this one's for LCT

I love my thesis project, but I have a confession to make: I haven’t been very faithful to it. Throughout our 4-year relationship, I’ve gone behind its back, coquetting and fraternizing with many alluring alternatives. I leave, and I love.
…but I always come back. These affairs I’ve been having – learning a second language, painting, writing – all tempt me with their romance and beauty. But at the same time, I crave stability and solidity. And this, my thesis project, is to what I always return.
“You get out what you put in” a physicist once told me. He was right. My project expresses manifestations of betrayal, neglect, and misuse - exactly what I gave to it.
It’s now hard, having scarred the thesis, to want to go back to a full commitment – for the project does not present itself as it once did. But despite it’s pain, it continues to promise stimulation and fulfillment.
In our future, I foresee that there will be ups and there will be downs (forgive the platitude), but there will also be strength, and there will definitely be comfort. For this I am indebted and will be devoted.

Incremental learning

How to shuck an oyster:

Put on a glove.

Put on a glove. Grab an oyster.

Put on a glove. Grab an oyster. Slide a knife into the seam separating top and bottom shells.

Put on a glove. Grab an oyster. Slide a knife into the seam separating top and bottom shells. Twist.

Put on a glove. Grab an oyster. Slide a knife into the seam separating top and bottom shells. Twist. With the blade, dislodge muscle from the top shell.

Put on a glove. Grab an oyster. Slide a knife into the seam separating top and bottom shells. Twist. With the blade, dislodge muscle from the top shell. Discard the top shell, cut muscle from bottom shell.

Put on a glove. Grab an oyster. Slide a knife into the seam separating top and bottom shells. Twist. With the blade, dislodge muscle from the top shell. Discard the top shell, cut muscle from bottom shell. Serve on ice.

my philosophy on photography

tell me about a person without using words, and make it descriptive. who is he? what does he care about? what makes him smile? frown? with whom does he associate? and how many wrinkles does he have? tell me – but don’t say a word. take a photo.
...not a photo of him posturing a smile in front of a trite backdrop. but instead, take a photo so that i, the listener, might indulge in his emotion. feel what he is feeling. and understand his thoughts. tell me. show me. captivate me.

my brother, david, comforted and loved our family cat for all of her life. the day before she died, above, was no exception.

compromising values

Should someone trust the quality of your work if you’re:

-a nutritionist that drinks soda
-an architect that supports the construction of buildings not possessing both form AND function
-an advocate of worker’s unions that then invests money in corporations that do not support unions or worker rights
-an PETA representative that wears a fur coat
-a scientist that believes in creationism

If you have authority in your profession but then betray, in your daily life, the very morals that drive your work, will your authority then become compromised? And thus, will those that you preach to believe what you say if even you can’t obey your own beliefs? …. Or is it mutually understood that humans have difficulty abstaining from something even though it is known that it isn’t good for them?