And so there was this thing. And it called to me. And I had to pick it up, because not to do so would have been rude. And I didn’t want to be rude.

The forest coughed up this delightful pattern of rust and decay in the form of a badly abused enamel bowl. I was captured by the colors and patterns, have taken several photographs of it, and am still drawn to examine it further. This is one view. I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you’d like a high resolution signed postcard print of this for your very own.

It is all but  impossible to describe the new awareness that comes when words are abandoned.  One is transported back, perhaps, to the world of early childhood when everything is fresh and so much of it is wonderful.  Words can enhance experience, but they can also take so much away.  We see an insect and at once we abstract certain characteristics and classify it – a fly.  And in that very cognitive experience, part of the wonder is gone.  Once we have labeled the things around us we do not bother to look at them so carefully.  Words are part of our rational selves, and to abandon them for a while is to give freer reign to our intuitive selves.

- Jane Goodall, from “Reason to Hope”

The ducks were out, as well as a few shotgun blasts. Otherwise it was still on the marsh as the sky was awakening in anticipation of the sun. The Colorado River, lazing in the Topack Marsh.

I’ll happily trade you a high resolution signed postcard print of this for a donation of your choice.

Cotton Gin, Casa Grande, Arizona

or…

Intergalactic drive on Algore’s two seater Blitzmobile. Your choice.

I’ve worked as a photographer; I’ve worked as a designer; I’ve worked as a photographer for designers. The idea of a designer is to visualize an idea and then figure out how to make it happen. Some designers are real control freaks, attempting to impose their view of reality on the world, and leaving no detail untouched.

Aha, but then comes the point where their design hits the street and they no longer have control. That, it seems to me, is where you separate the good designers from the ego-centric ones. Target has a really good sense of design in their stores and advertising. But the failure to consider that someone was going to have to actually use this trash container as a trash container, and not just another design element in the approach to the store, let it all come crashing down. And you know what? I bet the designer is angry at the maintenence workers who tie their tacky plastic bags around the outside of the containers rather than accepting that a good design would have made allowance for the actual function of the item, and not just it’s visual effect.