" Half of the results of a good intentions are evil; half the results of an evil intention are good. - Mark Twain "

<p>"We have already had enough of that stuff with popular Hollywood cinema of the mid to late twentieth century."</p>

<p>To quote the Lone Ranger's pal Tonto: <em>"Who's this "we" white man?"</em></p>

<p>I spent this morning helping my Navajo friend enroll in college. A BIA school, funded by treaty, it's an incredibly fine opportunity for the kid. Everybody seems to love everybody else. There seems to be no boredom, negativity, or cynicism, even among the operations people. I'm nobody's spokesman: I no longer wish to address the "beliefs" of non-natives.</p>

<p>"We have already had enough of that stuff with popular Hollywood cinema of the mid to late twentieth century."</p>

<p>To quote the Lone Ranger's pal Tonto: <em>"Who's this "we" white man?"</em></p>

<p>I spent this morning helping my Navajo friend enroll in college. A BIA school, funded by treaty, it's an incredibly fine opportunity for the kid. Everybody seems to love everybody else. There seems to be no boredom, negativity, or cynicism, even among the operations people. I'm nobody's spokesman: I no longer wish to address the "beliefs" of non-natives.</p>

<p> I've received two letters from PoP members, one from someone who apparently reads but never posts here, the other from a friend here on what happened with this thread. I also asked my wife and a good friend to read it and let me know what they thought.</p>

<p>The main thing they had to say in common was that leaving was a dumb/silly/childish/high-drama idea. To make a long story short, I had been thinking the same thing. I'm back.</p>

<p >“Which kind of intentions do we have when we make a photograph ?<br />And how far from our intentions is the final result ?”</p>

<p > </p>

<p > </p>

<p >No intentions other than to see what is to be seen and photograph it.</p>

<p > <br>

"I had been thinking the same thing. I'm back."</p>

<p > Good.</p>

<p > </p>

<p > Chill folks.</p>

<p>I see the quote also a bit in context of Jung's " the tension of opposites ". From the perspective of the individual / photographer I don't think there's either a good intention or a bad intention but just an intention. This intention manifests itself after the choice that we make regarding those opposites, to put it simply, between light - dark, good - bad,...It is by this choice and the acknowledging of it through our actions that makes us to be distinct individuals or that makes it possible to give substance to our " self ".</p>

<p> Regarding the question " which kind of intentions do we have when we make a photograph ? " I think it needs considering which opposites we've been presented with and from which choice between them translates itself into the intention. The intention can serve as a vehicle for the ideas and the choices that were chosen. To judge or attach a value, any value at all, regarding the endresult, would depend largely I think by which road the intent came to be, which could be argued is more a road of determinism then strictly free will.</p>

<p>The coming into existence of that specific photograph, that specific painting, that specific sculpture, isn't necessarily a direct result of a direct intention from it's maker but as easily a direct consequence of an evolving chain of events that started way before the work was made. Van Gogh had no intention to paint his paintings specifically the way he painted them. The paintings came by a motivation that was larger then any intention. So I think the distinction between an intention and a motivation has to be considered, even when the two might overlap each other.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Phylo's post, above, is necessarily convoluted but he goes directly to the point that I consider most important...</p>

<p><em><strong>"It is by this choice and the acknowledging of it through our actions that makes us to be distinct individuals or that makes it possible to give substance to our " self "."</strong></em> - Phylo</p>

<p>Laurent Paul's OT <em><strong>"how far from our intentions is the final result"</strong></em> seems to me to refer to Phylo's "substance to our "self" "...more than to our photographs.</p>

<p>I don't think anybody has more <em><strong>self</strong></em> <em>than cattle do, unless they create it by enacting and pursuing "intentions."</em> They don't have to succeed, failure may be just as rewarding... but they do have to make decisions and work at them ...</p>

<p>Everybody has rights, feelings, and arguably souls...but to have a "self" one must have intentions and must pay dues. I'm not talking</p>

<p>"Self" is sharply obvious in the presence conveyed by many Downs Syndrome people, who have intentions and drive them, isn't as obvious among "normal" people who just drift. </p>

<p>...I dropped part of a sentence. </p>

<p>I meant to say <strong>"I'm not talking about differences in human rights, I'm talking about "self" and the alternatives."</strong></p>