Coney Island

Coney Island Tower
"Coney Island", NY

The soul selects her own society,

Then shuts the door;

On her divine majority

Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing

At her low gate;

Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling

Upon her mat.

I've known her from an ample nation

Choose one;

Then close the valves of her attention

Like stone.

Emily Dickinson

My friend Harry Sandler was kind enough to take me and fellow photographer Mindy Véissid to Coney Island to get inspired and just shoot.  It was an incredible day with everything from fog, sea mist, and sunshine.

All three of us have different shooting styles.  It really didn't matter even if we stood in the same place, there was no spirit of competition between us.   Photography is an art of perception and distortion.  It is not any different than painting.  Paintings are not simply about reality, but about how the artist perceives his own reality.

I messed with this image several weeks ago, but it didn't even quite measure up to this.  The main reason is because, I am in a different creative space than I was several weeks ago.  The quality of my fine art work lacked oomph.

My friend Eunice O'Hanna from San Miguel us to describe her inspiration ebbs and flows like this:  "Al, it would just come to me, and then it would stop." 

Harry knew exactly what he was doing when he took me to Coney Island.  Like a big brother he took me under his wing to nudge me back into my creative space.  That space is what makes everything else including work worthwhile.  The artist in me does have to come out and play.