Following the Crowd

Canine BFF's
Harding Trail
Palenville, NY

The one who follows the crowd will usually

get no further than the crowd.

The one who walks alone, is likely

to find himself in places no one

has ever been.

Albert Einstein

It's never been been an interest of mine to follow anyone other than my own ideology. There's never been a wake moment spent on feeling that I needed to be exactly where someone else had been. That simply is not me. It doesn't make me a better person or less to stand in the same place where someone greater than or less than me stood.

The same holds true with my photography. My images are not meant to replicate what I've seen but rather to move you to feel in my own voice and style. As a view you draw your own private conclusions. Your conclusions are private rendered by your own set of experiences.

Mimicking is not a form of intelligence, a parrot mimics. We seldom think that uttering "pretty bird" makes the parrot a genius. So I choose not to go the obvious places to indulge in my art or to simply mimic another photographer's style. I choose my own template and voice and it continues to evolve with my skill set. My art is personal and not mean to follow someone else's convention or standard.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Send print inquiries to: al@photographybyalhernandez.com

Old

Jody Humphrey
"Personal Friend"
Grapevine, TX

Jody and Her Sisters

Was wondering about my fascination with photography and I came across this Neil Young tune "Heart of Gold". Although some of my generation have given up their idealism, I've chosen not to and perhaps will not until I die. In the mean time, I will keep searching and choose to express it by any means that I can.

Peering on the Past

Got some melancholic theme pulsing through me this AM but I'm hell bent on reaching out to you and make it mean something. Again Neil Young is on my mind as is the little part time job I will be taking on. Thinking about old people and my new younger friends. Look at me and look at you we've got lots of similarities between us too. I was once a lot like you. We are both mirrors and shadows of each other. Knowing this we should be a lot gentler even kinder towards each other, mirrors without distortion and softer shadows.


Just let the acoustical strains of each other's tunes resonate in your heart and echo in your mind. Listen to the tune and you will hear the familiar strains of love and acceptance. We have so much more in common than each thinks.

Je Ne Sais Quoi

Dark Clown
Fort Worth (Stockyards), TX

It's been nearly a week since I've posted something. Each day that I've missed a post, I've felt somewhat incomplete. Something has been missing: "je ne sais quoi".  There's a daily battle within me between the pragmatic and artistic. Too often the pragmatic wins. Sustaining a living overrules making fine art. That's not how I want it but I am also realistic. Who is opposed to eating?

The truth is that whether I am conducting a major financial transaction , working on the logistics of an international scrap deal, or taking a family portrait, my predisposition always lies on the side of creating something. This is who I am. Please don't fret, I will not abandon my passion. 

Art is my communication vehicle. It transcends my nature and my worries. Art is the catalyst to my own metamorphosis. Some of you witness it as you see me behind the viewfinder. This is my personal mystery. To me the creative process and subsequent euphoria is as spiritual as the immaculate conception itself.

For those of you who enjoy my art but feel that you can't afford it; I am offering "Dark Clown" in two sizes: 8x10 and 16x20. The 8x10 will be a limited edition hand signed print on watercolor paper. Only 50 will be printed. It's very affordable and is priced at $75 plus sales tax (if applicable) and shipping. The second version is a 16x20 gallery canvas wrap print (1.5 inches thick) which does not require framing and is wall ready. This print normally lists for $375, but I will sell it for $275 to the first five customers only. 

This is a very powerful image: the clown within masks underlying sadness. It speaks volumes of how many of us feel and describes the faces we put on each day. It's a juxtaposition conversation piece for sure. Place your order now by contacting me via my blog or on FaceBook. I accept all major credit cards and PayPal.

Dry Well?

Dark Clown

Fort Worth, TX

Stockyards

The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.

Robert Frost

After a full day of printing and assembling canvas wrapped prints, it seems I find myself a bit lost with words and ideas. The well seems low. Imagine the fright of nothing to say.


One of the advantages of maturity is that you gain the perspective of experience and experiences. You get to say I've seen that before and you draw from a series of moments stored somewhere in your mind. After several long careers in three separate industries, this seems to be my case.


As I was preparing for what to write this morning and which image to display, I found this quotation from  Robert Frost. In a simple and compound sentence, the truth of why most people dread going to the corporate office. Businesses that discourage creativity and innovation get less than stellar results from their employees. Those enterprises that snuff out individualism get corporate zombies.


In many ways, my last job enabled me to utilize many dimensions of my personality. It started with the fact that I was transacting business in a different country, Mexico. As time progressed, I elected to also incorporate my passion photography into my work. Today, four separate floors showcase my industrial work. In 2009, some of my images were featured in the annual report. The last trifecta that occurred in my career was when I was asked again to utilize my financial skills to insure we were getting the lease rates for our equipment. 


Unfortunately, someone higher up than me felt that I was over compensated and the company would be better off with my skills and input. It was time for me to move on, but I was very fortunate, because I was allowed to achieve. I worked around that dread of not being able to think and create while at the office.


My coffee mug is nearly empty. Suppose, it needs to replenished. It's time for me to use my brain and the creativity stored in its vault.

On the Way

On The Way
Near Platts Cove, NY

An old friend from high school, Larry Eggering, shared an interesting simple thought with me. He told me: "Think about how much smaller the rear view mirror is when compared to the windshield." I am grateful for the friends who share their wisdom and experience with me.

It's important to focus on what lies ahead of you. There's not much you can do about what has past. It's easy to spend a disproportionate amount of time ruminating about what has happened rather than contemplating on all the good that lies ahead on the journey. Neither a river nor a creek flows backwards. You can't live your life staring at the rear view mirror.

Keep It Simple

Caddo Lake on Drizzly Morn
Uncertain, TX

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

Henry David Thoreau 

For many of our generation, success is often measured by the accumulation of things. This measurement fails to account for our personal happiness and our physical well being. Suppose you have lots of stuff but have spent years of abusing your body to the point of ill health, are you truly successful? What if you have spent a life time accumulating but have neglected spending time with your family and friends are you successful? What if you have everything that you could want or imagine, but you feel no joy are you successful?

Please don't misconstrue my appreciation for money and for those that have accumulated money, but I find myself realizing the trap that I have personally dug for myself. My personal stress and my current "job less" situation, have forced me to revisit my definition of success. I ask myself what I want most and the answer comes up freedom to do what I want not what I have to do. Our credit crisis is driven by what we want and not by what we need.

During my travels these past ten years through out Mexico, I've always been fascinated by how happy cab drivers in Mexico appear to be. They all have less than me but they seem to be content with the fact that they provide for their families and have plenty to eat. The same holds true for many of the people I have met in the local towns and smaller cities of Mexico. Children are happy, people meet and greet each other and embrace the mornings and the church bells call to worship and celebration. The simple life has rewards beyond cash.


Please consider what Thoreau meant when he said: "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." Your ability to walk away from stuff is what measures your true wealth. Do your possessions own you or do you own them? This truly is the root cause of our global credit crisis.

Dry Cows

Life Flows

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

Aristotle

A while back an older gentile East Texas lady taught me  a very simple country expression.  She looked at me with her slate blue eyes and said:  "Al, you can't draw milk from a dry cow."  At first, I had no idea what this meant and what it had to do with me.   I was somewhat taken back and baffled with what that had to do with me.

Most of my life, I've wanted and looked for friendship and approval.  I've always gone out of my way to win someone over as my friend.  Many times, I've been disappointed by the lack of reciprocity.  Why couldn't that person be as much of a friend as me?  Why is it that it was always me reaching out?  Why couldn't that person sense my needs and be a friend like me.  Why is this "friendship" so one sided?

It all makes sense in the context of what my lady friend said.  Some people simply don't have it to give.  You can tug and tug at them all you want but they can't give you friendship and solace because it simply isn't there to give.  It's a sad lesson but its important to learn.  You can't seek approval from those that can't give.  Stop trying to draw milk from a dry cow.

Falling in Place

A Matter of Time

Failure teaches success.

Japanese Saying

All of a sudden, after being sidelined, things appear to begin to falling into place again.  I sense that something positive is about to happen even though I don't know exactly what it will be.  For a spell everything negative seemed to be happening at once and it was quite overwhelming.  The truth is that I learned to survive and to tread water albeit grudgingly and clumsily.  My survival instincts kicked in.  The same instincts tell me that something good is about to happen sooner than I might have imagined.


Although, my sisters and I still face the drama and trauma of an ailing aging parent with dementia, we appear to have things in place to handle the situation better.  The hardest part is simply coping with the emotion and guilt each day can bring. All of this is accompanied by a tremendous sense of hopelessness. We try to be supportive of each other and of Dad. The goal is simply to cope and to strengthen each other.


As I look back at some images taken just a few months ago, they appear to me to be super old and in the distant past. Time is moving swiftly and I recognize that I must enjoy each day as it is. I cant waste time wondering about what might be.  Sometimes, you simply have to live the situation you are in.  You must face challenges head on.


Despite all of the drama and emotion of the past year, I am grateful for the opportunity that I have enjoyed to become stronger a person.   I appreciate more the value of each day and the life I still have ahead of me. My focus now has shifted to living each day as if its my last.   Time is precious and life is short.  One thing is certain, none leaves this earth alive.

Meet Jody: A Friend

Genteel Southern Lady
Jody Humphrey

It's been over twenty five years since I met Jody Humphrey.  This slow speaking southern belle was trained by anti-feminist in the fine art of fencing, diving, sailing, and other fine things in life reserved for those of a more civilized lifestyle.  Jody was groomed at the finishing school Gulf Park by the Sea for young ladies.  "In the 1950’s women’s education was dominated by the idea that femininity via subservience needed to be cultivated and taught to young women. Gulf Park By-the-Sea Junior College in Mississippi promised to make its students “feminine and not feminist.”

Charming and Perfect
At 80

Jody told me about her pampered past in a very deliberate southern drawl.  The finishing school was all about learning the finer things in life from manners, setting the table, to staging parties.  She learned to be the perfect hostess white gloves and all.

Lady in Waiting

Her education included mastering fencing, diving, synchronized swimming and sailing.  Times were very different then.  I will tell you though that Jody has blessed my family with her social graces.  She and my mother-in-law, Shirley, planned all of the details of our outdoor wedding, pool side near our friend's gazebo.  The prim and proper lady practiced her craft and wove her craft and charmed us with her details.  Jody simply makes everything pretty.  Her touch is wonderful and she spreads her joy of a finer time.