Random Images and Getting Lost

I'm including some random pictures for you to enjoy…dog with pacifier, underwater kiss (taken from a basement disco that is beneath a shallow pool of water), Howard, Jenna et moi (boarding a streetcar), Andreas, Jenna, Benjamin, Gregory, et (night out for dinner and a walk), and the image of the beetle that visited my face.

It has been exceedingly hot and sticky weather and we are all busy thinking about our work (and sweating). Last night was a city wide party wherein all the galleries and museums were open and had programs including music, performance, video/sound art and food/drink. The contemporary art museum was particularly lovely as was the view from atop the palace. I've been "getting lost" and shooting with the Yashica and the compact digital along with a new/old Soviet-Russian plastic camera called the Chajka ($6 with leather case).

The idea of "getting lost" is an interesting one. To be able to walk in no particular direction, only a direction that you have never gone. How easy it is to get caught in a routine, to go down the same road every day, to be trapped in auto-pilot. Getting lost allows for the briefest instant of being present and aware of everything around you, searching for some marker, some visual cue that will make a good image. When I initially set out for this sort of adventure I find myself disoriented and a bit uncomfortable. It takes a few moments to remember the intent and need to force myself to open up to interaction with total strangers again. Once I am thick in the picture making, the experience is much like "coming home." Tonight I wandered to the train station and met a man from India, a young Hungarian punk girl, a college student, and a Romanian gypsy. With these interactions I was, for all intents and purposes, found again. (Although that last bit sounds like I'm going to break into "Amazing Grace" - no worries, I won't).