Seeing 2012 (#102)

For your consideration:  the year's final photographic offering from your roving reporter.

Taken after driving from home to the Pacific coast (with visiting guests from Louisiana in tow — greetings Bryan and Susan!),  arriving propitiously literally moments before sunset.

Although this image was not taken on the year's final day, it is a worthy stand-in to serve as an closing ambience and sign-off to the dozen months we've each traversed in our own uniquely personal journeys.

For me, it's been an extremely challenging year.  Yet, of course, one also well-supplied with joys and accomplishments, wonders and growth.

Adieu, 2012.

May the coming three hundred sixty-five days bring all of us plentiful times of beauty, grace, and enlightenment as calming as the essence of this tableau conveys.

Thank you all for visting and sharing my journey;  I hope to see you here next year.

Namaste,
James

Cypress, Sunset, Pigeon Point, #0955-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: December 8, 2012; Canon 7D; f/5.6 @ 1/500 sec; —1/3 EV; ISO 400;
 Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS @ 22mm

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Seeing 2012 (#101)

For your consideration:  a celebratory image presented on the eve of a celebration.

'Tis been a dozen years now since I was smitten by a uniquely dynamic, intelligent and beautiful woman, a spark ignited ironically over a meal in which I sought a female perspective on matters of the heart.  At some quite specific moment during that therapeutic repast a clarifying thought erupted in my consciousness:  why can't I have a woman like her?

Tomorrow, provided of course that the Mayan apocalyptic verdict remains voided, I anticipate congregating with several good friends with whom I'll usher in the New Year.  I must confess, I still  remain amazed that first (in my heart) among the gathered will still be this vivacious, vibrant vision — my muse, my love, my wife Julianna.

We've shared quite a byzantine journey during our time together; as with any meaningful, deeply connected relationship periods of turbulence, discontent, and conflict have made their appearance on the stage.  Yet within the arc of our intimate shared path we've also been blessed with bountiful, nurturing experiences of comfort, tenderness, wisdom, compassion and encouragement.  Even today, revelations and mutual growth continues.

I owe more to this woman for an ascending quality of my life than I can properly enunciate.  Among the countless blessings she's given me has been her unceasing, unwavering support and affirmation of my art. Indeed, Julianna gave me my first digital camera (a Canon G2), a gesture of love which reignited a slumbering, dormant creative flame which has since flourished and continuously grown, beyond dreams, without flagging.  This this blog, my exhibits, and my passion and self-confidence in the photographic arena are all direct results and manifestations of Julianna's vision (and consequent patience!).

It is, indeed, a wondrous grace to watch yet another year draw to a close with Jules by my side.

Je t'aime, ma cherie.  Toujours.

Julianna and James, #0807-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details:  November 16, 2012; Canon 7D; f/10 @ 1/160 sec; ± 0 EV; ISO 800;
 Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS @ 61mm

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Seeing 2012 (#100)

For your consideration:  the year, like all others before it have done, is coming rapidly to its close. 

It's been quite a wild ride, this particular circuit of the Sun, my Fifty-Second.  Not the best of the bunch; far too much turbulence and uncertainty for my taste (much of which still looms).  Something of a surreal aberration, in numerus.  Even so, of course there was also an ample bounty of loving conviviality and sweet adventures, revelations and expanded horizons.  

Not the least of my personal highlights was the two-month exhibit of 61 of my photographs at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., library, on the campus of San José State University;  it is rare to be allotted such an expansive amount of both space and time to publicly display one's art, and it was a great honor. I also enjoyed the sweet affirmation of having sold several of my prints throughout the year, with more commissions pending.

One can only speculate what the next year holds for fortune and folly.  Certain is this:  there will be many journeys, some following prescribed, predictable vectors and courses, others fraught with confusion, perhaps, with shifting and conflicting signals and enticements.  Such is the human condition. 

It will be especially interesting to see which way the wind really flows in the days to come.  I hope to not find myself tilting at too many windmills, being instead grounded in some degree of reality as the adventure continues to write itself.

Vane Vectors (San Juan Bautista), #0297-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details:  October 7, 2012; Canon 7D; f/10 @ 1/400 sec; ±0 EV; ISO 400;
 Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX @ 11mm

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Seeing 2012 (#99)

For your consideration:  not exactly fine art, if for no other reason beyond the reality of this scene's already having been photographed (and undoubtedly painted) a myriad of times before my offering here . . .

Yet, nonetheless, this tableau is arguably one of the most beautiful man-made sites on our tiny planet, and seen on a gorgeous day at that. It so happens that I recorded my interpretation during my first ever visit to this particular vantage point, after nearly thirty years of living within an hour's drive!

Posted as a counter to an abundance of overcast, cold and rainy days of late — and as a reminder of the majestic beauty which surrounds all of us, if only we pause to look outward long enough so as to experience the universe beyond our preoccupation with Self.

Golden Gate Sunset from Baker Beach, #0482-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details:  October 13, 2012; Canon 7D; f/11 @ 1/200 sec; —1/3 EV; ISO 320;
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM @ 116mm

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Seeing 2012 (#98)

For your consideration:  a Christmas season view from the the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

On this particular day's journey  (the date being a usually somber reminiscence of John Lennon's assassination)  I was delightfully treated to a visit from my dear friend Bryan and his lovely love Susan.  Current residents of Louisiana, the Bay Area was a quick jaunt from their previous stop in Colorado, to which they shall be moving come the end of this month.

Never having before been to the West Coast, Susan was eager to see — and touch — the Pacific Ocean.  Naturally happy to accommodate, I acted as something of a tour guide for the day from the copilot's seat of their rental car.  After a few distractions and meanderings (including a stop at the Beethoven Center at San José State University) we arrived seaside moments before a spectacular sunset at Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

The coast was windy and quite chilly; after my friends had time to walk on the beach and I took several photos (some soon to be posted in this blog and on my main image repository) we drove up coastal Highway 1, in search of San Francisco sushi . . . and thanks to both excellent directions and recommendations from Kevin Ahern we were well-rewarded. Extravagantly fed, our next goal was to secure a view of the Golden Gate Bridge; a close option was from the grounds of the Legion of Honor,  from where the beautiful span was a splendid orange thread in the distance.

By now the hour was growing late and the travelers tired, yet the unanimous vote was that the night could not end without a direct experience with the Golden Gate.  Thus we navigated our way down to the northbound crossing, and finished our (amazing) sight-seeing expedition on the Marin end of the iconic structure.

Ergo the offering below, which features one of the world's most beautiful views, particularly bejeweled by the Embarcadero Center buildings' traditional Yuletide season lighting adornments, just to the left of center.  As a superb finale to a splendid day (rare, of late), my photographic composition was nicely enhanced by the serendipitous timing of a passing ship in the foreground.

San Francisco Bay, Ferry, #1041-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: December 8, 2012; Canon 7D; f/8 @ 6 secs; ± 0 EV; ISO 400;
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM @78mm

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Seeing 2012 (#97)

For your consideration: at the precipice of yet another insta-cliché thoroughly inundating the National Conscious, thanks to the media's penchant for relentless and unceasingly dramatic, maladroit employment of sound-bite-sized snippets of attention-getting idea fragments.

Was anybody immediately sick of the "fiscal cliff" admonitory the second time you heard it, spewing from a talking head who earnestly trotted it out for the lead-in to a broadcast network news segment? 

In vain hopes of broadening my own horizons, I quickly set out on a search for this newly discovered, apparently vitally important geographic site.   Being relatively knowledgeable about place names and Earthly features, I was surprised at the time required for me to discern Fiscal Cliff's whereabouts.  It was nowhere to be found amongst all the usual suspects — no mention of it in the Sierras, nor the Rockies, nor the Dakotas;  neither Arizona, Alaska nor even Montana maps mention such a promontory.   

What of New Mexico then?  Idaho?  Perhaps somewhere in the Appalachians even?  Alas, no.

Peeved, then pausing ponderously, perspective presented itself to me:  I had missed the scene by sheer inches, overlooking the obvious locale — 'tis in my own backyard!  Well, metaphorically of course . . . it's in my friend Steve's backyard, actually.

And so, gentle reader, I present the first concrete photograph of this object of so much blathering discourse.  

For those who peer especially closely at the full-size version you may discern its true nature and scale, and thereby gain insight as to why I didn't enter any betting pools for odds on it ever being actually located 'ere the Mayan calendar expired. (Hint:  although the image is unaltered, not all is at it seems . . . those irregularities in the atmosphere betray the true nature of this point of view.)

(Fiscal) Cliff, #0128-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: September 29, 2012; Canon 7D; f/5 @ 1/800 sec; +2/3 EV; ISO 800;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

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Seeing 2012 (#96)

For your consideration:  a pitch for recyling clichés, perhaps:  is anyone else out there already exhausted by the once-a-minute use of fiscal cliff as our latest addition to the national lexicon?  It doesn't have quite the potential lasting power as Day of Infamy, associated with today's date since 1941.  (Let us pause to remember the USS Arizona, among the many fallen at Pearl Harbor.)

Well, while on the matter of slippery slopes, forthwith an offering from one of the more eclectic areas of downtown San José.  I photograhed this subject from a number of angles; this submission is the most acutely angular, and suitably composed in order to simultanously depict an incongruous stasis amidst a severely plumeting perspective. The juxtapostion creating considerable energetic tension.

The most challenging aspects of capturing this scene were manging the sun's glare while also trigging the shutter just when those racing flags' flapping were synchronized by a stiff breeze  — it took several attempts before I nabbed them such that there is space between the upper paired poles.

Untitled (Disoriented Downhill Racer), #9986-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: September 2, 2012; Canon 7D; f/11 @ 1/1000 sec; ±0 EV; ISO 500;
Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX @ 16mm

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Seeing 2012 (#95)

After a delay of unexpected duration, I am extremely happy to again be in a position to post thoughts and imagery for your consideration.

The past three months or so have been rife with personal upheaval on both geographic and emotional landscapes.

In the midst of the sojourn into the current interior and atmospheric winters I found myself disconnected, quite literally, from the technical resources I require to create muddled musings and their associated photographs.  This forced artistic deprivation significantly deepened my darkening mood, as this milieu has for some decades been my only reliable, consistent spiritual immunization against folly and even despair; in such times of extreme duress the act of capturing light has more than once been all that has illuminated meaningful motivation for continued respiration.

Thus, when this day finally arrived — regained access to the tools necessary to resume my creative narration — I was determined to publish something suitable and reflective of my place on the path.  The times are acutely challenging, many moments grim, the slope steep . . .  yet I am treading on the shoulders of close and deeply trusted men who steadfastly provide aid and comfort for my journey.  I shall keep yearning for the Sun, and to believe (even if naïvely) that the summit I seek can yet be attained.

Sunset, Winter, Western New York State, #0900-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: November 21, 2012; Canon 7D; f/10 @ 1/664 sec; ±0 EV; ISO 500;
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM @ 300mm

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Seeing 2012 (#94)

For your consideration:  the calm before the storm, at least for me on a deeply personal level.

'Tis been a brutal several weeks, with many cranial storms characterized by frequently swiftly changing currents and rogue waves.  Traditional navigational aids have been rendered utterly impotent; considerable accumulations and dispersions of jetsam and flotsam have followed in the wake of uncertain bearings.  Indeed, unfathomable moments arise suddenly as mental icebergs through thick fog. 

The foreast for the weeks — and likley months ahead  — is for continued forays into such terra incognita.  This long weekend provides an all-too-brief pause before something of a forced march towards much sustained uncertainty to come.  A fleeting respite, if I would be willing to embrace it.

So . . .

Last night I persuaded fellow nocturnal photography enthusiast Jerry to be a traveling companion for some several hours, vaguely determined destinations to be discovered with each passing moment. 

Initially neither Jerry nor I had any clarity nor preferences for our pixel hunting grounds.  After rejecting many localities as too frequently/recently visited (sorry, Alviso), we narrowed our scope to a quartet of choices, namely North, East, West and South.  North got the nod, so Jerry piloted us accordingly up I-280. 

As we considered possibilities along that corridor I was quite surprised when he remarked that he'd never been to Half Moon Bay. Decision made. 

We arrived to streets already rolled up and deserted by 9:30pm, even on Labor Day Friday.  The overhead marine layer was thick enough to completely hide the gorgeous (blue) full Moon which shone upon us inland, but had yet to settle down low enough to enshroud the town with moody mists. Consequently we wandered.

My primary purpose for this particular expedition was to effect some significant displacement of dogged duress by means of the joy of artistic creation. For me the camera can be a deeply soothing balm, one surpassing most other remedies.

This placid, safe harbor perfectly filled the prescription. 

The image posted is a composite of two exposures, of 2 and 4 seconds, taken at 10:40 p.m.  These were blended via masking to yield a fine balance between sky and foreground lighting and detail.

May it bring you, too, some peace.

Pillar Point Harbor, Half Moon Bay, #9882/3-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: August 31, 2012; Canon 7D; f/5.6 @ 4 secs; ±0 EV; ISO 500;
Tokina AT-X Pro 11-16mm f/2.8 DX @ 16mm

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Seeing 2012 (#93)

For your consideration:  the maiden entry of a new series, Sill Life, which depicts windows into  scenes from the silent events transpiring and expiring just beyond my office door.

“Death is not the end
Death can never be the end.

Death is the road.
Life is the traveller.
The Soul is the Guide
...

Our mind thinks of death.
Our heart thinks of life
Our soul thinks of Immortality”
― Sri Chinmoy

Sill-Life: Mosquito, #9325-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: July 19, 2012; Canon 7D; f/8 @ 1/1000 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 800;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM w/ extension tube

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Seeing 2012 (#92)

For your consideration:  an angular perspective of a niche I encountered at church in the foothills above Carpenteria.  Exquisitely congruent with my Sonoran native son tastes, the compound's motif was delightfully, and startlingly, southwestern, set amidst the lush foliage of the California coast.

What attracted me to this composition was the juxtaposition of the ponderous, jutting section of timber looming over the fragile beacon of light.  A welcome hint that, in times of heaviness and impending blows, there may well be hope to found. 

Never give up.

÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷÷

My deepest appreciation and thanks to those who honored my art and my efforts by attending the today's reception at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., library.   It was a fantastic experience for me! 

Many contributed to making the exhibit, and reception, possible:  my wife Julianna and our daughter Hannah Mae, Ryan, Jerry, Vernon, John, Ben, Cheyenne and Charles, just to name a few.  THANK YOU! 

Façade, Mt. Carmel Church, #9498-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: July 28, 2012; Canon 7D; f/11 @ 1/500 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 250;
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 16mm

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Seeing 2012 (#91)

For your consideration:  a tiny slice of the cavernous workshop wherein all stage props are fashioned for the theatre productions put on by my current employer, San José State University.

This miniscule selection from the plethora of chaotic materiel strewn about was taken with a set of extension tubes combined with my 100mm macro, yielding a considerably enlarged view of microcosm I espied on a saw horse, of all things.  It evokes, for me, a sense of Pink Floyd meets Jacques Cousteau far beneath the sea: a creature at once Sonoran (the color and texture recall many cacti from my youth) and Martian, trumpeting loudly a series of notes to be interpreted by those who care about such alien communications.

Hey:  it's late, I've been putting in unfathomable hours preparing for the upcoming exhibit (see sidebar notice!), and I needed a momentary respite from matting and framing.  Thus, this.

Abstract Green Spew (Jealous Heart), #8931-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 13, 2012; Canon 7D; f/5.6 @ 1/400 sec; –2/3 EV; ISO 800;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

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Seeing 2012 (#90)

For your consideration:  a rare entry for this month.

Representative, at that:  for just as this delicate specimen is on the cusp of unfurling for the world a bundle of new creations of beauty, so too am I immersed in bringing forth a collection of new prints for exhibition next month.

This is a massive task, all the more so due to my very late start on the gestation and delivery of physical imagery (as opposed to pixel-based representatives).  Indeed, the project now consumes nearly every free moment, both mentally and physically, as I labor under the leash of a rapidly encroaching deadline — I must be ready to begin the installation a week from Wednesday. 

Even so,  it's a wonderful problem to have: the creative process is as mysterious as it is rewarding, and I hope that the results will be of interest to you, dear viewers.  (See details to the right.)

Embryonic Yellow Petals, #9232-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: July 5, 2012; Canon 7D; f/2.8 @ 1/80 sec; – 1 2/3 EV; ISO 800;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

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Seeing 2012 (#89)

For your consideration:  a small sample of  the profound, delicate beauty which nature engineers from the simplicity of sun, water, a bit of breeze and a tiny patch of soil.

We large-brained bipeds enjoy characterizing ourselves as possessed of advanced technological skills and inclinations . . . yet it remains beyond our feeble efforts to create such a living demonstration of exquisite artistry from whole cloth.

Go gently, tend to your own garden, and witness the elegant results. One needs not embark on exotic ventures to other locales in search of new wonders:  sweetness beckons at hand, only awaiting the embrace.   

Poppy, #6405-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: March 23, 2012; Canon 7D; f/16 @ 1/200 sec; – 1 1/3 EV; ISO 640;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

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Seeing 2012 (#88)

For your consideration:  a Kafka-meets-Lynch (with a smattering of Poe) study of triangulating fantasies, yearnings and devolution.

The first posting I've been able to find the mental wherewithal to publish in nearly a month . . . 'tis no coincidence, the absence from this forum.  Thermodynamic Laws in the spiritual realm are just as intractable and dispassionately uncompromising as they present in the material, albeit illusionary, world.

Although the physical juxtapositions made this composition a compelling target for my eye in that initial moment of encounter, it was not until only quite recently that the import of the space pierced my consciousness.  In fact, it required a bit of visual sleuthing before the unraveling helix revealed itself completely, a startling discovery.

Thus we have quite an entourage here.

An undulating, serpentine coil of questionable DNA simultaneously adorns and overpowers a goddess of a decidedly fecund and verdured nature. Showy, arm thrust as if a prize is due, all the while unaware that her essence remains confused by the many layers required to maintain the aura.

Regal, yet removed to the background, struts a guardian scanning the unseen arena for signs of — what? confirmation of the conceit at hand?  dissent deemed uninformed and thus unimportant? Regardless of the stare, such hubris only becomes possible behind the safety of a mask; one dares not (knowingly) adopt such emotional and physical postures in the presence of naked honesty.

Occupying the most elegant stance is a youth emanating what seems to be wisdom beyond his years; yet the distant gaze and decapitated hand states that little in this scene is born of spiritual/emotional clarity; the pomp and circumstance of self-indulgence and daring-for-confrontation utterly misses the bars of self-imprisonment looming behind.  He knows what the others can't see:  the artificial construct of the moment is quite removed from the truth which lives off-stage.

Finally, occupying the foreground is belatedly discovered a bare appearance of purity and its life-sustaining gift of healing, nurturing, and the cycle of birth and rebirth. . . the core essence of Love.  It is no coincidence that this representative of Truth is paradoxically the most easily missed prop.  Close examination brings us the heart of the matter, however: the posterior breast is incomplete, cleaved from being anchored to the body.

Thus, the inescapable conclusion becomes that such are the vital elements of love that it suffers constriction, distortion and becomes a surreal parody when the actors begin donning themselves with substitutes, props and a cacophony of roles, deceits necessary to perpetuate participation of a falsely constructed tableau.

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
You try this trick and spin it, yeah
But your head will collapse and there's nothing in it and you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Way out in the water
See it swimming 

-- The Pixies © Universal Music Publishing Group

Torso Goddess (Madonna and Child), #0956-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details:  July 24, 2011; Canon 7D; f/5 @ 1/250 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 1000;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

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Seeing 2012 (#87)

For your consideration:  an image posted while on Lithium . . . (such was the Nirvana tune playing on Pandora radio as I created this offering).

Hmm.  The surrealist aspect of this arid composition, with its wired sculpture of impenetrable import, does seen rather like a notion conjured up during some ingestion of chemical influence.  As I scanned the original scene I was at a loss to explain its purpose.  Not quite a modern Stonehenge,  yet who knows what high desert heat can do to a restless mind.

Perhaps visiting archeologists centuries hence will divine a plausible theory as to its meaning.

Doubtful, that, but it was a fun discovery nonetheless (and, I must admit, a quintessentially Arizonan one), regardless of its opaque message and function.

Chloride, Arizona, #4664-20D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: November 27, 2011; Canon 7D; f/10 @ 1/500 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 250;
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 11mm

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Visit my full photographic repository at jwmurray.smugmug.com

Seeing 2012 (#86)

For your consideration:  a forgotten image I was pleased to rediscover this evening. 

I came across this whilst wading through a veritable plethora of photographs I've taken over the past several years, my goal being to somehow glean 40 - 60 to print, matte and frame in time for a new exhibit I'm scheduled to put on in August . . .

I remember quite well the locale of this selection, if not actually taking it:  the St. Francis Retreat Center nestled in the foothills above San Juan Bautista.  I'm not sure some of the resident clergy would quite approve of my depiction of this wholly natural early morning delight. 

At same time, I can say with some certainty that the temperature was somewhat warmer than may be implied here . . .

Succulent Tip, #7736-20D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: May 8, 2010; Canon 20D; f/8 @ 1/60 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 200;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

________

Visit my full photographic repository at jwmurray.smugmug.com

Seeing 2012 (#85)

For your consideration:  a simple meditation on the mutually reinforcing beauty inherent in intimate, symmetrical companionships.

In such relationships exist the essence of majesty and, paradoxically, humble, implicit manifestation of a quiet strength and growth . . . the nature of which yields joyous rewards greatly exceeding the sum of the individual contributions.

Twin Blades (Duality), #0933-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: April 27, 2012; Canon 7D; f/2.8 @ 1/500 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 500;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

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Visit my full photographic repository at jwmurray.smugmug.com

Seeing 2012 (#84)

For your consideration:  a contemplation on the complex, often times nearly unfathomable subterfuges employed in the pursuit of at least some degree of affirmation . . .

Contusions and confusions, particularly those which are denizens of the unconscious, can linger far beyond the merits of their heroic acquisition.  Their demands for healing occasionally compel pursuits of illusionary oases, distant shores which viewed from afar, unexplored, promise relief and the thrill of adventure . . . Yet (if ever truly reached) such landings deliver only thin and short-lived bromides. 

Inevitably one discovers that the original harbors from which we wander are where restoration, integrity and safety truly reside.  Of course the inhabitants' imperfections and attendant irritants still accompany their hosts. Indeed, for those stout of heart, those selfsame bruises, visible and sublimated, become the foundations for common ground, and nurture the basis of a knowing compassion which defines and mends the soul. 

Subliminal Discretions (Dyadic Calculi), #0933-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: July 24, 2011; Canon 7D; f/8 @ 1/25 sec; –2/3 EV; ISO 800;
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 & 16mm

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Visit my full photographic repository at jwmurray.smugmug.com

Seeing 2012 (#83)

For your consideration:  summer's imminent.

With a nod towards the inevitable warming trends (and the corresponding inverse relationships between clothing layers and interludes) — romantic enticement, à la Santa Barbara.  A cooler to heat things up . . .

Love Machine, #6412-7D

© 2012 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: March 24, 2012; Canon 7D; f/6.4 @ 1/1328 sec; –1/3 EV; ISO 400;
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

________

Visit my full photographic repository at jwmurray.smugmug.com