Red Hook: An Unexpected Adventure.

Do we need God because the universe is just too strange, empty and frightening without Him? Do we know enough to decide about what created the universe? Isn’t the discovery of the cause of creation a continuous process for us?

Eric Stetson, a Facebook friend, entrepreneur and visionary, wrote a stimulating post the other day. It was Eric’s reaction to this article.

Eric wrote: Thoughts upon reading this article:
1. These people need to start calling themselves Unitarian Universalists, rather than Christians.
2. That realization just reminded me of what the UU brand has become — i.e. “the church for people who don’t believe anything religious” — and why I’m somewhat uncomfortable identifying with it, just as I also have mixed feelings about identifying with the “Christian” brand as it’s defined today.

The article quotes Rev Klass Hendrikse:
“Personally I have no talent for believing in life after death,” Mr Hendrikse says. “No, for me our life, our task, is before death.”

Nor does Klaas Hendrikse believe that God exists at all as a supernatural thing.

“When it happens, it happens down to earth, between you and me, between people, that’s where it can happen. God is not a being at all… it’s a word for experience, or human experience.”

I believe some members of UU, maybe most, do not believe in God the way more traditional Christians do. UU is much less a Christian organization that it was years ago. What I find interesting is that many people feel they need to pick either belief in God or atheism. Faith or no faith. For me the question of God is unanswerable. We simply don’t have enough knowledge or insight to know. That’s why belief in God depends on Faith. Defined by Mark Twain Faith is believing in something you know ain’t true. At the very least its believing when you have doubts or not enough information. So people choose Faith or no faith. Of course lots of folks don’t care where we came from, why we are here or where we are going so they don’t raise these questions for themselves. (Do you think there are many people like that?)

Here is what I posted on Eric’s FB page:

“God is not a being at all… it’s a word for experience, or human experience.”

Some people experience something they call God. The creative force of the universe some call it. Or the echo of the big bang. Or our Father in Heaven. But whatever we call it it is a phenomenon for some people — an observable occurrence. The infinite – anti-chance – the first cause. Science and art seek to understand these terms. Abstract terms that we can’t get our minds around because we are finite (at least I think we are!). This phenomenon, whatever word we use to describe it, is a reflection of the mystery of creation and existence. Striving to grasp a small measure of understanding of this mystery is included in the work or art and science as well as religion and philosophy. In this striving we have two extremes — those who say they know God and can therefore know the unknowable (the paradox of some Western religions) — and the atheists who say they’ve got it all figured out — there is nothing beyond what our 5 senses tell us nothing transcendental nothing super-natural. Any time I read that there is no more mystery no more to discover in any field including religion I reject the notion. We are born from mystery, die in mystery, and are surrounded by mystery during our lives. If we try to cap that mystery and put it in a ‘NO’ bottle I think we shut off an important part of being human. Religion claims that periodically the mystery around us speaks. Emerson wrote “God has not spoken — He speaks” now and continuously. I don’t know God or god but I do feel surrounded by mystery and I sometimes pay attention.”

So that’s my answer — its a mystery. Sounds lame — like what a priest tells a parishioner when the priest is stumped. But it works for me. No religion speaks to me very well right now. The traditions and dogma of religion makes them confusing to me. But they all have wisdom and beauty as well as dogma so I might change my mind at some point. I am sure that in the next few hundred years people will learn much more about the mysteries. I think learning about black holes and the holographic universe may reveal much about the nature of creation and reality. Meanwhile the importance of staying in touch with Nature if you are a human being presses on us to a greater extent as we put pressure on Nature. Thoreau had it right — “In wildness is preservation of the world.” Nature is the tool of creation as well as the result of it. Nature is also where the clues to the mysteries lie. Let’s not calcify our thinking with dogma or emptiness.

Smokestacks on the water.

I was recently exploring the Sunset Park Waterfront neighborhood of Brooklyn with my iPhone. I was waiting for my father-in-law who was at Lutheran Hospital for a cat scan and so had an hour to use (I try not to kill hours). The Sunset Park waterfront is being revitalized. Naturally, its very cool and mysterious — as is. There are abandoned buildings and urban blight, etc, making it run down and interesting. The Brooklyn waterfront is going through a period of rebirth. Brooklyn Bridge Park is an example of this as is Dumbo. There’s a ferry to Manhattan from a pier that was deserted when I visited last week. Kiss and Sail — a nice idea! (I don’t know if this ferry is operational now. I can’t find information about it and the large pier was deserted when I was there, unless you count me and sea gulls.) The Brooklyn Army Terminal is here as is Bush terminal. A good place for walking around with a camera, tho.

I wonder if this building will survive revitalization?

I look forward to these developments. But exploring living history is more interesting. And now there are less crowds than there will be.

Kiss and Sail. Why not Sail and Kiss?

Me and the birds on the pier.

14 Avenue J welcoming me back.

Apparently I can go home again. I revisited my first home last week — I lived at 14 Avenue J in the Midwood section of Brooklyn from 1943 until we moved from Brooklyn to Queens in 1948. Last week I got off the ‘F’ train several stops before the Avenue ‘X’ one — got off at avenue ‘I’ so I could revisit that first home and take some photos. The neighborhood has changed of course — its been 64 years. The lumber yard on the corner of avenue J and MacDonald is now an auto repair shop. The very elegant (in my memory) free standing house across the street is run down. Our house is a brick row house that seemed so big to me when I was little. The pickle factory around the corner where I used to steal pickles from lightly covered barrels is no more.

The 'elegant' house across the street.

The street is short and ends in a T intersection — I thought of it as a court yard when I was 4 or 5 — traffic was pretty brisk last week and came fast around the corner. I had to wait for openings before taking photos, several shots from various angles. I’m into using my iPhone camera with some cool apps like Hipstamatic and ProCamera to see what results i can get so that’s the camera I had with me. As I waited for a clear shot a car pulled up and someone went to the door at number 14, to make a delivery I guessed. When he opened the storm door to knock on the inner door I saw something I did not expect — “Welcome Back” was written on the door in white paint – large letters white letters welcoming me home! As I tried to get a shot with all the letters (I failed) the door opened and a young woman in a purple and while head scarf opened the door to complain about my picture taking.”I don’t appreciate your taking all these photos” she said. “I used to live here 65 years ago” I blurted. “Oh then that’s ok” she said.

14 Avenue J

I should write at greater length about my first home about how I was so jealous of the baby across the street in its beautiful carriage with a lace coverlet protecting it from flies that I tried to do it harm, about the time my new cowboy gun was stolen by a neighbor boy and my parents did nothing about it, about how my teenaged aunt used to love me and play with me like I was a doll, about my first girl friend Dierdre who lived two or three doors down – her Mom used to take us to Coney Island beach and pack a picnic lunch of sandwiches and milk in a baby bottle that we would drink from with a straw. But for now I’ll post photos stay amazed at the welcome back sign painted on the door of my first home.

The pickle factory was here.

After -- processed with PerfectlyClr

Before - Image as it came from the camera

What I’ve learned so far is that the power of a smart phone is vast. And the image quality possible from these smart phones is excellent. Beautiful images can easily be created using the camera and available photo apps. The apps I’ve downloaded cost between $1.99 and $2.99. If you are interested in the technical specs for the iPhone 4 camera (not the new 4s — that’s even better) try this blog.

I’ve always tried to use cameras with a lot of build-in capabilities. Point and Shoot (P&S) cameras with fixed lenses and lots of capabilities have been my chosen companions more often than a camera system with interchangeable lenses. I like to travel light and be able to take photos wherever and whenever I am so moved. I do own a Panasonic Micro four thirds camera and three lenses but use it much less often than my super P&S Panasonic LX5 with its excellent Leica lens.

(Note: Answers.com defines a Point and Shoot camera:
“Of, relating to, or being a camera that adjusts settings such as focus and exposure automatically. Read more.” But this definition doesn’t really cover cameras like my LX5 that have fixed lenses but full manual controls. It is the most used term for such cameras tho. A micro four thirds camera uses interchangeable lenses like an SLR, but has no internal mirror using an electronic viewfinder instead of through the lens viewing. This design makes the cameras smaller — in some cases much smaller than an SLR but with excellent image quality that rivals that of most SLRs — Single Lens Reflex — if you need a definition please Google it.)

The iPhone smart phone is a powerful palm sized computer that has a photography system built into it. The system can be augmented with applications (apps) from third party vendors at a very low cost each. Using this system it is possible to create beautiful images of very high quality. The phone can create image files as large as 18 mega pixels (18 million pixels). Enlargements as large as 16 by 20 inches or larger are possible. Instead of trying to load a large, powerful program like Photoshop into a small computer, developers have created apps that do one or a few things — such as crop a photo — so a number of apps are needed for building your iPhone photography system.

But before I thought about the photography tools available inside an iPhone, I took some photos and posted them to my Facebook wall and used one or two here in my Photography Blog. They looked good but not great. Then I came across Peterson’s Photographic and the excellent series of articles by Dan Burkholder. Dan is a master printer and photographer and he runs workshops, including a series in iPhone photography. From his website ):

“The images on this page were captured and processed on an Apple iPhone through an assortment of inexpensive imaging apps. The iPhone is more than just a tiny camera on a cell phone. For the first time we have both camera and darkroom in the palm of our hands. Dan’s iPhone workshops will cover the steps used to capture and process images like these and then print them on fine art digital paper and canvas.”

Dan not only captures high quality images using his phone, he also processes them using sophisticated techniques right in the phone itself, using it as a digital darkroom. His images tend to be over processed for my taste – I like simpler – “straight” photography. But there is no doubt that his images are beautiful and are evidence of lots of processing and artistry.

Right away I was able to use an app recommended by Dan – PerfectlyClr. I also looked for and found another one on my own – Crop. You see, I was in Brooklyn helping my wife help her nonagenarian parents and wanted to take some photos in their neighborhood at twilight because the sky was particularly beautiful. I did and I posted one to Facebook getting some applause. But a little later I came across the magazine, downloaded the PerfectlyClr app – processed the image with a single click – and presto – it was an improved image — and as Dan promised all within the phone. In addition to a one click mode, PerfectlyClr has “Pro” controls giving the photographer control over things like contrast, color vibrancy, sharpness and noise. A mini Photoshop?! I haven’t achieve anything like great results yet but good results show promise of getting better still.

In addition to PerfectlyClr I purchased and downloaded an app which may prove to be even more useful. Its called ProCamera and it replaces the camera app that comes with the phone. ProCamera gives the photographer much more control over focus and exposure and has other helpful features including a level. Using various apps one can also do HDR (high dynamic range) photography, can stitch multiple images together (that’s how large files are created) and use creative processing techniques such as adding texture and other artistic, painterly effects — all within the iPhone.

So my next steps will be to do more photography with the iPhone and see how much post processing I’m comfortable doing with it. It might be easier to simply download the images to my computer and use Lightroom or Photoshop (powerful computer photo editing software) on my wide screen monitor. But sometimes all I have is my palm computer, a gateway to the Internet and with the camera system — the real world.

Rarely a day goes by that I don’t think about The Song of Wandering Aengus by W.B. Yeats. In fact I’ve been thinking I should try to do what the poem describes – to the degree possible – and see what happens. Or maybe just go into the woods and recite the poem six or sixty times. What do you think? And do you love this poem? And can you tell me why? Is it a hold over from childhood or a foreshadowing of death? Any ideas?

Here it is.
———————————————–
The Song of Wandering Aengus

I WENT out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.
————————————————
Do you love it? Or is it strange to you. What do you think?

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

To live deliberately means to be aware of one’s life each minute, every day I think. Are you? Am I? Probably not but its an idea worth remembering and striving for. Henry started the movement to save the planet when it was not obvious that it was in danger — “In wildness is preservation of the world.” What a concept — one we need more than ever now.

Here is some of what we saw today:

A trail at sunset.

Half way around the pond.

Through the woods.

Riprap to the pond.

Sometimes I find the art lovers augment to works of art in a thrilling way. They posture, gesture and stare in ways that is often subconsciously consistent and/or complimentary with the art. They extend it or comment silently on it or create a new piece simply by being there.

Here are some examples of my art museum photos (I’ll post more after a while):

Lobby, Brooklyn Museum

The image above is simply a shot of the lobby in the Brooklyn Museum. It makes a great architectural image because it is a beautiful space.

Phoning Motherwell

This is one of my favorites from museums. I call it Phoning Motherwell — that’s Robert Motherwell’s Elegy to The Spanish Republic # 108 the art lovers are studying. In their intensity and body language they have created another work for my camera to collect.

A Kline, A Pollock and A Sculpture

The one above is less striking but the person has almost become another sculpture, a taller, more slender person in black would have worked as well or better. (If anyone knows the identity of the sculpture please let me know)

Reflections in MOMA

This has architectural elements but also attempts to capture some of the atmosphere — the spirit of the New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Did I succeed?

15 Dunstable Road Westford, MA - $419,900

We are retired — both of us. we live in a beautiful house in a wonderful town — Westford Massachusetts. Our plan is to sell out house and move to Cape Cod. Its a plan we’ve had for a few years now. The thing is though — our house isn’t selling. In the past we’ve sold three houses together. They all sold right away. The last one sold nine years ago two weeks before it was to go on the market. Some folks saw it almost by mistake and made a better than full price offer twenty minutes later. So as prepared as we were for a tough market — we weren’t prepared. We take excellent care of our houses. The one we have now in not an exception — its is in much better shape than when we bought it. The infrastructure is in top shape, it is esthetically beautiful and very comfortable. It is larger than it looks at 2156 square feet, cozy yet spacious. Yet it is currently listed at the same price it was nine years ago — $419,900.

Right now my wife and I are in a kind of limbo — waiting for someone to buy our house. The real estate market is log jammed with people wanting to move on and buy a new home but unable to do so because they can’t sell the one they own. This market is stagnated to the point of near non-existence. At least that’s how it feels to us.

Our house is priced at almost exactly the mid point for houses in our town. In other words its not a cheap super buy and its not excitingly, over the top luxurious. Its a well kept, comfortable home with four bedrooms, two bathrooms on a treed builder’s acre. But it doesn’t draw many potential buyers nor is it the subject of criticism. In other words there is little to do except wait.

We work at maintaining the house and did repaint our kitchen and family room recently on the advice of new brokers. Our most recent project has been to clean up the damage to trees due to the October storm.

We withdrew from all of our activities in town, resigning from the town and church committees we belonged to. I resigned from the art gallery I helped create. So we wait. Organize and get rid of stuff and wait. We can’t afford to just move, leaving the house to be sold in our absence. So we wait. We look at listings on Cape Cod where we want to live, visit there once in a while and we wait.

Meanwhile the occupy Wall Street movement has taken hold and many of the non-rich or less rich also grow impatient. Dreams deferred dry up like raisins in the sun. The economic crisis was created by the greed and arrogance of the investment banking world. The lawyers and professional investors who have milked the working public for decades have finally gone too far. When we were kept happy with an acceptable share of the spoils the system seemed to work. But behind the gloss of daily economic life there always were the bankers and investment pros buying IPO stock at 10 cents and selling it at 10 dollars. Securitizing near worthless mortgages and then betting that they would fail while at the same time selling the securities to the great unwashed masses. I’ve spoken to some of these ‘gentlemen’ and heard them speak of how stupid the public is, how easy a mark we all are.

Now we in the middle are afraid to act. Housing prices have rarely been more attractive. Interest rates have never been lower. Yet the market doesn’t move. Not in the price range of our house. The less expensive and more expensive homes do seem to sell at a faster rate. We are still waiting. Of course its “only” been 6 months but with so little traffic coming through our house we are likely to wait a while longer.

Once we do have a buyer I wonder if we will have the courage (or the capital for that matter) to buy. We may stay out of the real estate market for the rest of our lives becoming renters. Will that put us in a lower class? I doubt it — I think we will have plenty of company.

I am in the photo and outside it -- cool, eh?

Hey I wanted to share a really cool photo I took yesterday. We went cycling on the Nashua River Rail Trail about 10 days after the storm that hit New England in October. For a while I had a camera around my neck. I usually like to be stationary when I make photos but thought — why not try my skill at shooting on the fly? So I set my camera for a fast shutter speed and started shooting as I rode. One result is above. I like it! — You?

This is one of the better sections

Much of the trail was as above but crews had done much work to clean things up — yet the trail was still closed. Obviously a little yellow tape will not stop the dedicated cyclist — all of it was down and quite a few riders were there. Riding on a trail like this was like being on an obstacle course — a little extra mindfulness and you are home free.

Riding with two cameras! This one in my iPhone

The photo above was made with my iPhone — I had more trouble controlling it than my Panasonic LX5 — maybe because I take far more photos with the LX5? Dunno — but I do know that the iPhone one captures the motion and chaos — so in some ways it superior. But I like my self portrait on the fly best!