The Dharma Cone

Really Jack, without a shadow of a doubt most people who follow your work would pick this immediately from any stack of anonimized photo's as being one of yours. That's an accomplishment in itself. You have an eye for the unusual detail that's to be found around us and combine unrelated things into one single photo.Sometimes I find that surprising and appealing, sometimes I don't. To be honest here it's the latter.

Thanks anyway for your comment, I appreciate you coming by. Actually, I kind of like it myself but I always like this kind of tomfoolery.

You know, this has huge metaphor, although you probably enjoy that, right? Now if I can only get the image of you running around Osaka streets, fervently looking over your shoulder, with an orange cone under your arm out of my mind!

I very much like this kind of images. This one is particularly good. Perfect composition. Regards.

as Jack McRitchie was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous cone. :-)) Perfect in its meaningful composition. Thank you, Giuseppe

Orange cone in one arm, tire hanging over the other shoulder and that cement round thing somewhere! Now you are carrying steel plates too? Where does the camera go?

 

Fun stuff Jack, Todd

I wonder how many times you've mined this alleyway. My guess is more than once but I could be mistaken, the appeal is your ability to pick out these compositional gems. I think you're explained how you do when you said you enjoyed the having fun. A lesson for all.

In answer to your question: many, many times.When I was a kid, my family had a summer cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains. At that time in the early '50's, the cabin had no electricity, no telephone, just an old wood stove and coleman lanterns. Paradise for a kid. Every time we would arrive from the city, my brothers and I would immediately rush up to the outside sink which was always covered by a wooden board when the cabin was not being used. We would carefully lift off the cover and see what type of creature had decided to shelter within. There were spiders and sowbugs and once even a scorpion. We always looked forward to what we would find inside and were seldom disappointed.

 

The alley (actually a narrow street adjacent to a railroad overpass) has a somewhat similar effect on me. Despite the fact that I know roughly what I might find there (see my picture "The Usual Suspects") each day brings a few surprises, interesting finds and new perspectives. I think you would be amazed how many of my pictures come from that one, short street. It might even be interesting to include a number of them in a presentation. I think if you expect the picture, it will be there, no matter where you are. This is the particular magic of the artist/photographer; he doesn't just see what is there, he actually creates it. As Jesus said in gospel "seek and ye shall find". It's as true for photography as anything in the spiritual realm.

But I thought photography WAS in the spiritual realm. ;-)

 

Alternate title suggestion, "Child's Play."

 

There is some sort of baby toy whose name escapes me that consists of a cone shaped rod and graduated donuts in rainbow colors that get stacked on the cone in order from large to small. A puzzle of sorts. Mostly the toddler chews on the colorful round donuts and the parents trip over the cone thing left laying in the middle of the room. In fact the parents spend way more time reassembling the thing and then having a curios urge to copulate afterwards. The whole thing is some sort of sick mind game invented by the gods of fertility and meaningless passion.

 

And thus my thoughts have come full circle back to the spirituality of photography.