Writing is an art form. The previous statement is of course an opinion. Being a writer (also my opinion), is a high calling. No I do not consider myself a writer. Writing is one of our most difficult art forms. I began writing race reports in the early 1970s and have written off and on ever since. I think I peaked around 2009 or so. It has been a downhill slide in recent years but I still love to “practice” and will do so for as long as God is willing.

Great writers shovel oceans of words into heaps, and then arrange them in neat (or not so neat) piles. Move a word here, move a word there, and you may have art, or you may just have smaller heaps. It is easy to be too smart……or too dumb when you arrange words.

Often times (especially now days), when I publish an article here on Earth Images, or when I leave some words of wisdom (maybe wisdom) on the door steps of another blog, I will revisit my words later in the day or the next day. I am perpetually disappointed even though yesterday, I was generally pleased. I am not talking about grammatical errors, as I usually lack the discipline for “English class“ style writing. My style is to blend down home common sense with emotion. The two are not mutually exclusive.

When it comes to photography, I spend as much time reading what photographers have to say, as I do looking at their pictures. For technical articles, John Shaw is a favorite of mine. John has been writing about the technical aspects of photography for over thirty years and his blog is worth browsing. I say that even though I have been banned from commenting there apparently because of the controversial statements I sometimes make on this blog.

For the art of photography, there may be no better writer or photographer than Guy Tal. His words are always penetrating even though like every writer (or so it seems) who fancies himself an artist, they can be a little too esoteric at times. It is (my opinion) worth those weaker moments, for all the great thoughts he brings to the forefront.

Sometimes provocation can be a blessing.

I appreciate good writing so much that I study, and I do mean study the lyrics of great songs. When I watch a movie or a TV show that is taken from a book or short story, I not only sometimes study the book or story, but I look in the credits for the screenwriter or whoever adapted the story for the screen. There is an art to writing the book, and then there is an art to not only adopting the dialog to the screen, but to writing the stage direction that has to be added. I am always just as interested in the writers (and directors) of movies and television, as I am the actors.

Everybody should write if at all possible, although in this “small world” of the internet, we all need to realize that just because we write and some people will wind up reading it, doesn’t mean that everything we have to say is valuable. It needs to be kept in perspective.

In any event, I am humbled that after all these years and all of the subjects I have broached here on Earth Images, that some of you keep coming back. In rare cases you have been with me since my website writings or my newsletter. In one case, there is someone who has been with me since I used to write my own prose/poetry for magazines when they published portfolios of my photography. I thank all of you in ways that are beyond my words. Maybe I need to take a writing class.

Have a poetic sort of day,                                                                                                            Wayne

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God’s Word always keeps things in perspective.

Mathew 23:9

And call no man your father upon this earth, for one is your Father, which is in Heaven.