CONTEMPORARY EXPLORER

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 las

“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… Dav

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. 

Rain fell gently on the pavement as commuters sped sped by, not really noticing the faded buildings on this doorstep to the city. An old red clad five story bore the sign Royal Hotel, its windows small and uninviting, nothing more than a flop house. Just to the east the bright lights of china town and to the west the tall buildings of Vancouver’s profit. The blocks around the Royal, left as is, uncared for and unloved by anyone. Paul a wheel chair bound man managed the Royal. Rent was by the week or month. Most tenants were forgotten souls, minimum wage workers, disability pensioners, drinkers and newly landed immigrants. They immigrants would be quickly gone, the rest stayed. Paul kept a lid on everything, collected the rent and handled any trouble. He had a small room behind the front desk where he lived. The owner far away in Toronto.  Paul always dressed neatly, wearing a sweater or gray sports coat. He possessed a bearing, in part because of his large size,

The South is crisscrossed by many roads. Ones that join major cities, small towns and a thousand places without a name. Some don’t go anywhere, just joining two other roads that do. It makes up part of the charm of this region. You car like your favorite pet wanting to be taken for a walk, to get off the freeway, to explore the small roads. Once in a while you happen upon a road that speaks of history or endeavors of the past. Such is Clarence Secret Road in North Carolina. You would pass it by a hundred times before finally being pulled in by its beauty and charm. The remains of crops coloring the fields, buildings barely standing, each board telling a story in their own language, forgotten with time.  Endeavors of man were here, big shows at one time. Crop silos, construction trucks, weigh stations. All standing alone now in untended fields with broken fences. You left to imagine the lives once here. David Young

“Collage is the noble conquest of the irrational….”  Max Ernst It seems we are always trying to piece different parts of news and life together these days. Sometimes you just need a break. One of my enjoyments is collecting small artful items, old envelopes, scraps of paper, shipping labels, parts of photographs and art that has just the right image in it. When the world at large seems to overwhelm, I retreat to making what I call “Minute Collages.” Collages by definition are simply a combination of different things brought together by how well they look together. Doing these little art works is almost like creating your own world. Some have meaning and others do not beyond their visual impact. The beauty is that you can move the pieces around until they fit. Some are driven by the image you want to create, others just speak their own image as you work with them.  All you need is a pair of scissors, a decent backdrop to start with, a little glue and your imaginatio

I highly recommend Paul Theroux’s new book on his Mexico travels entitled “On The Plain of Snakes.” Beyond his rich description of Mexico with all its problems and blessings, the book brings forth important thoughts for anyone in the autumn or winter of their careers. Theroux now in his late seventies waxes and wains about the importance of putting your stamp on this phase in life. He talks about deciding on the Mexico road trip. How it might be his last adventure. His car was old and he (because of age) had to be tested every two years for eye sight to retain his license. Theroux did not know how long his car would last or he would be able to drive. One passage especially calls out from the book.  Theroux writes, “In the casual opinion of most Americans, I am an old man, and therefor of little account, past my best, fading in a pathetic diminuendo while flashing his AARP card; like the old in America generally, either invisible or someone to ignore rather than respect, who

Sometimes in business it’s good to take a pause and reflect.  The push for conquest and results is so strong that we can forget what the real purpose of our efforts were in the the first place. This can be doubly true when numerous parts and people are involved. Ones that are beyond our control. They only add to the potential of getting lost in the process. Call this time out meditation if you want, but some of those teachings can yield surprising results in business. Both in meditation and religion, you are urged to state your good intentions after you pray or reach a calm. This is a great time to revisit how your efforts are going to help the client, the company and everyone involved. If you can’t find those reasons, maybe all the efforts should be abandoned and a better project found. Most endeavors have the potential for good. Revisiting that good refocuses you. It also can help you find the methods and words to unfreeze those elements out of your control. Passion natu

If you're ready to take your songs out of the shower and onto the stage for success, here are a few thoughts. We all have experienced the STAR performers in life. Those that can belt out a song on stage, hit the home run, play a lead part or consistently bring home big accounts. You marvel at how they seem to get beyond themselves to perform at an elevated level. Unfazed by the normal inhibitions that affect us all. In business these star performers are called by various nicknames: Elephant Hunters, Brag Book Holders, Rhino Chasers, The Land and Expand Force, Whale Boaters, Big Dog People, Game Changers, Alpha People or Bright Stars. An athlete or stage performer has the luxury of practice time. Time when you can hone your skills or talent through repetition until it becomes second nature. That practice pushes you beyond your inhibitions. The rest of us operate in real time. In todays fast electric speed world, there is little time for practice. If you are going to be

Painting has never been easy for me. So many different techniques, skills, colors and materials. This is not to mention the subject of what to paint in the first place or the style of you want to pursue. Still with all these things said, I love it when I have brush in hand and paint on a canvas. It completely absorbs me. The rest of the world is shut off for a while as colors blend and images emerge. I have painted now for several years. No real masterpieces have emerged, but the efforts have brought many rewards of satisfaction.  So many things in life don’t yield a finished product or results. So much in the world seems to hold such a high standard. You ask yourself why even try and do something? The work you do, the art you try and your accomplishments stand against all that. Results good and not so good, but always something you can hold in your hands and say I did it. Reason enough to clean your brushes and try again. As with all endeavors, it’s good to pau

Often overlooked is one of the most important business tools for success, forgiving yourself. There are times when you make mistakes, bad decisions, underperform or hurt others. These failures are a normal part of life and striving to be successful.  In business, the repercussions of failures are swift. Clients are lost, partnerships broken, careers hurt and prestige damaged. If you allow them, they can pile up like wrecked cars in your mind. They affect your performance moving forward and can haunt you far after you retire.  It’s important to learn the art of forgiving yourself. Doing so, frees you to move forward and build new bridges for success. How to forgive yourself is a learned skill. There is much that has been written about this. Here are some of those suggestions together with my thoughts.  Clear the Debris:   Peel away the circumstances, other people involved and emotions from the event. Realize that in the end analysis, the failure was yours. Ironically,

Business Parks are lonely places where work is forced out during the week. They are away from the city, a world unto themselves leaving little room for the mind to wander anyplace but the business of profit. On weekends they take on an eerie quiet. An enigmatic blend of aloneness and peace. The empty company event tent, the left over tools of business and the wandering person reflecting on all of it.

For a time, I helped artists sell their work and had a studio in the Georgetown section of Seattle. There I learned much about both art and business. One of my favorite clients, a painter, seemed to effortlessly turn urban landscapes into bold abstract paintings. Ones that restaurants and hotels sought for decor.  I marveled at how he could produce his works, asking myself if artists simply see things differently. Through discussions with him and research, I found that they do. A talent with important applications in both the art and business world.  Artists either have a natural or learned ability in abstract thinking and composition. Where we see a city scape, they see objects and shapes. Ones they can move around using color theory, composition and other techniques to create art. Their final work always bringing the best elements together. My painter went a step further. He added a quiet space in the painting for the eye to rest. It separated his art from the bo

I grabbed the dog and walked down to the corner market. The shagginess and unruly nature of my dog remind me of my youth. No one would want him or me then. The morning air  freshened as I sat in front of the market with coffee and paper. https://anchor.fm/david-young7/episodes/ANNE-FARMER-e557dl I grabbed the dog and walked down to the corner market. The shagginess and unruly nature of my dog remind me of my youth. No one would want him or me then. The morning air freshened as I sat in front of the market with coffee and paper. A small article on the entertainment page caught my eye, “Jack Ely Dies.” The article went on, “Ely famous for singing Louie Louie…” Our old high school song, I thought. It was sung at every football game and dance. The memory threw me back to those times. Awkward and an outcast, they were long years for me.  A small article on the entertainment page caught my eye, “Jack Ely Dies.” The article went on, “Ely famous for singing  Louie Louie …” Our o

Li Qiang rolled out the dolly with the cartons of product and started restocking the shelves. He thought to himself about this special day. After ten years of work, he would make the final payment on the market to the former owner. With the market paid for, he could start saving for the education of his young children. At least one doctor or lawyer, he thought. The immigrant way, he would work hard. The success of family the reward. There were, however, concerning events on the horizon. Li tried not to think about them as he continued to stock the shelves. Li thought back to how he became owner of Mighty Midget Market. The area was the only place Li could afford to live when he came to the USA. A backwater corner of the city, poor as dirt, the only scenery the freeway. He went for the first “Help Wanted” sign he found, a run down Seven-Eleven. Chet the long-time owner was skeptical at first. Li didn’t speak much English, but he blurted out “Li Qiang means very strong in Ch