Photographic meanderings

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Aspen bouquet in the Latte Da Cafe in Lee Vining, CA

Over the next few days, the sun will be setting at the same azimuth as it does in the peak of Horsetail Falls visitation. The recent storm has vivified the numerous falls around the valley, including Horsetail Fall. And yet I was the only one there for this shot last night.

Granted, clouds obscured the light, but oh! what clouds they were.

I wonder how many readers will drop off after reading this post. But it’s rare for me to comment on current events, and so when I do I trust that it will be because the current events are historic in scope.

Three things happened today. OK, yes, way more things happened today but three things of particular note to me happened today. A Civil Rights leader died, a living embodiment of the American Dream died today, and a large group of people have occupied Wall Street for the umpteenth day in a row.

Of these three noteworthy events, it’s the death of Steve Jobs that has had the biggest emotional impact on me. I was an early adopter of Mac OS X. In fact, I think my first iteration was 10.1.2. What a tremendous leap forward it was for Mac; I’d dicked around with Windows for about 6 years prior, and I just retired my Mac G4 this year, after 10 years of faithful service. I’ve been a Mac user for more years than I was a Windows user.

My years as a Mac user have not been without some bumps. Yes, Macs are indeed more expensive than a build-it-yourself PC. But as a serious end user, it’s worth it. I’m an artist, not a tech head, and for me the OS X interface beat the crap out of Windows by a mile. I *like* having a machine that “just works”.

Steve Jobs was the driving force behind Apple. From some accounts, he was a bastard to work for. I don’t doubt it. His labor practices are WAY less than stellar. The company that makes the iPad I own has a horrible record of worker suicides. They even installed a chain link fence around the perimeter of the roof to keep workers from jumping off the building.

How can I reconcile that with my love of Apple technology?

I’m torn. I truly am. On the one hand, human beings have died so that I can have a relatively inexpensive toy. On the other, human beings around the world are experiencing a renaissance of creativity and innovation due to this technical marvel.

Steve’s death wasn’t unexpected, really. But we’d clung to hope that he’d be around for a few more years, perhaps occasionally dipping his hand into the works. Maybe coming up with one more way new tech toy, or a new feature. But think back to his resignation back in August of this year. The things being written about him sounded like obituaries at the time. He died then, I suspect. No, not in body, but he left our view of Apple. He was “gone”.

Do any of my readers remember Charles Schultz, the man who wrote Peanuts comics? He died the day before his last comic ran. Oddly, other cartoons had prepared tributes to him for that day, and they had an eery feel to them. Reading of his death and then reading the funnies with all the tribute cartoons was…creepy. They were supposed to be for his retirement, but instead stood for his death.

I’m wondering how long it will be before the interwebs starts the rumor mill that he died BEFORE the iPhone 4s was announced. That Apple hushed it up so that the keynote would go on as planned. A perverse part of me will wonder if it is true. The larger, more noble part of me is disgusted with the thought.

Next, the death of Rev. Shuttlesworth, a man of whom I know absolutely nothing before his death. His life was spent working towards civil equality in America, a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In the narrow view, he did not affect my life directly; He sought equity and equality for coloreds/Negros/Blacks/African Americans. In the larger view, he changed the world profoundly. And it trickled down to me. In a world of segregation, in my grade school years, my best and only friend was Verna Alexander, an African-American girl. That was in 1969-70, and having a best friend who was Black was unusual. Rev. Shuttlesworth was 94 years old when. I thank him for his work, which still needs leaders of his caliber. I have a president who campaigned for an America in line with what I hope for. And that president is an African American. Thank you and God-speed, Rev. Shuttlesworth. History has a way of repeating itself, it seems: Mother Theresa died a few days after Princess Diana. I remember reading a comment that she slipped out unnoticed in the sorrow for Diana’s passing.

Finally, there seems to be something happening in NYC these days. If you have a twitter account, pay attention to #occupywallstreet. There’s some pretty intense shit going down right now. Is it time for an American Spring?

One last thing: It’s snowing in Yosemite Valley right now. It’s not sticking, and it’s very wet, but it is snow. Which reminds me, we are at the bookend of the times of year when sunset azimuth lines up to turn Horsetail Falls into a firefall. I have high hopes for tomorrow.

While it has to be said that his labor practices lead to worker deaths in China, I would not be the photographer I am today, nor the photographer I will be tomorrow without the innovations this man inspired.

RIP Steve.

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Holidays are coming, or treat yourself and help an artist!

As I sipped my lapsang Souchong tea, fire engines roamed the city. I shot this image through the plate glass window, and only just now noted the Andre the Giant graffiti in the upper right corner. Yes, Shepard Fairey, the man who made the famous Hope poster of Obama’s campaign, was a resident of Providence, and graduate of Rhode Island School of Design. “Hope” is the RI state motto.

Really, what else could it be? Thayer St. Tealuxe shop. Be sure to try the lapsang souchong tea.

“Forget the future, quarantine the past”. Street wisdom in Northampton, MA.