What shows
how little
we know?
What can be is
oft far less than
what we expect.
What is now
has never been
what it was.
07/25/2024 j.g.l.
value beyond
Simplicity.
Is there emotion in austerity?
Humanity?
What do you see when attempting
to define your limited visibility?
Minimalism, abstract impressionism
or incorporeal thought.
Less is more, but is it enough?
Texture, tone, and value beyond
your current scene. If you take it to an
extreme, you will question
what it means.
What is really there?
What line do you cross?
Can simplicity be complicated, or
should it even be attempted?
07/23/2024 j.g.l.
Mondays are just young Fridays
Things will not go as planned. Intentions will be disrupted, even overlooked, in the aftermath of an unexpected reality.
Where you are headed will not be the place you end up, undoubtedly or undeniably. No matter how hard you attempt to make each gesture, brushstroke, promise, prayer, or pastime as perfect as you believe it can be, many times you will not arrive at a perceived destination. All too often your endeavors never hit the mark; at times your work may be better than expected (celebrate those moments), but everything (even your judgement) is subjective.
You are not limited to, or by, the colours in your paintbox or progression of your process.
Imagination is as limited or expansive as you want it to be. Give it time to blossom; in certain instances, you may even have to reel it in. This is all about possibilities, no matter which media, method, or style you are beholden to.
You owe your art (or life) nothing but your presence; the value comes from the practice, as rudimentary or spontaneous as it is or will become.
07/22/2024 j.g.l.
I'm like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.
j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.
It Was Time
Posted on July 13, 2022 by j.g.lewis
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So much of my creativity is now based in technology.
I have, over the past month, updated all of the technology I use with any frequency, replacing first my mobile device, then my primary computer, and finally my camera.
It was time.
Technology: you can’t live with it and you can’t live without it.
My primary computer was almost 15 years old – my digital camera is even older – and has served me well. When I purchased my 17” Apple MacBook Pro, it was state-of-the art with as much storage and memory as you could get at the time.
The laptop was well–traveled and well used.
Slowly, the 17” wonder began to loose battery power and performance. A few years back I added a smaller, more efficient, MacBook that I use solely for writing while I tried to get my mainstay computer to last a little longer. I had become accustomed to some of the software and its capabilities, especially on the photography side.
I left the newspaper industry just as digital photography was coming into our newsroom. At that time, we were actually scanning 35 mm film negatives, just before the entire production of our daily broadsheet abruptly shifted to digital.
My personal change to digital photography took a little longer. I purchased a digital camera body that would work with the lenses I already owned. I took a course to learn how to use my digital software (becoming Apple certified) before Apply made the decision to stop producing (then stop supporting) its Aperture software. I’ve been using Aperture as long as I can and, truly, cannot use it much longer.
Changes in digital photography – I refuse to call it “advancement” – is happening almost as quickly as it is with personal computers.
Advancements with cameras are such that Canon, in its literature, refers to them now as an “image capturing device”.
To me, it is just a camera.
I’m not one for drastic change. I function better when I have time to consider anything, time to get to know something, and time to make up my mind for myself.
As we all know, technology doesn’t allow that time.
