There is another world, but it is in this one.

                                              – W. B. Yeats

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter…to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring…these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

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The artist has to look at life as he did when he was a child. If he loses that faculty, he cannot express himself in an original, that is, a personal way.

 "I want to be connecting with the subconscious, if I can call it that…there are not too many words to describe the real deep inner part of a human being… I want to be at that place where everything is blotted out and where creativity happens, and to get there I practice…I’m a prolific practicer, I still practice every day. You have to have the skills, then you want to not think when you’re playing, that’s when you let whatever deep level of creativity, spirituality, I mean, you know these words are so inadequate these days, but you want to get to this place where they exist."

                                                                                                                                 –– Sonny Rollins

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The meaning of life is to be outside on such a beautiful day

                                                       — Gertrude Stein

Musician David Byrne echoes one of the primary themes of this blog, namely that creative endeavors which succeed in engaging an audience work on a level that is separate and unique from our intellect:

Both art and music seem to bypass the rational and logical parts of the mind — rather, they are understood by myriad parts of the brain that are connected to one another. It is a different kind of understanding. The effect of this interconnection is pleasurable, ecstatic even.

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A still image from our 23rd year of capturing the midnight ball drop at One Times Square…

All the technique in the world won't compensate for the inability to notice.

                                                            ― Elliott Erwitt

This observation by composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim about the creative impulse certainly rings true for this photographer…

Order out of chaos, order out of chaos… I think that’s what art’s about anyway, I think that’s why people make art. The world has always been chaotic, life is unpredictable, there is no form and making forms gives you solidity.. that’s why people paint paintings and take photographs, and write music and tell stories…

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You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment.

                                                            – Annie Dillard