What is it about Homo sapiens that gave us an advantage over the other species of humans that came before us? According to this author, it was the trait of friendliness that allowed us to advance so far, leaving the other species in the dust. The author describes experiments in which wild animals were domesticated, and how they changed both…
Mike arrived in New York last night. His plane landed at Newark, and he took the train to Penn Station, and then walked to my apartment. He had a memorable flight, mainly because a passenger on his flight fainted in the aisle. Oh, I should mention that the passenger was … him! Apparently, a crappy night’s sleep, a very early…
This is the third book of Henry Carroll’s that I’ve read. They’re short books, but they’re packed with a lot of insight. The technical information (which is only a small part of his books) is really geared toward beginners and doesn’t contain much info that I haven’t already learned, but that’s fine; I always benefit from hearing it again. It’s…
So, after what seems like an interminable wait, the Mission Rabies Tanzania journey begins. My college buddy, Mike Rosen, is joining me on this trip, and he arrives here in New York in about 8 hours. He’ll stay overnight, and then we both depart from JFK airport tomorrow evening. In these times of Covid-19, planning this trip has been a…
Day 8 Today was very cold out, and I had a million things to do in preparation for my upcoming trip to Tanzania, so I didn’t get to go out today. As my fallback, I employed Glitter, my muse, in the service of this project and got a lovely portrait of her as she sat on my printer. Day 9…
This year, I pretty much kept pace with last year in terms of reading. The pandemic increased my time spent indoors, and reading was my primary way of passing the time. I read 67 books in 2020. Although I love good fiction, I usually end up reading non-fiction. Last year, I tried to remedy that by making a deliberate effort…
Day 6 A bit of a dull day, photowise. I went out in the morning and took a nice photo of the Empire State Building on my walk to the gym. That was the main pic of the day. I got a quick picture of a dog, shooting stealthily from my hip. It got cut off, but editing it in…
Day 4: Gloomy day today. I ended up not going out this afternoon, so I’m glad I took a few pictures this morning while on the way to the gym. While at the gym, I saw these two women who always come in together, with their little elderly chihuahua in tow. The dog is always in a little baby carriage,…
Last year, I went to Ghana for a Mission Rabies project. I got to see several small village communities and I took many great photos. I’ll be going to Tanzania in mid-January for another Mission Rabies project, and I wanted to read some inspirational photography books to prepare me for (what I hope will be) more excellent photography opportunities. This…
Gross, gloomy day outside, but I had to go out to Union Square, so I was able to grab a bunch of photos. Tough choice picking my favorite for today, but I went with this reflection photo. I like how it shows the Black Lives Matter street art and the NYPD car in the same frame. The runners up: This…
This is a no-holds-barred, brutally honest memoir from Queer Eye’s most outgoing, flamboyant cast member. In the book, Jonathan describes sexual abuse at the age of 4 by an older boy from church, his sex addiction, bad experiences with meth, struggles with relationships, his HIV diagnosis, and the brutal cancer battle that his stepfather waged and lost. The way he…
Location: Union Square Camera: Ricoh GR III Title: Crack Kills Other pics I took today that I considered: Glitter on the window sill. Taken with the iPhone. Converted to black and white. This is a Buddha Hand. It’s a weird (and expensive) citrus fruit. Saw it at the supermarket today, and took a photo with the iPhone, in portrait mode. …
With 2020 finally over, I’m ready to start the new year with a new project. I’m going to take one good photo every day and post it on social media. I will use either my iPhone, my Ricoh GR III, or my new Fuji XT-30. The photo has to have been taken that day; I won’t save up a few…
What a year. I knew, going into 2020, that it was going to be a tense, traumatic year. After all, it was an election year, and the thought that Donald Trump – the sleaziest, slimiest, most vile and corrupt president in the history of this nation – could be re-elected already guaranteed a high level of stress. Little did I…
Punk is my favorite genre of music, and I’ve also always liked the punk aesthetic in terms of graphic design. The graphic art that graced the covers of albums and singles was colorful and creative. The collages, the ransom-note lettering, stencils, logos, and the whole do-it-yourself ethos were brilliant and exciting and were an important part of the entire punk…