“We all live in a house on fire, no fire department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it.”
– Tennessee Williams
Lisbon Portugal
Imagination, A Photograph of Art
“No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination.”
– Edward Hopper
Cheap Turpentine
“When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine.”
– Pablo Picasso
Condition, A Photograph
“Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.”
– James Baldwin
Musician, A Photograph of Life
“He had a theory that musicians are incredibly complex, and know far less than other artists what they want and what they are; that they puzzle themselves as well as their friends; that their psychology is a modern development, and has not yet been understood.”
– E.M. Forster
A Dark Day, A Photograph of Night
“That night was a dark day. Of course, all nights are dark days, because night is simply a badly lit version of day, …”
– Lemony Snicket
Door Number 1A, A Photograph
“She had always lived her best life in dreams. She knew no greater pleasure than that moment of passage into the other place, when her limbs grew warm and heavy and the sparkling darkness behind her lids became ordered and doors opened; when conscious thought grew owl’s wings and talons and became other than conscious.”
– John Crowley
There was a time I had a large collection of photographs I’d taken of doors from wherever my travels had taken me. It took me years to accumulate. Last year, when my house was robbed and my computer stolen (along with all of my photographs) I thought my crazy door collection was gone for good. Months later, while walking the streets of Barcelona, I considered that the loss of my collection and computer was a good thing. Not only did it teach me that material things are just that….material and gone in the blink of an eye, but it also encouraged me to continue with a new collections of doors around the globe.
Although I’ll never get a chance to meet my home intruder, if I did, I might thank him for the lesson given of impermanence….and a new collection to start.
Mis-Uninformed, A Photograph of Lisbon
“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.”
– Mark Twain
Fish, A Photograph
From my favorite book of all time, The Old Man and the Sea…
“Fish,” he said softly, aloud, “I’ll stay with you until I am dead.”
– Ernest Hemingway
Oh, Juliet, A Photograph of Portugal
“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
Oh, that she knew she were!”
– William Shakespeare
Pirates, A Photograph of Body Snatchers
“The impetuous creature–a pirate–started forward, sprang away; she had to hold the rail to steady herself, for a pirate it was, reckless, unscrupulous, bearing down ruthlessly, circumventing dangerously, boldly snatching a passenger, or ignoring a passenger, squeezing eel-like and arrogant in between, and then rushing insolently all sails spread up Whitehall.”
– Virginia Woolf
A perfect description of what life is like on the tram. Although I enjoyed riding these little gems, one must be very quick to do so.
Someone Like Us, A Photograph of Love
“We fall in love because we long to escape from ourselves with someone as beautiful, intelligent, and witty as we are ugly, stupid, and dull. But what if such a perfect being should one day turn around and decide they will love us back? We can only be somewhat shocked-how can they be as wonderful as we had hoped when they have the bad taste to approve of someone like us?”
– Alain de Botton
Friendship, A Photograph of Life in Lisbon
“Friendship is a precious thing, Sayuri. One mustn’t throw it away.”
– Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
They sat outside on a small make-shift bench laughing and enjoying the warm evening. When asked if I could take their photo they straightened up a bit, making sure to pull their dresses down properly and graced me with beautiful smiles while they giggled to each other. I was reminded how important the women in my life are. So this photo is for all the women I am fortunate enough to call my girlfriends and family….
A Third Power – A Photograph of Life in Lisbon
“There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a great competition and rivalry between the two. There is a third power stronger than both, that of the women.”
– Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Rest, A Photograph of Life in Lisbon
“Rest and be thankful.”
-William Wordsworth
One Street Shy 