I saw the cool animated gif of lightning showing through the clouds of Hurricane Laura in the Tweet below, visible from space via weather satellites.
That by the way is NOT what frightened me. No, that made me feel inspired by nature, its power and beauty, and how we can never entirely control it (nor should we).
Continue reading What Really Frightens Me
poem © Jeffrey Beaty
written Dec. 31, 2015
24 lines
Times change, and so must I. Appropriate for the beginning of a new year.
This poem began like many of my poems, as a bit of negative maudlin dribble. And then it took a turn for the better. That positive spin was a little bit a conscious choice, but also kind of where I’m at… Trying to break the habits my brain likes to get into and drive outside the “ruts” my grey matter likes to follow. But this turn was also a little what actually occurred, and shows that nothing always stays the same. And if you look hard you can find something to enjoy, be happy or thankful for even in the worst of times. Read the Poem
“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.” – The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by JONATHAN GOTTSCHALL
I haven’t read this book, but stumbled on this quote which I really like and it rings very true for me. I may decide to check this out from library, as it has good reviews, doesn’t sound too technical and it supposedly a quick and entertaining read. Regardless, I want to remember this quote.
Took a 2 mile hike in South Valley Park with my camera at the end of a breezy but warm winter day. Some of my favorite shots in a long while resulted. Here’s some of the best. View Photo Album
Went through a after-work stroll through Bear Creek and took my camera. Managed to capture some half-decent photos, a number of a bunch of interesting birds, including: a common goldeneye duck, a female belted kingfisher, an american coot, and a hooded merganser. Oh, and a couple of bunny rabbits too.
View a slideshow of this set below.
Or you can go direct to this set on Flickr.
One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to take at least ONE photo every day (even if I have to take a quick pic with my phone). I will then post it (hopefully the same day) and mark it Day 1 to Day 365. I’ll be posting these “photo of the day” pics to this blog and tagging them “2014 365 Project”. I’ll also be posting them to a “2014 365 Project set” on my FLICKR account.
As it is New Year’s Eve day, I figured I would post the photo below today as kind of a prologue and public commitment towards my new resolution.
The photo above was actually serendipitous as I was originally trying to take the photo below; which, while interesting, was a fairly standard picture of a starling sitting on the power line outside my apartment window singing to the rising sun. To my surprise as I looked through the viewfinder, the geese happened to fly into the background, so I quickly recomposed and shot. Since I was at 200mm and not set up for any kind of depth of field the geese were of course out of focus, but I think the blurred silhouettes add to the look; particularly when I dumped all the saturation for a more “artsy” black and white photo. If only the starling had looked to his right (towards the geese) just at that moment, it would have been perfect.
Went to Bear Creek Green Belt for some exercise this New Year’s Eve Eve. Took my camera so the only thing I ended up exercising was my creative muscles as I certainly did not work up much of a sweat physically — a little chilly and I spent more time composing photos than walking. Continue reading New Years Eve Eve
A set of 7 photos from a November, 2013 hike in Staunton State Park in Colorado. View Photo Album
Today was my first day back from a vacation around Montrose, Colorado. I took TONS of photos while I was away. So many I will probably be processing them for the next year or so. Anyway, I have processed a few and uploaded them to my flickr account. I will be adding more as I get them.
From everything I read it seemed today was definitely a “dog’s day” of summer. Okay, actually just two things I read… Specifically two separate articles I stumbled on today happened to be about emotions in animals, including dogs. The first was a good article on TOR.com about a scientific study of emotions, specifically grief, in animals. The other article on Today.com discusses a study that has found that our dogs react to us in a way that is very similar to the way human children respond to their parents. Continue reading Puppy Love & Doggy Sorrow: Anthropmorhism vs. Zoomorphism
