When I decided at the end of last winter to return to school and major in English, I knew that I would be reading more than usual and that I needed to start stretching my brain before classes began. Having fallen out of the habit of reading many years prior, at the end of February…
This fall, I read Vladimir Nabokov’s Pnin for the first time, having read Lolita for the first time decades ago. I mention this timeline because, while it took me nearly 40 years to get to Pnin, Nabokov went to work immediately on the novel while still wrapping up Lolita. More precisely, Nabokov originally wrote and…
The mismanagement of plastic waste in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country and second largest polluter, is, at its core, a global crisis. The Indonesian government, the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme, and an untold number of non-governmental organizations have worked tirelessly for years, investing countless resources, to develop and implement strategies…
This summer during introductions in an English lit class, a fellow student suggested that I read J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories as a primer for the author. As I sat reading the last of the short stories in his collection (in a gently-used first edition paperback printed in the summer of 1954), the lyricism of one…
It’s been two and one-half months since I arrived here. Today was the first day that I went to the beach. Today was also the first day I picked up food from a local seafood restaurant. The food from Seaview Crab Company was delicious. (Dining inside wasn’t going to happen.) It’s amazing that it’s taken…
Hi all,My name is Scott and I recently moved to Wilmington, North Carolina to embark on a new path in life. After getting a degree in mathematics in my youth and spending the fifteen years that followed corporate ladder-climbing in tech, I eventually burned out and pursued a more relaxing career in photography. (Creative endeavors…
So many times, this site has gone into cardiac arrest. And almost always, it languishes in agony, forgotten by me until I catch it in my periphery as I whip past, rushing headlong in some new direction. And I’m always more appalled by the aesthetics of its demise than concerned for its actual death. Because…
I’ve found it incredibly difficult to put into words why I’m exiting the world of sensual photography but I can most definitely say that nearly everything about my years working in this realm has been utterly fantastic. I’ve met and worked with so many wonderful people over the past decade and a half and, between…
I mentioned in my post on the test shoot that I ran into issues with the Canon FD while shooting. The issues I ran into were twofold. One, despite my light meter readings, everything was way over exposed. And two, focusing was more difficult, I felt, than it should’ve been. After a few shots during…
Had a shoot with Reese last Saturday specifically to test out new equipment and, more importantly, to test out changes to my workflow. Definitely time well spent. Learned a lot and, as an added bonus, Reese and I ended up with a number of shots both of us found exceedingly satisfactory. As far as the…
I just built myself a custom lunchbox camera case for a fraction of the cost of what I would pay someone else to do it. And then I built a second one. And I did it with vintage lunchboxes. Could not be more pleased with the results. These are exactly what I’ve wanted for years….
Sometime, I don’t know, maybe two months ago now(?), I contacted someone I’ve worked with previously about a concept shoot I had in mind. So we started planning. And I’m getting super, super stoked about what’s going down. And then I said, hold up, let’s wait until I get these new lenses in. So they’re…
Two of the three vintage lenses I’ve ordered have arrived along with two focal reducers to match their mounts. The first lens to arrive was a Pentax 35mm f3.5 with M42 mount. I have a straight M42 to X-mount adapter from Urth that I’ll probably keep on it, making the effective focal length ~52m on…
I’ve mentioned previously that my headspace has been shifting with regards to photography. Sort of an overall shift, from what I want to shoot to how I want to shoot. Even to why I want to shoot. Today marks the beginning of the new era. I tend to look at my years in photography in…
Recently, I’ve been re-posting words I wrote shortly and long after Alec committed suicide on March 1st, 2010. While I had been planning to republish those words eventually, recent events made getting them up a priority. Cue it up for listening while you read Right after Alec’s wake, I drove into town to meet up…
Prior to today and for the last eleven or twelve years, I’ve introduced myself to you as Scott. So in all likelihood, you know me as Scott. Well friends, I’m still Scott. But the ground has been shifting and rumbling underneath me for a while. My digital space here is changing as well, mimicking the…
Winston-Salem is not the town for me. It’s a nice enough place. Just not for me. As someone who is forever viewing each city or town I live in as Goldilocks’ next bowl of porridge that’s not quite right, I actually knew before I moved here that it was going to be a little lukewarm….
There are a few thoughts that dominate my mind lately. And they’re both sort of broad-ranging and, in a way, tied together. The subjects? Aging and our connected world. I want to talk about aging first. And I’m likely to write more about it but I’ve been trying to get this down digitally forever. Aging,…
It was during that superficially exciting time in my life when I was living in South Beach, surrounded by beautiful people, and shooting erotica nonstop that someone said to me, “I wish I could be you.”Without hesitation I replied, “No you don’t. I don’t even want to be me.” There have always been dark realities…
Cue it up now, please, listen as you read. I’m kind of battling with two different things right now, and trying to find the balance between everything. I think I should warn you that, while this isn’t graphic in nature, that the content of this post may be upsetting. If you’re of influential mind, just…
Wikipedia (which is the known trusted source of human knowledge or something close to it) has this introduction for their entry on Catharsis: Catharsis is the emotional cleansing of the audience and/or characters in the play. In relation to drama it is an extreme change in emotion resulting from strong feelings of sorrow, fear, pity,…
At 4pm this afternoon, we will be burying Alec. I would ask for one thing from those of you who can’t attend the service but who knew Alec, myself, his mother, his brother, his girlfriend, or any of the rest of our family: please take a moment of silence at that time to remember him….
Everyone, This post is going to be somewhat short and I have soooooo much to say, but I need to get a message out right now. Everything feels like it’s happening at lightning speed. I don’t know where to begin. I can’t thank everyone enough for your love and support. As a lot of you…
I want to say thank you en masse for all of your love. To all of the many friends who have reached out across this globe to share your love by phone, by message, by whatever means you have been able to, I thank you. We are having visitation on Saturday, the funeral will be…
I beg that you please send all positive thoughts, energies, prayers, whatever you have this way to my family and I. I’m in Charlotte, NC, tonight and will be in Newberry, SC in the morning. Alec, my oldest son, committed suicide today, Monday, March 1st, 2010. I just want to ask that you keep all…
I’m leaving Miami for a while. I’m taking a trip across the country. On my scooter. Since my scooter maxes out at 35mph unless I’m going downhill, I can’t take the interstate. And so I will be taking the long way: the winding back roads, the busy streets, and the empty stretches of highway, through…