Welcome to the rt tulley photography blogIt features photos, text, and poetry.August 12Thought
I am thankful for thought. Our minds are amazing things. I am not an expert on this but I'm not sure if any other creatures on earth have the capability of rational thought. I know some lower animals show great mental skills but I think that maybe higher level language is required for rational thought. At least that's what I think!
I had been thinking about doing a photo using Rodin's "The Thinker" pose for a blog on thought when I came upon this man sitting on a pier in Gulfport. He was definitely in deep thought as he gazed out into the gulf. It's not exactly the same pose as The Thinker but it's close enough and I like his overalls and hat.
thoughts
thoughts in a tired brain sometimes come pouring down like rain random and arbitrary they are out of the blue from afar but then when i need to find or catch that word it’s a grind forever tugging on my thought strings for retrieving facts and many other things. © rt tulley
August 11Anniversaries
I am thankful for anniversaries. They give us occassion to remember and be thankful. Today is Bebe and my 40th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it has been that long. Since the day I first noticed her, sprawled out on the dance floor at my church with a bum knee, to when I really began noticing her on a church youth group trip to Hemisfair in San Antonio (she was the one in the wide brimmed yellow hat I will never forget), to now, she has stayed an important part of my life. Thanks for the 40 years Bebe!
I took this black and white photo above when Bebe and I were dating my junior year at LSU by mounting the camera on a tripod and setting the self timer. I set the exposure so that I would get a silhouette. It was taken by the University Lake in Baton Rouge. I developed and enlarged it in a makeshift darkroom set up in a bathroom at my parents' house. It's one of my all time favorite photos.
I wrote the following poem today in celebration of our wedding anniversary. I got the idea because Bebe and I went shoe shopping yesterday for a pair of comfortable shoes for her to wear to work. I meant the poem as a compliment to our relationship; I hope Bebe doesn't take it as an insult. I know it doesn't sound very romantic but here it is...
old pair of shoes
sometimes i think we are like an old pair of shoes sitting in the closet but the ones you always choose so comfortable to walk in ideally matched and ideally worn perfectly broken in a little scuffed and a little torn and just like the right the left one always knows how the other will step and it timelessly shows walking together flawlessly step by step by step these shoes harmonize without a misstep perhaps there’s a temptation to visit the shoe store but we both know in our hearts that visit would want for more because a perfectly shined brand new pair of shoes might look spiffy and great but here’s the bad news they would be tight they would be ill fitting a blister could easily develop just from only sitting so we take our old shoes put on spit and shine and walk with them together our shoes, yours and mine. © rt tulley
August 10Refocus
I am thankful for times that allows us to refocus. Sometimes things get rather routine and we get swallowed in the details and lose our goals and direction. Refocusing allows us to redirect ourselves back to the paths we need to take and rededicate ourselves to the tasks at hand.
I included two photos in today's blog. They were both taken at the swimming pool at the hotel that Bebe and I stayed a couple nights in in Gulfport, Mississippi, earlier this week. I did not intentionally take the two photos with the topic of this blog in mind. I was up early, before 7:00 am to take photos. I had just gone downstairs and the camera lens was very cold because of the room air conditioning. Because of that and the humidity outside, the surface of the lens built up a large amount of condensation and caused the first photo to be hazy. I kept attempting to dry off the lens until it finally stayed dry and I was able to take the second photo from the same position as the first. I decided that they would make a good pair for a blog about refocusing. My short respite from home gave me the desire to refocus my efforts on the things I need to do to reach my goals.
refocus
blurry muddled vision hazy lazy path we’re going no goal and no direction that we foresee to be knowing time to gather everything get our own minds straight time to refocus and get back on task before it’s too late. © rt tulley August 9Oysters
I am thankful for oysters. Not raw oysters. I learned too much about salmonella in my clinical training to put raw ones in my mouth. But since moving to Baton Rouge when I was twelve, I developed a liking for oysters Bienville. I tried them at just about every restaurant I went to. For many years, Don's Seafood and Steak House in Baton Rouge had the best, in my opinion. They served them casserole style. Even the recipe in the Don's recipe book is pretty much true to form (I've made it with shrimp since I'm the only one in my family that cares for oysters and it was very good). For some time, however, I have not found the Bienville to be as good at Don's. Now, my favorite is Louisiana Lagniappe's (in Baton Rouge) version. They serve theirs on ceramic oyster shell looking dishes, individually for each oyster. Most other places serve them on the half shell. My friend Larry turned me on to chargrilled/charbroiled oysters at Drago's Seafood Restaurant n New Orleans. I have had them at Acme Oyster House in Baton Rouge and they are also outstanding. Bienville has the oysters in a cheese/breakcrumb/shrimp stuffing while chargroiled have garlic butter and parmessan cheese with the oysters. Mmmm good!
Pictured above are a half dozen oyster's Bienville which I got at the Half Shell Oyster House in Gulfport this past Monday night. I also got a half dozen charbroiled oysters, which are pictured below.
oysters
many people eat oysters and many prefer them raw mix it with tobasco and crackers swallow them without their jaws they believe that there is a link between oysters and sex drive thinking that by eating those little suckers their amorousness will thrive perhaps its due to the fact that they look like ovaries or perhaps their amino acids and zinc will stimulate the testes i don’t know and i really do not care because oysters taste to me like elegant dinner fare. © rt tulley
August 8Detours
I am thankful for detours. While I am not always thankful for roadblocks, I am thankful that detours exist to give us an alternate path to our destination. It may be the same or a similar destination or it may be a completely different destination, one for which you may not have planned. But by being resiliant, we can find ways past roadblocks through detours. It would be crazy to try to bust through that roadblock when all the signs say that there must be a redirection of our path. Our GPS voice calls this redirection "recalculating".
This is a roadblock, close to my house, on Sharp Road near Florida Boulevard. The road is closed due to work on the bridge over the drainage ditch there. I was going to get dinner when I drove by this roadblock near Florida Boulevard. Although I knew about the roadblock several weeks before, it only dawned on me to photograph it today. I went back home, got my camera, and shot this as the sun was setting. I kept the exposure pretty dark so the dimming of the light would be evident.
detours
we all run into roadblocks on the road of life now and again we can’t continue to go on the same way we were then we are forced to change direction a detour in our way how we respond will make or break our day by circumstance or failure the details matter not consider it a new opportunity for excellence unsought. © rt tulley |
