and how and where song lyrics come from.

Using pages from the past, I have selected a song each from singer/songwriters Neil Diamond, James Taylor and Joan Baez. They are pretty much from the same era as many great songs were penned in the 1960s-70s. Diamond was considered by many to be a pop singer. I think many of his songs were both powerful and unique. Taylor and Baez were both considered folk singers but in my opinion, each transcended any label that others would use.

The music is as important as the words and I suggest those of you who would like to hear these songs in their true glory, go online and of course the music can be found there. Song lyrics standing alone without the instrumental and especially the voice, is an iffy proposition but I think still worth it.

Hearing the music and the vocal together with this first one, is especially nice.

Neil Diamond, Holly Holy

Holly holy eyes, dream of only me
Where I am, what I am
What I believe in
Holly holy

Holly holy dream
Wanting only you
And she come
And I run just like the wind will
Holly holy

Sing a song
Sing a song of songs
Sing it out, Sing it strong
Yeah! Yeah!

Call the sun in the dead of the night
And the sun gonna rise in the sky
Touch a man who can’t walk upright
And that lame man, he gonna fly
And I fly, yeah, And I fly

Holly holy love
Take the lonely child
And the seed
Let it be full with tomorrow

Holly holy

I should say that with the song below, the lyrics and music is personal for me. By that I mean I had one of those “song on the radio hitting me hard” moments many decades ago. I had made a jackass of myself (big surprise hey?) with my girlfriend of that time just the night before I heard this song on the radio. I thought it was written for me. No, her name wasn’t Suzanne. Of course while alone in the car, I inserted the name of my girlfriend into the lyrics.

James Taylor Fire & Rain

Verse 1]
Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone,
Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to

[Chorus]
I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

[Verse 2]
Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way

[Chorus]
Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

[Verse 3]
Been walking my mind to an easy time, my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in places on the ground

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Joan Baez Forever Young (She is singing this song to a child?

May God’s blessing keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the light surrounding you

May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

May God’s blessing keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you

May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
And may you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
And may you stay forever young

Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young

---

If we cannot remain forever young, would it not be nice to remain innocent. It has been a long time gone for innocence, at least for me.

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Abstractions

While much of my photography was intentionally obvious and realistic, I have from day one also loved abstractions of reality. I mean, joy is getting a perfect action shot of a wild animal where the species is obvious and sharp. An image of a flower or other plant where you can see the gorgeous glory of this species.

With that said, abstractions, or as I refer to many of mine “semi abstractions” are a joy of things like color, texture, light and shadows. Mood can be just as much “transferable” from photographer to viewer as are more obvious subjects.

An abstract, can be an easy to identify and straight forward subject that has been captured in a somewhat unusual way. Maybe it has been reduced to color or shape or texture, or maybe the way objects are shown in relationship to each other are unique.

White Sands new Mexico is on my top ten of places to make photos. Not exclusively abstracts, but often.

Whether you are there at the edges of light, or in the middle of a sunny day, image making at White Sands is superb. The first image below was made with the blessing of the late sun, the second at a more “normal” time of day.

The positioning of me and my camera and my personal view of what I found in front of me, makes this to me, an abstract, even though it is a very straightforward image. The tiny bit of directly sunlit sand you see in the upper right corner peaking out at us, is visible because I wanted it that way. In other words, the composition was deliberate.

We have here the pure white sands of White Sands, and some So Tall bushes at the edge of a “sand cliff”. This is hardly an abstract. Or is it? Have you ever seen a White Sands image like this?

An abstract is an abstract, in accordance with our own personal vision.

Okay, a dewy orb web is hardly unique for me, I know that. I have shown what is likely several hundred on these pages. Is not the glistening dew drops on the fragile strands of a spider web, lit by the morning light, and separated from the deep, dark forest, an abstract in a world of the “normal“?

White Sands New Mexico, and Great Sand Dunes National Monument Colorado. are obviously both sand dune parks. That is almost where the similarities end.

Below we have sand colored dunes. This place is ripe for great dune related landscapes with mountains in the background, and a mountain stream in the foreground. Still, an abstracted vision of the warm colored sand is a must. I made my share of landscapes there with the aforementioned subjects mixed in with the sand, so to speak, but patterns in the sand are a great abstract there. At least to me. Just set up camera and tripod and select sections of sand, shape, and dimension.

Textured red rock, and the afternoon sun makes for beautiful, natural abstracts.

Atmosphere creates mood, which makes for unforgettable images. If memory serves, this is the legendary Monument Valley in Utah/Arizona.

Simple abstracts can be found almost everywhere. The image below is frost on branches. Now admittedly, this is not a powerhouse photo. It is understated and gentle. Almost monotone. Bold statements are great, but don’t overlook the gentile ones.

When in the field looking for abstractions, always look down.

I could not have been happier on a cold morning than to look down and see the sunrise light illuminating frozen water ripples on a small pond. Bright and bubbly, making a statement about color, pattern and dimension, as those colorful ripples rise above the surface of the pond.

Often we need to get down on our hands and knees to be a photographer.

The time of day, as in early or late, does in fact provide us with a different sort of statement.

It can turn a simple image of a duck swimming past us, into a mood (there’s that word again) providing one. An image that tells us about a duck, without exposing details of its identity. The patterns it leaves behind help us to know if the duck is in a hurry or not.

Because we are not totally sure of the species or sex of this duck, and because of the unexpected (not unnatural) color of the water, this is an abstraction of what we perceive to be normal.

It is true that strong sunrise/sunset light can become a departure from reality as we think of it? Not as it is, but as we perceive that it should be.

Reflections in a tidal pool, a unique view of a mountain at sunrise, or just some waves on a great lake, and the mystery at the magic hours can become an abstract way of sharing our visions. Whether the image it self is an abstract, or the abstraction is in how we perceive it, does it really matter?

Clouds and sky on a seemingly colorless day, are yet one more avenue for the abstract. Dark cloud, sky, dark cloud, sky, repeat, repeat. It becomes about the patterns rather than what the subject is.

Angles of light give birth to natural abstracts, when otherwise we would not “see” the abstraction right in front of us.

The images below are two of my favorites from my files. All of those birds and mammals, and straight forward landscapes and macros of flowers, insects and patterns, and on and on, to me are no more powerful than the atmospheric statements that are made via the “play of light” below. A dark forest with an almost Godly burst of light, a gush of falling water lit by the heavens, and we have reality and fantasy at the same time.

Images like this are about light (of course), composition, and atmosphere. Together, they become unique and different from “normal” images.

Go out and make some pictures. Make what you can sell it that’s what your into, but make what you feel as well. Every image is not equal and there is no reason why every image has to be treated the same way.

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I write a lot about “religion” on these pages. A touchy subject. While what I believe in is a very normal sort of Christian belief system, it is extremely different than what I was brought up to believe. It is more accurate than what I learned in my youth, in accordance to any honest bible. Growing in God, is not easy when you have to rid yourself of many “religious” learnings from youth. Day by day, week by week, the Lord will separate you from “religions” and bring you to Him. There are of course great churches, but alas in this time of Laodicea they are few and far between.

May God richly Bless you,
Wayne