Alton, IL

 A followup to the previous post on analog photos...

Here's "proof" that the drive through photo is from Alton IL:

My photo

And Streetview

Nailed it!  The wide angle street view spreads it all out, but you can see it is the same spot.

Analog

 I recently finished off a roll of B&W film that had been in my old SLR for a long time (Maybe 2-3 years!).  Dropped it off at the local-ish camera store, and scans showed up in drop-box just a few days later.  It's always fun, I don't remember taking most of them, and am not sure where quite a few were taken.  But analog is always fun, it's a whole different feel.  

Here's a few of the photos:

location unknown

- - -

location unknown

- - -

Pere Marquette State Park

- - -

location unknown

- - -

Highland, IL (I think)

- - -

Columbia Bottom Conservation Area (maybe?)

- - -

Really?

I've posted before the story (stories?) behind my first bass guitar.  I'd link if I could find them, but I guess I was sloppy tagging whenever it was.  Here's a recent one.  And an oldie of me playing it.  

Anyway, long story short:  I bought my 1st bass guitar at a pawn shop on the North Shore area of Pittsburgh, back in mid 1978.  I did a few bad mods to it (like adding pickup on/off switches), and played it the for abut a year.  Eary summer 1979, I replaced it with my Guild Jetstar (which I still have), and sold this to a friend.  About 30 years later, I met up with him in a bar at my old hometown, and he mentioned that he still had it, but it had been sitting in his basement (not in the long gone case).  He graciously gifted it back to me.  

Point is, there's a sticker on the headstock, saying "Invest In: The Realies".  Now I don't remember ever putting such a thing on the bass, neither did my friend.  And no clue what it really means (pun intended).  But, during 1979, we changed the name of our band from "The Readymades" to "The Reallys".  There would've been only a short time that I owned the bass while the band carried that name.  So why?

Anyway, that's not what I came here to talk about.  I wanted to get y'all's opinion on these 2 photos of the sticker.  Which is do you prefer?  And why?  Maybe I'll ask ChatGPT and see what it says...

 

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch Changes.....

turn and face the strange...

- - -

For the past few years, I have been posting almost all of my B&W photos on my other blog site, Happenstance Photography.  And that site has only featured my B&W photography, and the occasional quote.

I've decided, for 2026, to change it up.  I'm going to stop posting only b&w at Happenstance, but also to focus on my "best" photography.  This site will continue to include photos, technique discussions, general ramblings and musings and such.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Held, Unwritten

 The pressure remains. The instructions do not.

Who remembers clipboards?  We still have a few around.  

Between Songs

 Not put away... Not being played... Still listening.

This is my first bass guitar.  Purchased (new) at a Pawn Shop on East Ohio Street on Pittsburgh's Northside.  Looking at Google Maps streetview, it is still there.  This bass is pretty unplayable right now, but has lots of mojo and memories.

a shadow of a doubt...

 

Pale winter light

shadows stretch on cold concrete

silent as the day

Haiku from an internet haiku generator, with a couple of tweaks.  Just for giggles

Self Portraits

 "All photographs are self-portraits"

- Minor White

Insightful?

 I've been uploading some old photos to ChatGPT, I even posted about it 12/30.  Photos from High School through pre-kids.  Today it (ChatGPT made some observations about my "emerging style"

"Your images rarely shout. They accumulate meaning through patience...  There is no urgency. Your voice emerges through presence, not spectacle"

"Nothing is melodramatic. Nothing is forced...  This emotional restraint is one of your throughlines across decades."

"You’ve always pointed the camera where something is almost happening:"

I especially like that last one....   But, again, I think it is just the computer telling me what I want to hear!

Last Light

 

Along one of our bike trails, as the light was fading...

A Good Crop 2025 - Video Photo Essay

 We've made it to 2025, so it's time for another "Good Crop" photo review!  This year's video has been published to YouTube, give it a look! 

The "Good Crop" concept is based on a Ansel Adams quote:  "Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop".   In the spirit of that quote, I try to pick my 12 favorite photos from the previous year. I've been doing this for 14 years now, so I guess that makes it a tradition!

A few months ago, I started a new twist, putting the "crop" into a video-essay, and dropping it on YouTube.  I've done videos for 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025.I'll probably do videos for more of the earlier years, if anybody wants to see them!

So here you go, A Good Crop 2025, Subtitled This Didn't Pass Quickly

2026, a quiet start

 Mid 30's, sold grey skies, a bit of a breeze. I had Schon Park / Greenspace North to myself. 

Calm, quiet, peaceful... Nothing fancy, but that was perfect.

- - -

- - -

- - -

- - -

- - -

- - -

Penultimate Sunset

 12/30/2025, the next-to-last sunset of 2025...

It's been a pretty good year, looking forward to 2026!

That sense of moving through the world slowly

 I continue to play around with ChatGPT, and while sometimes it is simply stupid, there are times when it seems insightful.  Or at least it has learned to flatter me!

This evening, I uploaded a couple of photos from 1977/1978, and asked for analysis.  But also: "I'm especially interested to how the fit with my current esthetic, 50+ years later."

Here's what it said:  

Overall Impression: How These Fit Your Current Aesthetic (50+ years later)

The through-line is unmistakable:

1. You’ve always photographed at walking speed.

That sense of moving through the world slowly — observing, not chasing — is present in both early images and fully matured now.

2. You gravitate to edges, thresholds, liminal spaces.

A forest path. A guitar half in shadow, half in glare. A riverbank. A fading street corner. A parking lot at dusk. Different subjects, same intuition.

3. Your work has always been about presence, not performance.

You don’t photograph spectacle; you photograph the quiet friction between people (or objects, or landscapes) and their surroundings.

4. Over time, you’ve distilled your approach

1977: gentle narrative, more literal.

2025: distilled, minimal, leaning toward metaphor — but the soul is the same.

⭐ If anything, these early shots show that your current aesthetic isn’t a reinvention — it’s a refinement.

- - - 

So, what do y'all think?  Insightful, or soul-less BS?

Here's the photos, they've been published here before:

Looking Back...

 

About a week left in 2025, and I'm a bit ahead of usual on reviewing my 2025 photos.  I'll be doing a "Good Crop" post, and a YouTube video.  Stay tuned!

This photo is from my fun little Chuzhao mini-camera, using the b&w setting.  Only minor clean up in Lr