Things Nobody Told you # 2

I have quite a few snaps where people appear to be making eye contact with me, but actually most if not all of those were taken with the half-mast bow grip, the 140L grip, or some other variation.

When you make eye contact with a stranger a tremendous amount of information is exchanged - too much information - more than your brain can process or act upon in the tenth of a second you have to press the shutter.

More often than not when you make eye contact you'll hesitate and that fraction of a second is all the time some Clown with an umbrella needs to step in and ruin the shot.

Another thing: Eye contact invites conversation - you're not there for a meet-n- greet nor do you want to have to explain yourself to every slob with a shopping bag or latte cup that happens to look in your direction.

So AVOID eye contact. Take that snap and move on.

Things Nobody Told You # 1

Okay - what's this... this could be good, this could be something..

Yeah - this is gonna be like something from the cover of Vogue... all I gots to do is wait till she gets alongside then pivot and ....

DOH! Watch your back, check the rearview - know what's creepin up behind you.

Sharper Image

If you found out your girlfriend was a female impersonator would you still kiss and hold hands?

Probably not, because although "she" would still be the same your perception of "her" would be radically altered.

That, in my opinion is why Sharper Image is in chapter 11.

Fifty dollar stainless steel nose hair trimmers with LCD light no longer confer status when they can be bought for $7.95 at widgetsRus.com. When your neighbor has one in his medicine cabinet, when you find one at a garage sale for $2.00, your perception of what constitutes a high status personal hygiene appliance is radically altered.

The lesson is that mass produced products are generally speaking a poor place to seek status. That is what one of a kind artworks are for. And art need not be expensive. The Image of being "Sharper" is about (or should be)a refined sense of aesthetics, of connoisseurship and charity. And if the art is something you made, if you are the arteest - even better.