It was a Tuesday, and I was feeling blue.
My mind was littered with nothing new.
My bowl was half filled with cabbage stew.
That day I wore clothes of the dullest hue.
Only four beige walls were in view.
I was surrounded by books all shut with crazy glue.
There was really very little that I could do.
I was trapped in a box, that’s what I knew.

Together We Go

Together we go, you and I,
Together we must get by.
Together we live without fear,
Together we hold the little things dear.
Together our world becomes small,
Together, that is all.

Stuck

When you find yourself in a place,
A place with bad thoughts and false exits,
Do what you must to keep your sanity,
And by all means, don’t panic!

In the Darkness of the Light

I can see the light,
It is warm.
It is not so bright,
But i will weather the storm.
I do have hope,
With a healthy dose of doubt.
I know I must cope,
Either that or get out.

From the Shadows

From the shadows emerge
With all the promise of life
With eternal hope

About a year ago I decided to start a little online experiment that is centered on thought (particularly shared thought). I created a web site titled Think.as.MANY. The site currently has two components (or apps), Think.like.ME? and Think.of.a.STORY. Here’s a screenshot of the main page:

Think.like.ME? enables a visitor to enter a thought (a statement, question, anything – excluding profanity). In return the visitor is presented with other thoughts that have been entered prior that are similar. This is all done anonymously. The visitor can also browse through existing thoughts, and traverse through similar thoughts (thought tree). The idea is to see how thoughts are alike (or not). As more thoughts are added, the experiment becomes more realistic. Also, I have built a simple Android app for this. You can find it in the Android Market with the name think.like.ME?.

Think.of.a.STORY is about building a continuous story. Each visitor contributes part of the story on each visit. It’s a concept that has been done often in the past, but I thought it might be fun and interesting to visual the result across the vast Internet.

With both of these apps, the more participation the better. I encourage you to visit, participate and share with others.

In some sense, categorization helps to focus the viewer on photos to which they care most about or to which they are most attracted to. It can help to give the viewer a sense of authenticity – like in the case of journalistic photography vs. creatively manipulated photography. Although that last point assumes that a photograph can absolutely capture an image as it truly was in the real-world. I believe that is a false assumption. Well, the ability to put a photo into a particular bucket can also aid the photographer is his/her process of creating the photo – whether it be composing the shot in a certain way, or applying the appropriate post-processing.

On the other hand, one can argue that the categorization and compartmentalization of a photo can be too constraining on the artistic intent of the photo. What does it matter what type of photo it is, as long as it appeals to the viewer. Do we need to know that a photo is “not manipulated” vs heavily processed (whether film or digital)? Maybe for legal or forensic purposes (but even then I can argue that a photo is never absolutely representative of real-life).

What is the point of a photo? Is it primarily to benefit the photography? The viewer? The “art” of photography? Society in general? I don’t know.

What do you think?

I started ofMemories with the vision of providing high quality photography services that is custom tailored to the customer’s needs, and is affordable. I’ve had busy times and less busy times, but overall I am pleased with the progress we have made so far. Most of our clients have come through referrals and word of mouth, but we have been attempting to “get-the-word-out” through creative advertising and social networking.

We cater to smaller events, and have photographed weddings, engagements, birthdays, portraits (on-location, no studio yet), and others. We are always looking for new opportunities.

Here’s some connection/contact information:
   »Website:  www.ofmemories.com
   »Facebook Page:  facebook.com/ofMemories
   »Google+ Page:  plus.ofmemories.com
   »Twitter:  www.twitter.com/ofMemories
   »LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/ofmemories

   »Email:  contact@ofmemories.com
   »Phone:  732.660.8831

You can find details of the contest here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/artworks-submission.