Hi Joe I think that this forum is about Pentax and photography and not about beauty alone. Showing only beautiful things here is a severe limitation and a denial of real life.
Please keep posting interesting photos like that. greetings Markus >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Joseph Tainter [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 5:32 AM >>To: [email protected] >>Subject: [Fwd: RE: PESOs: The Real Southwest] >> >> >>Okay, maybe I need to go into this a bit more deeply. >> >>Real Southwest 1: >> >>http://www.fotocommunity.com/pc/pc/mypics/535671/display/3704299 >> >>The Navajo (this is part of their land) find beauty in even such a >>place. I do too. Above the mailbox is a bit of the formation that >>elsewhere is called the Painted Desert. Off in the distance is Sleeping >>Ute Mountain. The road leads to it. Look at the clouds building in the >>blue sky. I find beauty in the majesty of this open, isolated place, >>where on one else is around. >> >>Real Southwest 2: >> >>http://www.fotocommunity.com/pc/pc/mypics/535671/display/3704304 >> >>A lot of people in this part of the country lead a low maintenance/low >>overhead life. It is, in part, because of poverty. But not entirely. How >>to explain it? It is just the way of life. Some people will work in the >>city, then on weekends go back to a place that looks like this. It is >>their home, and they love it. I love this area and enjoy photographing >>it, including (sometimes especially) this part of it. Buildings such as >>this fit (blend, really) into the landscape like buildings in few other >>places I have visited. >> >>Some years ago I talked with a woman who lives in Maryland. She had just >>been to visit the Hopi Indian Reservation in northeastern Arizona. She >>hadn't liked it. I asked: Why not? She couldn't quite put it into words, >>but after some prompting she admitted being bothered by the fact that >>they don't have front lawns. At that point I gave up trying to talk to >>her. Her experience of life was just too narrow, and she couldn't grow >>beyond that. I think her problem was in assuming that aspiring to an >>American home, with a front lawn, would be natural for everyone. Not so. >>Many people in the Southwest would not have such a home even though they >>can afford it. >> >>That said, I do realize that people who live in greener parts of the >>world sometimes find the Southwest too stark and brown. >> >>Tony Hillerman, one of our novelists, tells a story about talking to a >>fellow on a bus while traveling through some empty New Mexico landscape. >>The guy lived in this state but said he didn't like it. Hillerman asked >>him why not. He replied that it was too isolated and stark (or something >>along those lines). Hillerman's comment in his essay was that this was >>precisely why he does live here. Some of us just like it. >> >>On PDML I have posted a photo or two showing how people live in Mali. >>The purpose isn't to show their poverty, but how wonderfully they cope >>with a life that most of us would find difficult. (Incidentally, poverty >>is relative to information. Most Malians are wonderfully happy and >>unaware that they are what we would call "poor.") >> >>The Southwest is a quirky place. If I was just visiting here, I would >>want to find places such as in these photos, to experience the place >>whole. When in former East Germany and the Czech Republic recently I >>took several photos of once beautiful buildings that were allowed to >>decay in the Soviet era. I may inflict one or two of those on the list >>when I get around to it. I find beauty in their decay. >> >>Joe >> >>-------- Original Message -------- >>Subject: RE: PESOs: The Real Southwest >>Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:03:37 -0600 >>From: Joseph Tainter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>To: [email protected] >> >>Hi Joe, >> >> >>You asked for reactions so I suppose you won't mind a negative one. To >>be truthful, I don't care for either one. While they may be an accurate >>representation of the less beautiful, less fortunate side of the >>American Southwest, I feel that I see enough ugliness in the world as it >>is, that I don't need to see more. >> >>As you obviously know there's plenty of beautiful scenes and vistas in >>those areas that are uplifting. It's not that I want to close my eyes to >>reality, it's just that I would rather vicariously experience those >>mindblowingly beautiful slices of your trips as opposed to the less >>pretty ones. >> >>No offense intended. >> >>Tom C. >> >>---------- >> >>Your reaction is fine, Tom. Sorry if I inflicted some ugliness on you. >>But did you read my postscript? >> >>I enjoy both of these places. They are not conventionally beautiful, but >>I find them interesting, and enjoyable thus. I am fascinated by the >>mailbox. The last time I drove by that intersection was five years ago, >>and I don't recall it being there. >> >>Joe >> >>
