There was a welcome break in the weather today. A high of 65 was predicted for the day so I grabbed my Nikon and headed for the zoo this morning. I always have mixed emotions when I go to the zoo.
The animals are well-taken care of and they are safe but I feel sorry for them that they are captive, living their lives behind walls and fences and not free to roam and enjoy life in their natural habitat. They've traded safety for security. Well, not really because they had no choice in the matter. They were either captured or born into captivity.
There are people who choose captivity over freedom in marriages and relationships that trap them just as effectively as the animal's cages and walls. Oftentimes when I drive through neighborhoods with expensive homes, I wonder how many of the people living in those places are happy and how many of them are miserable but have chosen the trappings of wealth and material security over freedom and happiness.
The zoo animals have no choice. They live out their lives in boredom; one day following the other in endless succession until they die. It's very sad.
People who choose to trade their freedom for wealth and security do have a choice and maybe they are to be pitied most of all.

This is Maggie. She is my neurotic, obsessive-compulsive, ultra-possessive, massively destructive, socially maladusted miniature daschund. She does have one socially redeeming virtue, if you could call it that. She is a very good bed buddy. She climbs under the covers and sleeps curled up next to me all night long.

"There are some good things to be said about walking. Not many, but some. Walking takes longer, for example, than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed. I have a friend who's always in a hurry; he never gets anywhere. Walking makes the world much bigger and thus more interesting. You have time to observe the details. The utopian technologists foresee a future for us in which distance is annihilated and anyone can transport himself anywhere, instantly. Big deal, Buckminster. To be everywhere at once is to be nowhere forever, if you ask me" ~ Edward Abbey, from The Journey Home (1991)
Found this quote on Exposure Lattitudes newsletter I received today. Photowalking fits with street photography, both require slowing down, observation and stepping back from the rush in order to savor the moment.

Okay, I tried to post one more photo and it didn't take without another message. So here goes again. Perhaps I will soon learn how to use this properly but right now I am still a bit confused. I usually have to do things wrong a few times before I finally figure how to do them the right way. Blogging is obviously no exception. Don't know how the guy in this photo can see to ride his motorcycle.

I decided to go out today and do some street photography. Spent hours last night reading message boards about the apprehension and down right fear so many photographers have when it comes to doing street photography (candid shots). The suggestion was made over and over again to just bite the bullet and get out there and do it. So, okay, I figured I would do it and I did!

It was a cold and overcast day and I went to Five Points South where most of the "strange" congregate.

I parked myself out front of Star Bucks because there were tables and chairs and more people walking up and down the street there than any other place in the vacinity. I shot with my Nikon D80 with 18-55 mm lens and I also brought my Canon A470 point and shoot. Used both cameras. Took some shots inside the Original Pancake House with the Canon with the flash turned off. I figured it was more unobtrusive then holding the big Nikon up and looking through the view finder.

Am going to post of few of my first candids done today on here.