Most of the time when I go out to shoot I don’t have a clear direction, inspiration or idea of what I want to achieve. Nor do I have an overall grand plan, or artistic objective, other than to enjoy myself and work with things I find interesting along the way.

It seems contradictions get the best of me. I’m drawn to experiences, people and "things" that, on the surface, aren’t apparently designed to fit, yet mimic, mock or even compliment each other in peculiar, subtle, funny ways.

Like impossible-to-reconcile, hilarious-to-see, over-fed, chubby Buddhist monks in Gucci loafers eating-jelly-filled-donuts with one hand, selling faux Rolex watches with the other, while juggling copies of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and insisting enlightenment is all the world needs! Wooha! ( Yes, I really saw this, in Honk Kong of all places! I couldn't possible make it up. )

Recently when motorcycling through South Central Florida I came across a cattle transfer station with a big sign that read "LAST CHANCE COW PENS". A slew of buzzards was lingering around the place. To bad, I scared most of them away. They created an impression of so many dark-grey suited men and women hanging around a cafeteria water cooler. I wondered if the cattle could read, and imagined them rolling their eyes in exasperation.

Hummmm...

For me becoming a photographer was like high-tailing it back to childhood. When you’re a kid everything is up for grabs. It's all play. You see what you want to see, and no one expects anything different. (Indulgent, as well as negligent adults default to saying things like, "He's just a kid" and go back to their own games. It's easier for everyone.)

Generally, until children mistake approval for personal value, they take everything in stride. If things don't go their way perhaps they stamp their feet and pout, but soon enough move on to the next thing that gets their attention. The games return! Not a bad way to go.

Here's to childhood!

David S.