portrayed as being likely to happen have even made an attempt to become reality.
And yet it is fair to say that, up until a few days ago, the terrorists had won. Through their actions they helped cause the deaths of many, many thousands of American citizens and foreign nationals, and I do not mean just on September 11. They have succeeded in removing or massively reducing our freedoms, those things which we hold so dear to our hearts. The thing is, they didn’t do it directly, they had help and that help came exclusively through the work of politicians in Washington and other states, through various acts and orders passed in the heat of the moment amid a mass of propaganda about what would happen if we didn’t follow, if we didn’t play ball.
Things changed a few days ago with the battle by ordinary citizens against two pieces of legislation which would have curtailed our freedoms so much as to make the United States of America, that proud world leader of democracy, more of a dictatorship than ever before. The citizens – We The People – spoke out viciously and effectively against SOPA and PIPA and managed, for the time being, to force our legislative masters to back down.
For the time being. I say that fully in the knowledge that these people will try again, will bring their legislation through once more, perhaps hidden in other bills, but it will be there. The victory many are claiming is merely a pushing off into the future, a delay, nothing more.
For those who are now sitting on their laurels and claiming victory, I’m sorry, but the fight isn’t over. It isn’t time to relax on the couch once again and claim a job well done, the work continues and will continue for a long time to come. The fight needs to be taken further, to regain those freedoms we prize(d) which have already been limited or taken away.
The meme was very simple, but it has a hidden message if you wish to read further. It said:
They can touch our balls at the airport, but they will never take our Internet.
Love & Kisses, Viki.
Sensible Censorship?
Something interesting happened yesterday, not the SOPA / PIPA blackout, which is interesting in its own right, but a different form of censorship which caused me – and several others on Google Plus – to pause and think. It concerns two photographs, one taken by Imogen Cunningham in the 1920s and one by Minor White from 1940, one of which, for some reason, appears to have upset the people at G+ who are responsible for what is allowed and what disappears behind a black-out screen.
Not Blacked Out.
No, this weblog isn’t blacked out today, but that doesn’t mean I am a supporter of SOPA or PIPA or that I ever will be.
A country such as the United States of America which wishes to claim that it supports Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Speech and many, many other Freedoms cannot, at the same time, suppress those freedoms.
Sadly, the United States of America has been suppressing those self same freedoms, gradually, for many years. SOPA and PIPA are merely two new attempts to continue this work, ones which are out in the open, which people can see and object to. Other forms of legislation have been smuggled into the law books, unseen until someone falls foul of an unacceptable law which has removed the freedoms they believed still existed.
The United States of America is not the Land of the Free, but it could be once again. The start is getting these two pieces of legislation stopped. The next stage will be working through all the other pieces of legislation which have already been passed, and bringing the USA back to where it should be, back to being the Land of the Free.
Love & Kisses, Viki.
Being Subtle.
Anyone can write, but not everyone can write what other people wish to read. Not everyone can write works which will stay in the reader’s mind. Few can write in such a manner that their words cause the reader to pause, to think, to create a mental image, to truly appreciate language.
Despite a recent recommendation to wait until I am forty (that is a long way ahead of me!), I am enjoying the pleasures of Marcel Proust. To my way of thinking, his works create more than just simple images in the mind, more than just words upon a page. While some writers may be able to capture the reader with a short, pithy description, Proust shows not just the surface, the initial image and move on to the next image, he takes it to extremes. And that in the best possible manner imaginable.
Take, for example, his idea of going for a walk and hoping to meet up with a pliant, willing woman along the way. His description covers many pages, filled with memories, images, wordplay. He brings the reader right into the world of Combray as no other writer can, taking you – the reader – on a trip through the countryside as much as through time and through his mind. And then, when you least expect it, he can bring out a simple sentence, wrapped in hidden meaning, which sums up his intentions, his hopes better than anything else.
… until the moment when a natural trail like that left by a snail smeared the leaves of the flowering currant drooped around me.
And suddenly you see something he has not described. You see the hidden background behind the words, you experience, with due subtlety, his actions and the results. You see the thoughts he has not expressed aloud and sense the erotic in his words.
Love & Kisses, Viki.
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Guest Writing.