Jun 18 2013

Calm Skies, Calm Soul

No comfort nor calm comes this night,
Night skies filled with loud booms and grumbles,
Streaking flashes of harsh white bolted light,
those watching/listening filled with internal rumbles.

Wishing the storms outside and within,
would stop causing such turmoil,
The nerves are grating thin,
The human mind begins to boil.

The soul kneels and begins to pray,
Needing the skies to calm right now,
Hoping the stars will make way
Wanting peace to come somehow.

Peace cometh and calm the soul,
Calm the skies and have the clouds go,
Let the sleep goddess take control,
Let kind and cooling winds blow.

Soul grateful for answered prayer,
Skies bright with stars and the moon,
Peace comes and surrounds the soul with a layer,
Filled with sweet night sounds that begin their croon.

Calm soul; calm skies,
relaxed breathing takes over,
Human finally closing their eyes,
Falling asleep to dreams of rainbows and clover.

Hope you enjoyed the new poem tonight. More will be coming soon. Thanks for reading! Namaste, peace be with you all and Jah Bless!

Jun 15 2013

Opportunity’s Door

Opportunity’s Door

Hearing the wind blow,
watching out the window,
wondering about my fate,
what do I need to do to pass through the invisible gate.

Keep working on my goals now,
wipin’ sweat off my brow.
Wondering why assumptions ruin the day,
Ask honest questions that light up the way.

Hoping for a big ol’ chance,
something that will give a joyous dance.
Knocking out self doubt forever more,
Cuz opportunity came through the door.

Wrote this lil’ ditty today. It’s a good way of letting out what I feel. This week has been pretty damn rough for me. Trying to figure out all sorts of stuff and wondering what is the deal. Am I half glass full or half empty? Truth be told? I have been half empty. I should be saying that if this opportunity has passed, the next one will be better. Instead I have been saying, why not me? Why am I being passed up.

I have the abilities, the drive and the willingness… I am hungry for better. I know you could say, “so are many others out there.” However, as I will say… “I am not them and they are not me.”

I see myself as a late bloomer and that’s ok! I will keep pushing on doors until one opens

Jun 9 2013

New York Aftermath (It’s AWESOME)

New York… the City that truly never sleeps! Someone is awake and at work in the city. The city was poppin’ off at all hours and I was completely in awe of its rawness and beauty at the same time.

I was treated to a world class city, with streets that are gritty and flowers that are pretty. I saw an awesome chorus show performed by a lot of ladies I know and I saw their soul glow. I just… can not find the words to express what I saw. I can however, show you my friends during their aftershow glow during the cruise on “The Spirit of New York”

Check out more photos at http://instagram.com/shaggykdm and holla!

Thanks for reading! Much love, peace and cooking grease to you all!!!!

May 19 2013

Lessons from New York Day 1

It pangs my heart to say this yet, I saw it in FULL EFFECT yesterday as I made my way through Manhattan, or in particular, Times Square. It even occurred as i sipped on my drinks at the Jeckyl and Hyde Club. People and their cameras, WTF. As a photographer, I make my living behind the lens and yet I know when to put it down. I no longer shoot whatever I am eating and I am not keen on photographing people unless there is a purpose.

Yesterday, I documented a bit of NY Life while being a tourist. I photographed a Pizza Delivery person on a bicycle and people selling food from carts. I also photographed the lights and buildings of the Times Square area, however, I did NOT disrupt someone’s conversation by taking a photo of them as someone did to me and a young woman yesterday. She was in costume at her place of employment, so I understand that her job requires a bit of that, however, to disrupt another customer’s experience by photographing them as they were talking? WTF??? NO BITCH! I was VERY upset by that. I also did my best to be aware of where I was and not injure someone while trying to take a photo. I actually put my camera away and just embraced where I was. I looked with my eyes and not my lens. It was something to behold, something that connected all of my senses to where I was and what I was doing.

It makes sense now, it all makes sense. Taking photos is ok, but when all you do is take photos to make memories instead of just being, it’s not cool. Sometimes, putting the camera down and just being in the moment is a far cooler experience than having the photo. The photos help, but they don’t make the memories.

The other thing which I also found disturbing is how people constantly are on their screens. While at J&H, I saw people who were with OTHER PEOPLE at tables engaging with their screens and not each other. I found it quite disturbing because it was pointless for the other person to be there if they were not engaging in a moment. We live too much behind our screens and that does bother me. Myself and the young ladies who worked and conversed with me at J&H Club agreed on how bothersome it was.

I want face to face interaction with people. I find that more stimulating than anything. For someone to be at the table with me and constantly on their screen? Is quite disrespectful and mean. What’s the point of being together if one is not present in the moment.

Another cool thing? It was actually at the Jeckyl and Hyde club that I saw a few things. 1. Although J&H Club is a touristy/character type of thing, the simple facts that they teach moral lessons (don’t judge a book by its cover and embrace the moment with ones eyes) and 2. some science, literature, history and music lessons to those who partake in a meal at the club is a blessing. Yesterday they had the story of the Elephant man and fondly enough, it taught a lesson about seeing what a person looks like on the inside instead of seeing the outside of the person. Whether anyone else caught that? I don’t know. I brought it up to the staff and they were shocked to see that someone observed that. It made me sad to realize that other folks may have missed that lesson.

Lastly, kindness is one of the coolest things ever. Having an attitude and being bitchy just to be bitchy? YUCK! Showing a genuine interest in people can get a lot of stuff done and boy, it got stuff done yesterday. I realized that yes/no ma’am/sir, please and thank you are truly lost among the folks. I talked to people, I said yes ma’am, no sir, thank you, please, sorry and excuse me. I think it shocked some people and if it did… that scares me. To think that manners have gone along with the idea of embracing the moment? It truly scares and saddens me.

I say… let’s bring those things of kindness, manners and embracing the moment into the forefront. Let’s just BE and put away our cameras just for a moment so we can truly observe what is going on! Let us be joyous and kind to each other and maybe, just maybe, the world may find some peace.

I thank you for reading this and I wish peaceful blessings unto you all! Namaste and Jah Bless!!!

May 13 2013

Interpersonal and being…

Today, I realized something very large and actually, the part of an answer to a question on my exams. The question pertained to the lack of interpersonal skills in today’s society and my initial answer was just that computer mediated communication and lack of teaching were the main culprits. However, as I looked and listened to silence, I realized that it is deeper than that.

The lack of skills comes from a lot of things, things such as environment, lack of teaching, computer mediated communication, laziness and at the same time, fast paced life. When I look at environment, I look at the fact that now, people no longer go out and really get to know their neighbors. Even in small town America, we don’t go and talk to our neighbors. We don’t go and interact and through that interaction, learn the delicate balance of things that make up interpersonal communication.

This is a part of the fast paced life which is a part of the environment circle. What I mean is… we are all busy trying to keep up with the Joneses, but we don’t take the time to get to know the Joneses because we only look at what is visible. If we took the time to get to know the Jones, we’d develop our interpersonal skills and maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t be so damn busy trying to keep up with them.

The laziness comes from a microwave mentality. People don’t work at things anymore. There is a tendency now to want to believe that it comes right away. Whether it is truly a microwave mentality or a complacency in order to keep the status quo, I don’t know. To have skills means you have to have worked at it and to keep them, you have to keep working. People are becoming lazy/complacent in their interpersonal skills. This does cause me to have another question though… is this laziness also out of a commonly held false idea that people have these skills naturally? AKA the “people person” idea? Don’t get me wrong, extroverts are able to converse easily with others, but does it come from a mix of things? A mix of practice and nature? Who knows.

The computer mediated communication thing? Well, that plays into a few things. It is instantaneous and also plays into our environment. People can live in the same small town and instead of getting together for coffee or something, they simply just Facebook or text. Both Facebook and Text lead to a tendency to lead to the false idea that there is a safety net of something.

Most want to believe anonymity but if you think about it, that is far from the truth. People put so much of their business out on Facebook without thinking of the consequences. Now though, for some, that placement of business is biting them in the ass. People are losing jobs, friends and family over what they say. Employers outright ask for FB information now (I saw it on a few job applications) and so… it’s no longer safe. Those same interpersonal skills for face to face may now be needed for social networks online.

The human interaction and interpersonal skill building may also be a contributing factor to why I like living in smaller communities. Slower living and placed into a situation where interaction face to face is necessary, helps with a lot of things.

Hmm… I guess even as a techie, I still believe in old fashioned human interaction. I still believe in sitting down with people over a cup of coffee or tea and have conversations over a multitude of subjects. I can only hope that I find more folks who want the same.

Thanks for reading! Peace, love and cooking grease!

Apr 27 2013

The Journey for “The ?s 4 Us” and “The Kalish”

So… tonight I thought I would write about something that for me is REALLY important. It’s funny how things are going. I’ve had my first donation already! Thank you Carl Watts for that! Carl is getting his book soon! Now I really want you all to check this out. I’m working my butt off to get there by working whatever I can, but I would really love for you all to have a hands on approach with this. You can be hands on by checking out http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-and-the-kalish/x/1170885, finding something you like and then going for it! Grab a book, a lunch or even a new book when it comes out! Just whatever you all feel like!

In short? This is about being the best photographer and poet out there. The Kalish is a visual editing workshop that happens in June and I would love to be there. The journey for “The ?s 4 Us” is a really awesome tour! Come on and join me

Check out…

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-and-the-kalish/x/1170885

To find out more about “The ?s 4 Us” go to http://kdmsevolvingworld.com/the-s-4-us-a-collection-of-poetry/

The Kalish is at http://www.kalishworkshop.org/index.html

Apr 22 2013

Photojournalism Responsibility and Respect.

That was the exchange between myself and an upset relative about a photo of an event that I covered over the week. The relative is upset about an image that I (and the event organizer posted) to show our coverage of the event. My rebuttal to the relative’s argument is as civil as it can be considering how I am.

Abuse for situations like this or what is deemed as “volatile” is not uncommon. There are many instances such as…

(images from MediaBistro and NY Daily News)

Mind you, the three situations above are FAR worse than my situation, still though, respect and responsibility are necessary.

Respect from both sides and an understanding that the responsibility of the photojournalist is to tell the story of an event through visuals. Sometimes, these visuals are disturbing and yet are taken because they tell the story. Sometimes, others believe the images offensive because of the light that is cast. Sometimes the visuals uncover information that others don’t want told and folks do what they can to suppress the images which includes abuse. Regardless, the story will be told and folks need to brace themselves on both sides.

As a photojournalist, I understand that there will be days where abuse of this nature will be dished out at myself or whoever the client/employer utilizing the image (still/video) is. However, I want to be clear in that when we get our visuals, we are doing our jobs.

I have to admit, I do have some disdain for those who do it in questionable/unethical manners (some of the stalkerazzi/paparazzi for instance) but in general we do our best to capture the story in the most ethical/respectful way possible.

With that being said, remember it is a two-way street. Photogs respect the subject and indirect subjects and subject (and indirect subject aka friends, family, enemies or whatever) respect the photog. We are just doing our jobs!

P.s I realize that posting on Facebook is another can of worms. We’ll save that for another day

Apr 21 2013

What the Funk is "The ?s 4 Us"

Reblogged from World Evolution in KDM's View:

The Photographer Poet!

Most folks just see the photographer, video editor and blogger. They don't ever see the poet. However, the poet is a part of me. It is a lesser known part and frankly, I want the poet to get some light now.

Over the years, I've written more poems than I can remember. I have notebooks, journals, napkins (YES, NAPKINS!) and scraps of paper kept in boxes with lines, uncompleted and completed poems scribbled all over them.

An Explosive Week

The word explosive, its’ plural explosives and it’s verb explosion have been used a lot this week. We’ve heard the words bomb, bombers, terrorist and all sorts all week too.

To a certain extent, we have become paralyzed and paranoid by these words and where they stem from.

This week we’ve had the range of…

Some assholes detonated explosives at the Boston Marathon to A fertilizer Factory explodes near Waco, TX. That’s just what the media tells us. Sadly, I could add in the fact that many more explosives went off in the world from various things, people died in all instances.

I sit here, madder than hell though. We’ve been so busy trying to get justice for the people who were injured or killed in Boston we’ve become fixated on it. My twitter feed reads like a paranoia overload from some film.

Don’t get me wrong, I want justice for the folks in Boston, I do. I just question the cost of it. I question how much fear and paranoia is going to dictate how we get said justice? How much hate is going to be bred from this? It’s happening already! How much is this going to blind us to what else is going on?

Let’s take care of the town in Texas that has been decimated by the factory explosion. More people have died and/or been injured in the Texas factory than in the Boston bombing. To me, all of it is sickening and saddening.

Let’s help those overseas who have been hurt by bombings.

Here’s the deal, I don’t like seeing people being hurt or killed. I know it is a part of every day life. In one of my occupations, I see it too often… raw video of someone who has been seriously injured or they are dead. It gets to be too much sometimes.

Things like bombings? They bring out the worst in people. People become afraid and paranoid because of one or a few assholes actions. Then the people who become afraid/paranoid end up acting stupid because of the “it’s not just that one or few, they are “ALL” out to get “US” and/or “I better kill them before they kill me.” Either way, it’s stupid shit.

As for all of the reporting about Boston?? It’s disconcerting and angering. All of the retweets and shit about information that comes from “sources” that ends up not being right? All of the misinformation is going to get someone injured or killed. That’s happened in L.A. already with that ex-cop dude.

So, instead of the constant cramming down my throat of the issues in Boston, I think, I am going to do what I can to help people in general and… find some good music. To help the folks in Texas and overseas? I better send to the Red Cross!

You all take care and see you soon! Much love, Namaste and Jah Bless. I leave you with images and a song of peace.

from the man himself! John Lennon!

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The Photographer Poet!

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