Panoramas of waves are fascinating.

I stumbled on this approach while covertly taking images using the panorama feature on my iPhone. Distortions are a predictable result. I find the human distortion particularly intriguing.

I stumbled on this approach while covertly taking images using the panorama feature on my iPhone. Distortions are a predictable result. I find the human distortion particularly intriguing.

Ya know how sometimes a memory of a previous event just pops into your head out of nowhere and sometimes it’s a memory of an embarrassing event and you start to blush and people around you don’t understand why you’re blushing for no apparent reason like that one time as you were getting ready to go out and about in the lovely colonial Méxican town in which you live and you hear your wife exclaim from the other room ‘fuck a duck’ and every time you hear her say that you get a visual in your head that sticks around a little longer than you’re comfortable with and also when she says that you can’t help but whisper under your breath the companion saying which is ‘fart a pebble’ and also also when she says that you can’t be sure of the severity of the event which has caused her to exclaim ‘fuck a duck’ because she has used it for everything from stubbing her toe for which she blamed you to seeing a herd of wild zombies slowly lurching up the street and is it a ‘herd’ of zombies or a ‘cackle’ of zombies or a ‘congress’ of zombies anyway it doesn’t matter because zombies aren’t a thing but even knowing that you still refuse to watch any more episodes of the Walking Dead because nevermind it’s nobody’s business what keeps you up at night dammit man stay focussed so you walk into the next room where the aforementioned exclaiming occurred and don’t you hate that brief moment between the hearing of the exclamation and the discovering of the thing that caused the exclamation because good lord it could be anything and it turns out the cable has been disconnected and the cable company sent an email saying ‘oops you must have forgotten to pay your bill’ but you didn’t forgotten to pay your bill because you paid it two days ago at the OXXO and aren’t OXXOs a convenient string of convenience stores as they smartly accept payments for all kinds of services like cable electricity water and whatnot and who knows what else and actually OXXOs are uber convenient because their are so many that in some cases you can literally through a rock from the front door of one OXXO and have land at the front door of another OXXO but you don’t recommend doing that because you might break a window which could possibly lead to spending a night in a Méxican jail no sir you will never do that again and so now you’re looking at the receipt for the aforementioned visit to the OXXO and holy crap pull down your shorts and call yourself nancy the receipt shows the amount necessary to pay then shows the amount paid as $0 which is zero in english but that’s not true because you did pay the amount necessary and you paid it in cash and you remember looking at the cash because the bills were brand new with a new design and you remarked to yourself self gosh these are pretty notes with such lovely colors and you hate to give them up but you did give them up and now you’re not getting credit for giving up the pretty notes and you are hit hard with the realization of the unavoidable which is you must go back to the OXXO and muster the courage to confront the nice behind the counter people of which there are almost always two and this is a really busy OXXO so the thought of the shear numbers of humans that will witness your struggle to convey the complex idea that needs to be expressed in español is already making a steady stream of flop sweat begin to flow down your temples at which point your wife reminds you this OXXO adventure needs to happen ASAP and here you are at the busy OXXO and as predicted as you approach the counter with the requisite two employees standing behind and somewhat elevated which is not to your advantage so thus begins your rant and it is clear that the nice young woman on the receiving end of your harangue is not having it so she turns to her nice young coworker who after hearing her brief grouse looks your way with a stern look which most correctly would be interpreted as ‘challenge accepted’ so now the nice young man is leaning down and forward so as to more clearly hear your unintelligible thrashing of his native tongue but as you have wisely saved your receipt about which there can be no debate you remain confident as he makes a phone to call someone of more authority perhaps even the CEO of OXXO which by the way you understand is a Coca-Cola company and explains why Coca-Cola is the drink of choice throughout México because it is cheaper than water and will you please cease with the perpetuation wild conspiracy theories you have work to do oh and look he’s off the phone and you anticipate what most assuredly must be a small measure of justice but instead he informs you that you need to come back on Friday after 4pm and talk to Mónica and now yourself is beside you with disbelief and you feel the anger begin to well up and words just start to tumble out of your pie hole ‘viernes?’ ‘Mónica?’ ‘after 4’ and now you banging your hand on the counter and shouting ‘pagué el lunes’ ‘pagué el lunes’ ‘pagué el lunes’ and the nice counter people are just staring at you and you turn around and the now much longer line of people are also staring at you and one young woman holds her newborn a little tighter than she might otherwise and the hint of a tear begins to flow down her cheek and turning back you witness the nice young counter man and the nice young counter woman exchange in brief dialogue turn to you and chuckle and that’s it so now you offer to Beto to pay the cable bill a second time because of course you know him by name now and he asks if you are sure seeming to reveal his belief that your receipt is quite open to debate but you pin your hopes on Mónica el viernes after 4pm and he turns to his computer to begin the transaction immediately turns back to inform you that their system is down and ‘gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh buen día Beto dije buen día señor’ and you leave the OXXO in a huff and head next door to the mercado where you often spend time working because it’s a nice environment and they offer a rather eclectic musical play list but you are fuming and raise your insulated water bottle for a quite necessary and highly anticipated swig of water and realize you forgot to buy more cold refreshing water at the OXXO and back you go but before you do you look up how to say “and one more thing it’s not funny’ in español and look who’s back grabbing a bottle of water and heading toward Beto who remains behind the counter and slightly elevated and look he’s motioning you over and you just bet he’s going to rub it in but once there you see he has a pile of store receipts in front of him and is once again talking on the phone to the CEO of OXXO and this conversation continues on for a long ten minutes until he hangs up turns to you with a smile and exclaims ‘listo’ and you think ‘listo?’ there is nothing about this moment that justifies saying ‘listo’ and now he’s once again asking for your cable company account number and punching this information into their system which is now miraculously working just fine thank you very much and as you view the proceedings on the smaller monitor that allow customers to see what’s happening which by the way is a very convenient thing that this convenience store offers your correct account information with amount marked as paid and isn’t this a surprising and pleasant turn of events and now you look up at Beto and he’s smiling proudly and presenting you a new more undebatable receipt showing paid in full and you can’t apologize enough or shake his hand enough and his nice young coworker is also smiling at you and oh yeah I need to pay for this water and as you exit the OXXO without a trace of huff you can only hope to run into the young mother who held her newborn baby a little tighter than she might otherwise and offer an apology. Fuck a duck. It’s fine.

These images were taken in my current home of San Miguel de Allende, GTO, México. many of the electrical poles are eight-sided, concrete posts. As the sun hits them, each facet receives varying amounts of sun altering both color and tone.

Logo studies and variations

If ever you find me in a position wherein I appear to be unaware of my surroundings and unaware of the people in my surroundings such that I am an annoyance and causing frustration to those near me, just hit me. Not hard. And not in the face. Maybe just a firm slap on the neck just below my ear followed by a forceful finger pointing. Or perhaps just a forceful finger pointing accompanied by a stern look of reproach. Maybe not a stern look of reproach, but rather a sympathetic look of reproach. Consider a light patting on the back or better yet a kind circular rubbing motion almost massage like. A hug, Just give me a hug. But not too hard.

You haven’t lived until one day you’re walking into the central square of your old colonial town in México and you happen upon two elderly gentlemen crossing your path and by the way who are you to be calling anyone ‘elderly’ anyway with more than a few decades in your wake and more than a few gray hairs in places you can’t talk about in gentle company so you notice these two stately gentlemen appear to be engaged in a lively debate and as you pass them one turns to you and says something in Spanish and gosh dangit when will you finally get serious about learning Spanish have you no memory of incidents such as when you famously ordered four cookies to go at a restaurant and the mesero instead brought you four margaritas in a plastic bag so the other stately gentleman immediately recognizes that of course you do not speak Spanish because you have that look of ‘oh god I’ve got to try and understand what someone is saying in another language and it might as well be in Mandarin ‘cause this won’t end well for anyone involved’ look on your face so the other stately gentleman looks directly into your eyes and isn’t this an even more uncomfortable encounter now and he says “my friend is asking you why he must constantly tolerate such a crazy friend as me” and that catches you off guard a bit and now both stately gentlemen are looking directly into your eyes and you’re looking back and forth between each of them and just as this awkward moment is about to go super nova awkward you exclaim in a voice that is a bit too loud for how close you all are “crazy friends are the best friends” and then after another brief moment of silence both stately gentlemen break out in laughter and you quickly joined in because gosh darnit that was pretty funny. Oh how you laughed.

This one almost got away from me, but when I brought it back, I discovered a new approach – soft contrast and hard lines.