Many happy returns

Well, it has been more than a few years since I posted anything on this blog. A baker's dozen. Life happens, and priorities change. I'm not even sure blogging is a 'thing' anymore since it is more popular to do vlogs. I suppose the purpose of this blog also changed. I was originally established to participate in the iheartfaces photo challenges. At the time, my wife was active on that website and used to post a lot of pictures from her photography business. I joined in since I was an amateur photographer who wanted to share some of the photos I had taken. We moved in 2012, and I no longer had the time to post photos and participate in the iheartfaces challenges. The world was changing around that time as well.

Since my last post in 2011, TikTok revolutionized how we interact online. Eventhough we had Facebook, YouTube, IG, and Twitter (X), TikTok gained notoriety in the average user's ability to create short video content and go viral. The early adopters have made millions through the platform and by growing their audience. It is much more difficult to sit down and participate in ancient form of communication known as writing, hoping that some day there will be a reader who will find your blog. If I used one of the many artificial intelligence widgets to write, it would be a piece of cake, but it wouldn't be my piece of cake. It would be a shelf-stable, automated product, that you can find on the shelf with a high sugar content and no personalization.

I guess this would be a good time to just reflect on the major changes in the world since my last post:

-We elected our first felon to the office of president. We are no longer a country of the people, but of deep pockets and oligarchs--but have we ever been of the people?
-Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the world as we know it. I wonder if it will make human beings obsolete.
-The Syrian civil war just ended. It had started in 2011--the year of my last post--and ended last month as rebel forces took Damascus after a period of dormancy.
-The war in Ukraine will enter its third year in 2025. The war revealed Russia's impotence as a military superpower and saw the first deployment of North Korean troops.
-Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 2023. Yes, I realize this is a touchy subject and Hamas gave them the excuse when they attacked Israel in Oct 2023.
-I retired from the military after 22 years of service. Since 2021, I have been the Executive Director of the San Angelo PAC. Not where I expected to be, but definitely where I needed to be.
-One of my kids just graduated high school and I have two more. Soon we'll be empty nesters.
-iheartfaces closed down in 2016 after helping boost the amateur to professional photographer scene through their challenges and by offering online courses and workshops to help people hone their skills.

These are just a few of the many things that transpired over the last 13 years.

Anyhow, I reckon that I'll be posting occasionally in this space. We'll see how it goes. I may even experiement with AI to create content.

Cheers!

Hope everyone had a great 2024 and I look forward to the years ahead.

Absensce makes the heart grow fonder...

So, I've been away for a bit. This is my first post of 2011. If it is any indication, I've been busy with work and the family. We've already hit some big milestones on the Kuniyuki front. Karyn self-published her first photobook on Southeastern Arizona. One more feather to add to her list of accomplishments. The kiddos have all turned one year older. Our youngest turned 1 this month. So now we officially have a bunch of pre-schoolers. Hopefully, I will make more time for this blog as we enter the third quarter for fiscal year 2011.

All that Evil needs to triumph in this world is for the good people to Tweet...

I know it has been two months since I last blogged, I blame my new job and the convenience of Facebook to comment momentarily on life as it passes by. Any way, I was particularly disturbed today after reading an article about how people choose to tweet instead of rendering aid and stepping in when they see someone get hurt.

That's all that Evil needs, a world of tweeters, texters and youtube videographers waiting for the big score that will immortalize them in cyberspace, in the meantime the world distintergrates around us....

Geez Louise, where has all the time gone!

I can't believe the last post I made was in May. Where or where has all the time gone? I feel like breaking out in song a la Joan Baez...Well, in May I started a new job which I attibute to the lack of time spent on my blog.

I guess it is time to evolve this blog a bit to make it more interesting. But what route shall I take it? I know I dedicated it earlier to art and musings by me.

Here is a poem I wrote a while ago...

Wandering

Our hero awoke a wondering
‘bout where in life to go
And looked out to the horizon
At sunshine’s morning glow

He had dreamed of epic adventure
Of travelling to foreign lands
Years ago he’d jotted thoughts
Made grand and intricate plans

But today inspiration just hit him
And among the morning dew
Before he had a chance to doubt it
He left the home he knew

He didn’t pack at all
Just started on his way
No place in particular
But to horizons end they say

I’m sure I’ll find adventure
And with that thought in mind
He dreamed of lands he’d visit
And the adventure that he’d find

The Yellow Challenge

There is only one thing I think of when someone says yellow. While I would like it to be a Maize out at the University of Michigan, I have only one truly yellowy experience. Dust storms in Iraq.

Check it out! You probably think I switched my camera to a sepia mode. But I am proud to say there is no trickery or photoshopping at all. These yellowish orange days would last up to 96hrs, in Baghdad no less.



So this is a self-portrait taken sometime in 2008. Its not a glamor shot and I think the lens distorted the size of my nose and the shape of my head. But, this week the theme is yellow, not beauty. Pictures don't get much more yellow than this one!

Thank you for stopping by! Check out other entries at the following link!



Cheers!!

Yuki

Faces and Flowers in China

The photo challlenge this week on iheartfaces is 'faces and flowers.' And flowers reminded me of this photo I took while on a trip to Beijing with my wife. I will apologize up front for the fuzziness, as all photographers have experienced at one point or another: you see an image but do not have your digital camera handily turned on. Such was the case here. We were driving through a police checkpoint along our way to the Great Wall. In an instant, we saw this scene develop as the cab slowed. I don't think I even looked through the view finder, trusting that the 35mm would capture the moment.



I didn't edit the photo, hoping for a more documentary style image, perhaps in the vein of Henri Cartier Bresson.

Please visit the works of other photographers at the following site:



Cheers!!

Yuki

Celebrating Mom on Iheartfaces

So this week, iheartfaces is celebrating the one person that binds all of us in the web of humanity. We celebrate mothers, not just here but everywhere!

My contribution this week is one of my favorites. It was seen during the Places I Love week and thankfully can be seen again! This time I converted the image to black and white and cropped in a little closer.



I took the photo on an excursion to Chalk Ridge Falls, TX. The babe was only 10 months old.

I like the image because I believe it exemplifies motherhood.

Humbly, I also think it juxtaposes Dorothea Lange's photo "Migrant Mother." In Ms Lange's photo we see the worried despair of a mother during the Great Depression (you can view Ms Lange's work at the Library of Congress or by doing a quick Google search--Ms Lange (1895-1965) was a pioneer and inspiration for women photographers everywhere).

In my photo, we see a modern American mom filled with hope and faith, knowing that we live in a day and age where we control our own destiny and even if today is bad, tomorrow will be better.

Thank you for your indulgence!

Check out more photos at the following link!



Cheers,

Yuki