CONTEMPORARY EXPLORER

The year passed slowly, filled with too many memories and sadness. Left alone in our home, the blahs of the suburbs weighed on me, something I felt long before finding myself alone. 
I decided to move into the heart of the city. Gleaming hi rise apartments awaited, nestled with eateries, bars, a gym and the largest mall in the city. I would make use of them all. Well, the gym part only lasted a month. Walks in the mall, especially in the cold months became my exercise.
The mall huge and warm, offering the glitter of bright storefronts and buzz of people watching, much needed by my spirit. Life began clicking back into my soul. Sprinkled around the mall were comfortable seats. Even in the poorer store sections of the mall, the seats were plush. I made use of them all, respites from my supposed mall exercise program.
I found myself picking subjects to watch. One day it would be how people walked, another what they were wearing, how people looked, how many were talking on their cell phones,…

Clubsters are always waiting for the next party, dance and most of all romance. That can mean anything from love to lust and all the mischief in between. If there is not a party nothing is happening, just waiting. 
Some our romantics, some just there for drink and song, some with plans, some left at home or alone with thought and some are always gamers.

Clubsters they are one and all…



Music "No Secret" by Bill Shostak

No Secret Exzel Music Publishing (freemusicpublicdomain.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Between projects, you can feel like you are walking through the mundane of life. In that wandering, you see random sightings of images that catch you eye and intrigue your searching mind. Most are part of everyday life, some delight and some not. All are welcome breaks from what can seem like sameness everywhere.
You think about new projects and art with these images. Many though just remain buried in your photo library. They never all quite fit together, remaining like a large folded blanket where the edges are never perfect. 
Still they can be enjoyed for what they are, just the random sightings.

David Young

It almost seems like you’re breaking a business commandment if you don’t have a business plan for success ready on January 1. One that propels you into the marketplace to gain new revenue, clients and contacts. There are reasons, though, not to complete your plan until deep into January.
The January marketplace is crowded with super bowl type efforts springing from already prepared business plans. These hurricane efforts often exhaust themselves with early setbacks and competition. You can leap frog all this by taking a different tact. 
Instead of having a plan cast in stone, you can take January to strengthen business ties, observe market trends and learn from the mistakes of others. With that knowledge you can formalize a more successful plan in January for the year. 
A good place to start is to use January to make contact with your existing clients, suppliers, strategic partners and experts in your business segment. Their focus will have moved from wrapping up last year to the promise…

“Little Stores are like some people, advertising much in hope of attracting love. Someone will wander in not looking to buy just anything. And then there, hiding, the wanderer will find a treasure. The store and wanderer richer because of it.”  - Brenda Little
Convenience stores are as Americana as you can get. Bright gaudy places advertising almost everything. You usually go there for something specific, but often walk out with much more. They seldom disappoint. 
Small stores are big business, with sales growing for 16 straight years. Last year sales surged 8.9% to 634.3 billion. This is despite their small size, averaging 3,230 sq. Ft. They employ an astounding 2.36 million people. Food service now accounts for 22.6% of non fuel sales eclipsing beverage sales of 15.2% and candy 10.4%. 
Unlike much of our society, they offer immediate satisfaction. 83% of items sold are consumed within one hour of leaving the store. Satisfaction indeed for a wandering soul…

David Young

There is so much sameness in life. One mall looks like another, suburbs sprout everywhere and are ditto to each other. People, though, remain unique, individual to the one, each carrying their own world within. One way to celebrate people is with a camera in hand. Not any camera, but one with a QUIET SHUTTER, giving you that extra fraction of a second to capture people as they are before they notice you. The tapestry of life unfolds in front of you, giving art to the everyday of life.


Over time, the challenges of photographing people have increased. Privacy, personal space and even fear of others have contributed to this. If you approach people carefully you can get marvelous poised shots of them, some dramatic. Often though, catching them going about their normal lives reveals more. Great cameras with quiet shutters include the Ricoh GR or Fuji Film X100T series. Both small in size and easy to get great shots with. So too is your smart phone if you set the mode silent. 

The right camer…