OBSERVANCE - (PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES)

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That's what I do when I'm in the streets; an "observance", a process of recognition, a sequence that goes from discovery to understanding and passes through a scrutinizing gaze. In street corners and elsewhere, forms are always present, ready to become a small story, whether true or imagined, it doesn't matter. The key is always having the ability to find the new in what is repeated, and the new in a more recent miracle. And doing this is something that fulfills me, because it helps me think about how I write and reveals myself as someone determined to step aside, to voluntarily leave the long line formed by others who simply exist in sequence, unaware of all the tiny things that are saying things in the corners of the streets they themselves built...

Eso es lo que hago cuando estoy en las calles, una "observancia", un proceso de reconocimiento, una secuencia que va desde el hallazgo hasta el entendimiento y pasa por la mirada que escruta. En los recovecos callejeros y en otros lugares, las formas están siempre ocurriendo prestas a convertirse en una pequeña historia ya sea cierta o imaginada, no importa. El todo es siempre tener la habilidad de lo nuevo en lo que se repite, y lo nuevo en un milagro más reciente. Y hacer esto es algo que me completa, porque me sirve para pensar como escribo y delatarme a mi mismo como alguien empeñado en dar un paso a un lado, y salirse voluntariamente de la larga fila formada por otros que van simplemente existiendo en secuencia, sin percatarse de todo lo diminuto que está diciendo cosas en los rincones de las calles que ellos mismos construyeron...


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📷 01 - The old Dodge truck looks annoyed... / El viejo vamión Dodge que mira con cara de estar molesto...


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📷 02 - Twice "NO PARKING" signs on Andrés' garage door... / Dos veces "NO ESTACIONAR" en la puerta del garaje de Andrés...


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📷 03 - A window through which they sell cigarettes and soft drinks... / Una ventana a través de la cual venden cigarrillos y refrescos...


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📷 04 - The illuminated sign saying "CAFÉ" at Lisandro's bakery... / El letrero luminoso que dice "CAFÉ" en la panadería de Lisandro...


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📷 05 - Chair and flowers in the yellow house... / Silla y flores en la casa amarilla...


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📷 06 - An abstract framework, the fence in a backyard... / Un entramado abstracto, la verja en un patio trasero...


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📷 07 - An unexpected horse from the stud farm, sunbathing also unexpectedly... / Un inesperado caballo del haras, tomando el sol también inesperado...


Yes, as you can see, the titles of these photos are mostly heavily influenced by my attempts at urban poetry, by my inherited imagery from spending so much time walking the streets, and by the fables I understood simply by observing as I pass by... It's impossible, at least for me, to escape all that floats here and there...

Sí, tal como pueden ver, los títulos de estas fotos están en su mayoría, densamente impregnados por mis intentos de poeta urbano, por mi imaginario heredado de mi mismo por tanto andar en las calles y por las fábulas que entendí simplemente mirando cuando paso... Es imposible, cuando menos para mi, evadir todo eso que flota aquí y allá...


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📷 08 - A miracle of magical reflections occurring in the ordinary municipal aqueduct tank... / Un milagro de reflejos mágicos ocurriendo en el burdo tanque del acueducto municipal...


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📷 09 - The electricity meter has less and less work to do... / El medidor de electricidad con cada vez menos trabajo por hacer...


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📷 10 - A crack starting at the base of the paralyzed hospital... / Una grieta iniciando en la base del hospital paralizado...


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📷 11 - An improvised coffee grinder on Bolívar Street... / Un molino de café improvisado en la Calle Bolívar...


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📷 12 - And finally: "Blue on a broken guitar"... / Y por ultimo: "El azul en una guitarra rota"...


And there's perhaps a touch of protest in my photos, because protest is a human thing, I suppose, and because here in my town it's a daily part of what happens. Besides, photography, especially street photography, encompasses everything, from reality to pain...

Y hay quizás un toque de protesta en mis fotos, porque la protesta es algo humano supongo, y porque aquí en mi pueblo es parte diaria de lo que acontece. Además, la fotografía, en especial la callejera, abarca todo, desde lo real hasta el dolor...


Thank you very much for your visit and appreciation!

¡Muchas gracias por pasar y apreciar!

ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL NOTE: Photographs captured with my Nikon D7000 DSLR camera in RAW format, then processed in Adobe Camera RAW for adjustments regarding light, sharpening, contrast and depth... They were then exported to JGP format on which minor modifications such as straightening and adding watermarks were carried out using PhotoScape v3.7

NOTA TÉCNICA ADICIONAL: Fotografias capturadas con mi cámara DSLR Nikon D7000 en formato RAW, procesadas posteriormente en Adobe Camera RAW para ajustes relativos a luz, afilado, contraste y profundidad... Luego fueron exportadas a formato JGP sobre el cual se llevaron a cabo modificaciones menores como enderezado y agregado de marcas de agua usando PhotoScape v3.7


"We make photographs to understand what our lives mean to ourselves." - Ralph Hattersley.

"Hacemos fotografías para comprender lo que nuestras vidas significan para nosotros mismos." - Ralph Hattersley.

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Camera: Nikon D7000
Lens: Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 II DC OS HSM
Lens: Tokina ATX-PRO 100mm f/2.8 d MACRO
Lens: AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR
Lens: AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
Lens: Nikon AF Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8d FX
Lens:AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G

Cámara: Nikon D7000
Lente: Sigma 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 II DC OS HSM
Lente: Tokina ATX-PRO 100mm f/2.8 d MACRO
Lente: AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR
Lente: AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
Lente: Nikon AF Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8d FX
Lente: AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G


Montalbán, Carabobo, Venezuela.

:peakd/hive:



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The key is always having the ability to find the new in what is repeated, and the new in a more recent miracle.

Well said! I think my favorite here is the blue guitar. Are you familiar with the Wallace Stephens poem? Here's a link: You might find it meaningful, given your reflection here. https://allpoetry.com/14327935

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👏👏👏👏

Beautiful poem, @cliffagreen friend!... No, I'd never read anything by W. Stevens before 😐. To be honest, my contact with poetry was mostly in my youth and was largely limited to the famous and classic Latin American poets (Neruda, Benedetti, Borges, G. Mistral) or some from Spain like Lorca and Miguel Ángel Buesa... But, also to be honest, I did read poetry when I was in love 😆, wow!, that's certainly how I remember it!... Later, I went through a period of reading that I call more "internal," and I immersed myself in Tagore 🙏, but that was perhaps also because I was in a phase of spiritual exploration where I read the classic Hindu epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana... But reading what you recommended here today, my friend, it occurs to me that perhaps it's a good time to read more poetry "for poetry's sake" and not for other reasons 😀...

The man replied, 'Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.'

Thank you for stopping by and appreciating my work, and also for your comment and recommendation! Have a wonderful and creative weekend!

!PIZZA

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I'm glad you enjoyed the poem. Certainly it makes sense that you would have read the classic Latin American poets (and not the North American poets so much). The one place our reading overlaps is in the Ramayana: I think the dream of Hinduism is the truth referred to in things being changed on the blue guitar.

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