i have managed to convince many people over the years that i am a photographer….but actually, truth be told, i am more of a "born again" beach bum…i mostly grew up (figuratively speaking) at the beach….my darkroom was set up in a back room of the family garage, but i often succumbed to the vagaries of being the luckiest kid in the world to live at the beach….body surfing every frisbee throwing summer day at 14, finally gave way to selling plastic viewer pictures to sunburned tourists on the beach at 19, to help pay for college, but mostly for the primary and primal purpose of meeting girls….
on sunday i will travel to the beach….i will go alone and to a beach i have never been….i have no friends in this new land….my first trip to a "new island" of blue water and palm trees , just seems like the right thing to do …it is cold and windy in New York… i also need my own space for a few days…for the last two months i have either been teaching workshops or otherwise engaged in group activities…with almost no time alone… i have a very nice room in a very nice apartment as a guest of two very good friends…two friends whose hospitality knows no bounds, but two friends who are married and would, i am sure, like to have some "space" of their own….
besides, i need a little vacation anyway….last week i sold my apartment in Washington (national capital) which i had owned for almost 20 years….i have no idea where i will reinvest…..so, i literally have no ties, no home, no material attachments of any kind, and am burning burning to get out and photograph on my new project…i am so so psyched for what i see as perhaps the most important essay of my life…..but i must wait until the first week of april to get going….so now i will just sit on the beach, collect my breath, meditate on the upcoming work, mull over the idea i have for YOU, catch up on some reading, think things over, or maybe not think at all….create a "calm" before i create the "creative storm"….
we are all "wired" so differently…we all use different methods to clear our heads before lunging into the fray…i seem to get the most energy going when i pare things down to what may seem to others like "nothing"…..which is , in a Zen way, "everything"….i felt just like this way back in 1989 when i "caught on fire" for what eventually was to become the work in Divided Soul ..ironically, i was "homeless" (divorced) then too, and literally sleeping on an office floor at National Geographic….but, this seminal work led to becoming a Magnum nominee by 1993….so, i know THE FEELING.. "the feeling" gets me out of bed in the morning with the "juices" flowing KNOWING i am "on to something"….now is such a time….
so, my question to you is, do you KNOW "avant" when you are about to "launch" or is it a pleasant SURPRISE when you see the "result" of something you have just "done" ??
Ciao David! I am too tired to answer to your philosophical question now (it is 430 in Italy) but i am glad i can be the firts to write here… usually when i came to your blog i find something like 300 posts of discussions and so is too long to follow up ;-) Good night and good trip to Santo Domingo!!! You are so lucky to travel so mutch… actually you don’t really need a house ;-) in one think less to worry about… isn’t it?
Ciaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Albertina
David…
Until recently, if something worked out, it was a “pleasant surprise.” For the first time, though, I feel I’m about to do something “special.” I pitched it, the magazine editor liked the idea and we’re going for it! Will be published in the Fall. Small story but good, important…I think.
Thanks–for the thousandth time–for your inspiration…guidance.
-M
Strangely enough, as often as not, it is revealed to me in a dream some time ahead… then I may forget about it consciously, but then I may find myself in the middle of something new and fraught with meaning, and there’s a moment that comes when I remember at least part of the dream…Whoa, this looks familiar!
But it doesn’t happen that way all the time and I have little or no control over it… it’s just something I started noticing many decades back. Now my mother, long dead, purportedly had what is known as ‘second sight’ in Celtic circles (Scottish and French Huguenot background)… bothered her throughout life because she knew many bas things ahead of time as well as good, and never talked about it.. it was somehow linked to a life of fragile health, often sick, in and out of treatments… cause or effect?
So, is it a foretaste of destiny, or do our subconscious minds create these scripts and then work to bring them about? There’s more in Heaven and Earth than is ‘dreamt of’ in any of our philosophies, Horatio…
Hope you really enjoy your beach holiday and can get way, way, way off from the business and busy-ness of the human anthill. Soak up some sun for me, I’m down with a cold, and will be chained to a computer for at least the next two weeks.
Vaya con Dios, mi hombre!
Sidney
Hey David
Your question got me wondering. Are you taking this trip
to ‘find’ the spark to fuel the fire for your upcoming project
or are is the spark already there and you’re stepping out of the
fray to crystallize your ideas?
BTW,what is your upcoming project or is the concept
still under wraps.
Best,
Mark
ALBERTINA…
so nice to hear from you…i am still remembering us freezing to death in India, but having so much fun…i look forward to seeing your new work…
MICHAEL…
hey amigo, congratulations…let us have a look when you are finished….
SIDNEY…
well, since you are “chained to your computer” anyway, keep the home fires burning here with your prose….
probably we have it worked out in our subconscious, then we “realize” it in a “dream” or “vision”…..but, who knows???
MARK…
the fire was lit several weeks ago….flames leaping high…this is just a “deep breath” before i get going….project under wraps but i will “come out” within the next post or two….
cheers, david
David–
Will do.
(Oh, wait…shit…now I’m really beginning to feel the pressure!) Heh-heh.
Look forward to the online ‘coming out’ party!
As for your question,I don’t view myself as a pre-visualizer
kind of photographer. I find my successes,modest though
they are, more attributable to a nose to the grindstone
working style.
As the saying goes,”The harder you work,the luckier you get”.
Mark
David,
You are a wise man. It is important not to forget your inner piece.
Think of the ‘no place to live’ as a liberty. Many buddhists would envy your minimum of materialistic posessions.
Well…your slide boxes don’t count;))
Travelling is my job. I fly across the world without time to spend at the destinations. When the moment is there that I get time to stay at a place, become one with the people I totally get ‘the feeling’. Photographing people gives me so much energy and the experience makes me feel truly alive. It is the EXPERIENCE of photographing which is something special, the outcome comes later when the editing starts. But when the experience is special, the results are special. I also do feel always a bit wired though to get it! the challenge… doing my best and pushing harder to do better, aslo not being afraid of making mistakes and learning from it.
I was just looking at ‘Divided Soul’ again and wondering if you will use slides for your newest adventure. The ‘look’ of that book really rocks David.
Ok ‘photobuddha’,gotta run…
MARK
“As the saying goes,”The harder you work,the luckier you get”.
AGREE;))
Best, Edward
To answer at your question, I usualy know before have seen it done if my work will be special or not. To persuade the others is another problem…
Jean-Sébastien
Hey David–
I haven’t really been at this long enough to trust my feelings about the things I’m doing and the directions I’m going in, so I can’t speak directly, though I know from earlier artistic pursuits that the first piece of inspiration always comes quckly and easily, and usually produces some of the best and most inspired work…then there is a period involving banging my head against a wall and then stopping long enough to keep from killing myself, which usually yields some kind of inspiration, at least until I suffer so much cerebral damage that the process no longer works and I need to find another strategy.
I find I often get “cold feet” before jumping in to something, and yet sometimes my reservations are justified and I would have saved myself a lot of anguish if I’d just have listened to myself. I’ve been having trouble of late distinguishing between good instincts and bad insticts, if that makes any sense.
Right now I’m going through a fair bit of confusion in terms of the road ahead, and unfortunately things like the “fire” and the “feeling” are more like a candle in the wind, faint and flickering and in danger of getting snuffed out. I know the fire is there and there are enough memories and hopes to know that the feeling will return, and more than anything I have confidence that I can do the work and do it well (having gotten a sense of the “thing” that you pushed me into getting) , but there’s just too much flotsam and jetsam (career questions, life issues, illness, etc) that keep me swimming against the current. I have a very strong feeling that I need to make some big, bold steps, but right now I’m still stuck on “this side” of it all, and having a hard time getting to the other side, and uncertain of the steps I need to take to get there. There’s an almost panicky feeling that I may get stuck in some kind of mire, which leads to rash decisions, flailing attempts to do something or anything to break free, but result only in exhaustion and exasperation.
I know you’ve probably been in similar states. How do you deal with the “fog” of not being able to see your way clearly to the other side? Or do you ever really feel like you’ve gotten there? How do you continue to “jump-start” yourself?
David… sounds not just exciting, but exhilarating. I have known “the feeling”, or my version of it. I really want to thank you not just for your sheer effort in creating this, but for your energy, which is contagious and buoyant (must have been the body surfing which seems like good buoyancy practice)…
I never know when (or if) I will do something special, but I am a big believer in great leaps… instant inertia, trajectory, movement. It’s always good… I wonder if you see your next project as a “leap”, or as a natural progression of your work?
I printed and posted some photos of the parade I mentioned the other day… didn’t “nail it”, but maybe something…
Chris… I just want to acknowledge your post above. Not that you know me, but I went to your site… whatever your situation, you make great pictures. Keep the fire going.
Good post man. Just what I’ve been thinking about. For so long I was unconscious of such happenings in my life. Muted by the fact my work was never personal to me.
Two weeks ago I quit my job at The Sacramento Bee in Northern California, sold most every single thing I own and I picked up and moved to Vietnam. This is my first week here. And now that the fear has subsided, it has been replaced with a newly found confidence and passion.
This will surely be the start of an epic personal journey for me.
While such huge steps are not required of every one, I feel that it is so important to step outside of your comfort zone every once and a while. Look to see if that is where you truly belong. If you desire more then take the chance and reach for it.
Looking forward to the new work you come up with. Thanks for sharing, as always.
O! How jealous I’m of your palm beach David!
How I need palm beach…
It could be mental beach not real even… some space…
Maybe you remember I try have my own “mental beach” a few days ago… few days for my self… damn… but I will try againe…
joy your “self time” David!
and aswer for your question…
When I started working at my “trans” project I was sure I will made something specjal, but it was before “normal 8h 5/7″ job… now everything moved very slowly… I have to decline some meetings even. But I am still sure… it will be something specjal!!… or will be comletly nothing…
and as I say always… I walk but I need run…
so my “something specjal” is somewhere before me… so
Appoint course! Sails up! Do you hear wind?! I hear it! I hear it!
hmmmmm… it was breeze…
Kevin… wow! major, beautiful leap! What prompted you and how did you make the decision to move from California to Vietnam???
You know. It’s late and I’m tired but… You know.
Uncle Dave ,
You must be reading my mind!I’ve just had the computer version of what happened to you at the Kibbutz – nothing that wasnt backed up to disc or a hard drive was lost courtesy of a lightning strike while I was away- so I get to revisit my pictures again – drag them off discs – burrow into Hard drives , start scanning all over again – but this has turned out to be a blessing in disguise -I’m going through my personal work and finding that over the last couple of years the happy accidents are starting to become more and more frequent and there’s the beginning of a body of work there that has something to do with how I see things and not just for the job,maybe it’s time I took a deep breath?
KEVIN – welcome to the tropics – great work on your web site!
Oh! That smells like freedom!! So just close your eyes and breathe it. It really feels good….
Just yesterday I had “the same” feeling. Needed some peace, some calm and solitude to enjoy the sun by my own. So I got a book and spent some hours doing nothing but reading and looking around (something that I didn’t do for months!). Then I went back home and started filling my heart with new will and energy. Maybe I’m in the start of something new and hope I come back with better photos than before. Yes, in response to your answer, I always feel it before it commes ;-)
Enjoy your time alone and get as much energy as you can!! We all are looking forward to getting “infected” with your enthusiasm :D
Peace!
I also know THE FEELING David. Although it jut remain like that , ” a feeling”. It doesnt actually materialize but I can even taste it with such a force I fall for it everytime . So in my case its all a SURPRISE which is good I supose.
I wonder if you will be able to relax in Santo Domingo. Are you leaving your cameras in this trip?
I’m with Chris in that fog, though for me its more of a blizzard- can’t see where I’m going can’t see where I’ve been just stumbling along on a compass bearing. Sometimes I get a view of something but then more wind.
I try not to look ahead to far as I always prefer surprises to disappointment.
David are you planning a big “Travels with Charlie” thing? I’d love to see you do something similar with a camera. Enjoy your beech
CHRIS BICKFORD…
sure, i have times like you describe…there are many more of those than the ones of “enlightenment”…
when times are full of the “flotsam and jetsam” you just have to focus like hell…i do not write about all of the little things often big things that get “in the way” everyday in my life just as in anyone else’s…who among us really has a “clean slate”???
whatever you do, do not panic….do not “freeze up”….just knock off all of the things that need to get done…the boring stuff…deal with the flotsam and jetsam as best you can….your “best idea” is somehow right in front of you…once you have your “best idea”, dealing with the other stuff will become easier….
your are a fine photographer Chris…if you nail down an idea, just do it…it may involve “jumping off a cliff”…i do not know your circumstances…
but, listen, i am coming down to obx soon to see my son Bryan..why don’t we get together down there???? your schedule???
did you see Kevin’s post above??
ANA…
so sorry i missed you guys in Valencia…one of my big frustrations is that i just cannot be EVERYWHERE…pretty basic and obvious, but editing time is just as hard as editing pictures….i do hope to see you soonest…maybe in late april…
GLENN…
there is no way i could read YOUR mind, but i think all photogs have got a lot of the same stuff in their head at all times!!!
if you get just a little whiff of an idea, go for it…there is a really fine balance between not thinking at all and thinking too much…
yes, deep breath….between stubbies!!!
KEVIN…
great to hear from you amigo!!! wow, the big jump…good for you….i already like the work i have seen from you from Vietnam…you are focused, you are talented….you are on course…on it!!!
it is a “given” we will meet again…in the meantime, fly , fly , fly ….
MARCIN…
yes, i feel the wind….and you do make an interesting point…just because you feel you are “on to something” does not mean you are actually “on to something”…it could be disaster…but, so what???
you know the old adage..maybe Shakespeare..
“IT IS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST, THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL”
peace, hugs ..david
ALEX…
i never leave my cameras…i take my camera to the dentist!!!
HARRY…
Steinbeck, Least Heat Moon, Kerouac, Frank, Pirsig, Thompson etc etc are all on my mind…of course, i must do something different….deep deep breath!!!!
cheers, david
I am so very jealous. Not only that you are going to a place with sand and surf, but that you are “on to something”.
I need both very badly right now.
-Bruce
That is what I though David.
Have you ever forced yourself to leave your cameras ?
Did it work? or did you feel anxious? Or like we say “como cucaracha con Baygon” (like a cockroach with Insecticide)
david,
i like to think allot about new idea’s and new work and how i would lik it o be seen and viewed etc etc but i try not to think too to much otherwise i find my mind starts to take me in a different direction… i think the best thing and i am sure you can agree is looking at the work after your shooting it… seeing where it is leading and focus where you think it is most important and work your way out from that.
having an idea of what you want to look at after seeing the work that produces this i think is my main method… see the direction i am going in and focus on the most important things.
otherwise i think too much about things and i just have way to many thoughts running at once… so i guess i try to get a main idea… keep it simple… general… and shoot and see what i have and work from there.
The British writer and Poet, Laurie Lee, once talked of the freedom of travel without any ties with a phrase I love:
“Never before have I felt so fat with time, so free of the need to be moving or doing.”
I envy you your trip Mr Harvey because it sounds like one of those where directions can be chosen at whim, where stops are unplanned, accidents of chance and created by encounters you cannot even dream of, and all the better for it if you ask me; and you have time, acres, miles and eons of time to really explore where you are or where you are going.
I know too that setting out into the unknown can need a moment, a breathing space as you say to take that first step on the road.
So enjoy your well earned rest from work and keeping up with this forum which is hard work reading let alone replying to and Bon Voyage!
Needless to say we are all looking forward to the photos, I`m sure they will be great.
Damon
DAVID
I am very happy for your deep breath..and for the fires that are burning strongly within. It’s fantastic to have the opportunity to clear the palate before tasting the nectar..it makes it that much sweeter and discernible.
I am soon finishing up a project that I have been on for the last 40 days, and it feels good and right, closer to actualizing my intentions than before – I know in my heart when I am to do something, that adrenaline push is also there. But in a sense for me, each bit feels like just a baby step, rather than a launch.
Sorry to have missed you this spell..can you give a head’s up when you are back in these parts, or perhaps we could talk on the phone or dialogue via email for the ‘review’ and so I can get a few questions out and show you the new work..
Just thinking now about PJG’s words about him being a mud person, not a sand person..guess you are a sand person extraordinaire. Enjoy it…
man, you are free, and i can’t wait to see the new work in a few years down the line or whenever, because i know it will have an influence on my life, as your past work has. you are an inspiration.
i wish i could answer your question but i don’t feel i’m experienced enough to do so, but i think you know ‘avant’ when it’s happening, when you’re on to something special.
good luck!
Do I know beforehand if something I just shot really works? No. I see it later and say, damn, that looks like I know what I’m doing. Then I look at the other pics and I know I just got lucky with that one. I think this may be because I am a stick in the mud person.
¡Ándate por la sombra, David!
“finally gave way to selling plastic viewer pictures to sunburned tourists on the beach at 19, to help pay for college, but mostly for the primary and primal purpose of meeting girls….”
This bit reminded me of today. I decided to give a walk around the beach to snap some shots (kids buried up to the neck, men sleeping with ferrari hats on their faces, couples, etc.) and at one point I was chasing these girls that were jumping against the very large waves (extremely windy). They stopped before I had time to get into the sea so I had to ask them if they tried again because I was shooting with a 28mm. They happened to be these two gorgeous Swedish girls that were happy that I had chosen them, so I spent most of the time looking down to the sand. Hah. At some point in my life I have to learn to talk to pretty girls.
On another note, almost everything that I have planned shooting in mid term involves road trips and travelling. I feel I’ve been too long in Cardiff and once I finish my attachments with the place I want to get on the road and in touch with people. There are series of raves in August all around the continent that I planned following with a mate. It would be a pretty pan-european trip as we both are absolute bumming mongrel shooters. Now the main problem is buying a second hand car :oP
david, thanks for the advice. Focus is definitely the key, I think. At least for now. I’m out of town right now but will be back soon. I’ll email you my schedule. I’d love to get up with you when you come to the obx. Have a great time soaking up the sun!
mike, thanks for the kind words. and kevin g, rock on buddy. I look forward to checking out your new work.
Ana Y, I enjoyed browsing through your blog. Great work, incredible spirit to the whole thing. keep it up!
David and Whoever Likes To Read:
OK, talk of hanging out on the beach to charge oneself up, gearing up for a new major project and a new phase of life, casting aside the cares of the mundane world, being about to embark on a real adventure…
And then, mention of the ‘voortrekkers’ lke ‘Kerouac, Frank, Moon, Pirsig, Thompson…’ etc. made me think of the truly inspirational travel-related books in my life and the models they set for me to partly follow and partly deviate from… maybe the books changed my life, maybe reading them was just synchronous and coincidental to changes that were happening, maybe they only reaffirmed evolutions already under way in my mind, but these books stand out over the last six decades… and if I were in David’s situation, I’d want at least one, or maybe several, of these as my travelling companions. The list may reveal ‘too much’ about myself… but so do the photographs we take, don’t they? (Non-literary types may skip down to the next post without prejudice). I’m sure I’ve left out some important ones, for which I apologize, but here goes:
The Classics:
The Journey Upcountry (Anabasis, aka. The Persian Expedition) by Xenophon
The Odyssey by Homer
Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
Journey To The West (Monkey) trans. Arthur Waley
Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest by Will Shakespeare
The Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
War and Peace and (not or!) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Red and Black (Rouge et Noir) by Stendhal
The Heart of Midlothian by Sir Walter Scott
Moby Dick and Typee by Herman Melville
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Graham
Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson
Huckleberry Finn by Sam Clemens
Two Years before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
The Star Rover by Jack London
Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
Lost Illusions and A Harlot High and Low by Honore de Balzac
The Crock of Gold by James Stephens
The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis
Strange News From Another Star by Hermann Hesse
Non-Fiction
Akenfield by Ronald Blythe
Memories of Silk and Straw by Dr. Junichi Saga
The Grass Roof by Younghill Kang
Slow Boats to China by Gavin Young
Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence
Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard De Voto
Heart of the Hunter and Yet Being Someone Other by Laurens Van der Post
Two Kinds of Time by Graham Peck
White Waters and Black by Gordon MacCreagh
Third Class Ticket by Heather Wood
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Shadows on the Silk Road by Colin Thubron
And the Rain My Drink… by Han Suyin
Heaven’s Command. Pax Britannica, and Farewell The Trumpets by James (Jan) Morris
China Road by Rob Gifford
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
In Search Of History by Theodore White
A New Age Now Begins by Page Smith
Fiction
Man’s Fate (La Condition Humaine) by Andre Malraux
Hawaii by James Michener
The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
V by Thomas Pynchon
Gaijin by James Clavell
That Night In Lisbon by Eric Maria Remarque
The Guide and The Vendor of Sweets by R. K. Narayan
Letters From Thailand by Botan
O Zone and Picture Palace by Paul Theroux
Malayan Trilogy, Nothing Like The Sun, and Napoleon Symphony by Anthony Burgess
The Children of Sanchez by Oscar Lewis
The Asiatics by Frederic Prokosch
Spangle by Gary Jennings
The Big Sky by A. B. Guthrie
Raintree County by Ross Lockridge
A Leaf in the Storm by Lin Yutang
Rickshaw Boy by Lao She
The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White
The Makioka Sisters (Sasameyuki) by Junichiro Tanizaki
The Enchanters by Romain Gary
That should keep you busy for a while-
Sidney
@Sidney: man, what memories, my father read the Anabasis to me when I was in bed, sick, when I had five years or so… I read it again recently and it’s just such a killer… the details on tribes and cultures are amazing, and the ideas on Greek morality of the time, sort of how Kerouac is all about morality but less so…
What, Sidney, no “Rick Steve in Europe”?
:-))))
Hey Sidney…hell of a list! But you know we’re all going to want to add a couple… ;^}
Here are mine:
Travels with Charley–Steinbeck
West with the Night–Markham
Adventures of Augie March–Bellow
Desert Solitaire-Abbey
Razor’s Edge–Maugham
Really makes you want to get up and go!
THANK YOU SIDNEY:
“…The Classics:
The Journey Upcountry (Anabasis, aka. The Persian Expedition) by Xenophon
The Odyssey by Homer…”
Sidney, thank you… what a great list! How about Cormac McCarthy’s The Road??
ALEX….
i do not know why i would “force myself” to leave cameras behind…that does not mean that i am always taking pictures, nor that i am “anxious” because i have my camera, but i always like to know that i can simply take a picture if i want…
ERICA…
i am not sure how i missed you…did you try to call me back?? anyway, i will return soon enough…pls. stay in close contact with marie , who knows my every move….i do hope to see you soonest…
SIDNEY…
pretty amazing list….my life changed with some of those listings and i was not aware of others…many thanks from all of us for being our academic guru!!!
cheers, david
David how long you will not here?
DAVID,
oh, maybe editing time is one of the most frustrating things in life…. I understand you so well…. But there will be more chances, for sure. Maybe in late april… yes… :-)
CHRIS BICKFORD,
Oh thank you sooo much! That really encourages me. There’s a lot of me in it and for sure, will try to keep it up and do it better as I have some new things in mind…. :-) Thanks a lot!!
Hey David…
Just a gentle reminder about that review. If it needs to wait til you’re in OBX or til you return from the islands that’s cool. No problem. Just didn’t want to keep checking my email if not necessary. ;^}
Thanks again.
-M
For me, it’s really images that awoke my calling for finding out what’s beyond the horizon, ie. entering that picture.
Paintings, photographs, I remember docus on headhunters (back in the 60s, it was still talked of as current), cowboy movies, and these Bayon heads (Angkor Wat).
Indelible impressions…Yes, that’s it, impressions, this is very much where who we are (and the Journey) does begin.
David, your question. It’s just great to be alive, everything else is a bonus, so “pleasant surprise” for me! ;-)
hi David..
I did indeed call again and left a message, perhaps you were breaking open the Magnum in honor of PJG at the moment and never heard the phone, the message must be somewher.. in any case, I will await your return for another opportunity.
Do you know yet what work will be shown at Lookk3? Is it a slideshow? If indeed I have pics in it would be a good thing to add to the small CV…
I will be working on a website soon, and am excited to have your eyes (and all shining eyes here) on it when it finally happens.
Michael Kircher-
I never got through ‘Augie March’ but I certainly agree with all your others. And I’d add Barry Lopez’s Crossing Open Ground to compliment Abbey’s Desert Solitaire.
Joni Karanka_
Xenophon’s ‘Anabasis’ is a really fabulous work (one of the most underrated and neglected of the classiscs, I think), and no accident that I put it first on the list, though I’ve probably read ‘War and Peace’ more times than any other. In addition to all the travel, ethnographic, and cultural information info in it, what has always got to me is… The Greeks are surrounded, a thousand miles from home in hostile territory, their leader and patron and only legitimate reason for being there has just been killed, and an army many times their size is about to attack and wipe them out. Most of them have given up in despair and are waiting for death. But a few brave souls- not the ‘generals’– actually start using their heads and thinking, discussing rationally their alternatives, what strategies might work, knowing the odds against them are horrendous… and they start to move… and day after day, through crisis after crisis, trial and error, cliff-hanger after cliff-hanger, after months they win thru to the sea. The combination of courage and rational thinking and debate, in which natural leaders arise from the ranks and calculated risks are taken, is one of the great stories of human history. (Remarkably similar in many ways to the Long March in China during the 1930′s). Whenever I’m at the point of completely throwing in the towel, I try to remember this book. What would Xenephon do?
Cheers,
Sidney
@Sidney: I know, it’s wonderful… I love how it shows the hard work of Xenophon convincing his own men and also how -as he was a soldier and not a general- he fails miserably in command at the beginning. Definitively a good read for all ages. And very short. I love short books.
I intend to read it, Sidney and Joni, going to the library at this minute (with the camera… You never know!). Not sure if the Long March, which translates as a power struggle, with no sparing human expanses in the process, does compare. If I understand, the greeks were in alien territory, their troops not numbering up as they progressed.
Thanks!
ERICA…AND ALL
i just found out today that it looks like they are going to give me a half an hour to make an Emerging Photographer presentation in the Paramount Theater during Look3 of everyone’s work, which is pretty unbelievable!!!! prime time!!! and they may make it an annual event….
sorry i missed your message, but we will get together for sure when i return..thanks for your patience…i am a little hard to pin down sometimes!!! a whole whole lot going on….
cheers, david
What, no PG Wodehouse, Robert Benchley, or SJ Perelman? Such a list will cause psychic constipation, mark my words. Three titles to remember:
Jaroslav Hasek, The Good Soldier Svejk and his adventures in the Great War.
Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Vladimir Voinovich, The life and extraordinary adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin.
Svejk’s anabasis to the front beats anything that Greek guy could come up with.
I dont have anything to add to the above; I just wanted to be reply #50. Dont mind me, I am easily entertained.