Combinations, Day 1.
Raye and Coltrane.
My Favorite Things
I fell in love with the song “My Favorite Things” in 1993, the year my daughter was born, after buying Al Jarreau’s live-in-studio recording. He performed the song with operatic soloist, Kathleen Battle, and the combination, made in one take, felt flawless. I could immediately conceive of any number of interpretations of the song, it…
On Mastery
I am going to do something I rarely allow myself to do. I am going to write without first thinking about what I will say. You see, I have learned over the years to write masterfully. That is not to say all of my writing is masterful, merely that I know how to do it,…
Days of Art 2025-65: “Alon Basela”
“Alon Basela,” a song by Avishai Cohen, means “an oak tree planted in stone.” It symbolizes knowing one’s strength by knowing the strength of one’s roots. Musically, it is a kick-ass live performance from a brilliant bassist, his pianist, Omri Mor, and his amazing percussionist, Itamar Doari. The time signature is mad.
What Is “Street Photography?” 10 Years Later
Maria and I have considered the question, “What is Street Photography?” for years. We’ve settled on this definition: Street photography documents humans and their behavior, in situations wherein they act spontaneously, generally but not always in urban settings. Street photography is a visual history of contemporary human life, not just of human cities and environs.…
Life, Love, Joy & Pain – Human Contrasts
I curate a couple of feeds on Bluesky that collects candid, human-centric street photography (which would be more accurately called candid or spontaneous photography). The first, Candid Street Photos, finds and identifies candid photography from whoever is posting these shots on Bluesky. It doesn’t catch them all, but I do make sure that all the…
Days of Art 2025-36: Life, Love, Joy & Pain
Back in my Flickr days, I curated a street photography group called Life, Love Joy & Pain (LLJP). It targeted one of the many street photography subgenres I have identified. A list of some of them are below, along with examples of famous shooters who popularized them. I’ve added some sub-bullets to show how even…
Days of Art 2025-29: Don’t Be Precious with the Work
I once wrote 12 rules to help newcomers become prolific writers. There was some good advice there, but looking back, most of it can be boiled down to, “Be consistent and results oriented.” Being prolific isn’t about how many projects you start. It’s about how many you finish. Were I to give similar advice today,…
Days of Art 2025-24: Diana Ross Dances
In March 1969, Diana Ross and the Supremes hosted the television show, The Hollywood Palace, a musical variety show typical of the 1960s. It was among a flurry of televised performances for the group, all of which proved instrumental in making Diana a generational star. By 1970, the group had dissolved and Diana began her…
Days of Art 2025-23: The Rest of the Story
Fans of photography know this iconic photo, taken by Dorothea Lange during the height of the Depression for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Some, like me, even know the purported story behind the photo. But few know the whole truth. The FSA captioned the photo, “Destitute pea pickers in California. Mother of seven children. Age…
The Artists' Sanctum 