2019 Photos— How and Why I See the World. One Year at a Time.

• Was eating dinner at a restaurant across the street from this beach.
• We were on the 2nd floor.
• My chair was facing this beach.
• I jumped up during our dinner, excused myself, and ran across the street because I wanted to capture this moment of light without anybody present.
• I saw this lifeguard hut against the limitless ocean with the sand leading me to that limitless ocean.
• The hut limits my view or of my possibilities but the ocean made me feel that everything was unlimited. But I had to travel across the well-trodden path. Is it worth traveling a well-trodden path to reach the unlimited possibilities?

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• I was in Stockholm with a great buddy of mine killing time before our flight to the article circle to go heli-skiing. We needed to stay awake. So walking a new city made sense.
• I am afraid of water and boats (source: Camp Huron Ontario).
• I am fascinated by them as well. The captains of these vessels. The freedom they have. The respect they must have of water — the most powerful natural item in nature.
• I also like the order. The ropes coiled and hanging everywhere made me feel there was no order. But to the captains and deckhands of those boats the ropes were perfectly ordered.
• This photo fuels my sense of disorder or chaos which is a sailor’s calm and happy place.
• My perspective is not yours. Your perspective is not mine. We should both ask more questions to remove misunderstanding.

• I believe we need to look up more often. Maybe even left and right.
• I believe we need to spend less time looking down (unless in Paris to avoid stepping in dog poop) or straight ahead.
• Ann had arranged a great biking trip in Croatia. The last night was spent in Dubrovnik. When I lived in Munich (1991) I met a guy in my German class who was from Yugoslavia. The civil war was starting. He told me had to go back to his home — Dubrovnik. We wrote letters for a while and then nothing. I hope he is alive.
• While walking through the city I wanted to get away from the crowds (almost impossible pre-Covid). I kept looking up. Wanting to learn and to explore a part of the city nobody paid attention to.
• And then. These windows. Each window opens at a different amount. In order (ah, my happy place). It was like a discovery of sorts of why each inhabitant had the windows open at a different amount but in order. Happenstance, coincidence. Who knows.
• It reminded me of the randomness of life. Even though I like order I appreciate and feel warmly comfortable with the randomness of life.

• Vegas. I get it and I do not.
• I was invited to a conference with life insurance / financial advisors. Since I do not gamble and not a big fan of getting fucked up and I woke early every morning.
• So I wandered around at 6 am.
• I passed this guy on my right while walking across a bridge nearing the end of my roaming morning walk.
• I stopped. Turned around. And took this photo.
• The human spirit is amazing. We have hope even when all logic (thanks Spock) screams at us not to. This guy's foot says it all. Wait, that he only has one flip flop tells us even more. It made me realize — this guy has not killed himself but keeps plugging along.
• He has hope. I feel encouraged in my human spirit. I see this photo and feel nothing but the strength of my or our human spirit.

• NYC. Geat place to wonder.
• I passed this woman and abandoned desk. I stopped and turned around.
• She has no phone. Drinking a glass of coke. Looking despondent.
• The desk looks equally despondent.
• Both images are unrelated. I assumed they were related. I should have asked her.
• The human mind is great at catching and organizing patterns. Just not always accurate.

• I was on my phone taking this photo. I was 6 feet behind this couple. What I did — taking this photo — was completely inappropriate. I could not help myself.
• I choose B/W to capture the lunacy of planning a wedding in February in Deer Valley. Who makes guests put up with guaranteed winter bad weather.
• I had to capture the lunacy to remind myself all decisions have intended and unintended consequences.

• I was in Rapid City South Dakota on a business trip. It had snowed earlier in the day and had melted.
• I walked by this alleyway.
• It amazes me how dirty alleyways are. And then all the wires crisscrossing. Is that not what a 3rd world country looks like?
• Sometimes America reminds me of the Texas saying, “All hat and no cattle.” Kinda depressing. Edward Gibbons was right.

• Last day in Riksgransen, Sweden with a buddy of mine doing heli-skiing north of the arctic circle.
• I am fascinated by the number 3. Think of a stool, Holy Trinity, triangle, etc. etc.
• I also feel when making decisions I am hemmed in. I know I am hemmed in by my bias and past experiences. I felt like the windows with iron bars limiting my decisions knowing that just above, just a smidge above the windows, exist the limitless sky and possibilities.
• How can I make decisions looking at the limitless sky and not enslaved to the narrow windows with bars?

• I feel insignificant looking at the sky. The unimaginable distance.
• I was leaving a social party in Dallas. Not my scene. Lots of fake kissing and handshakes. Naturally real ones as well.
• I came across this hanging sculpture of lights. Ann was ready to go.
• I stopped. I looked at these lights. I felt like I was looking at the stars at their level vs looking up. You know — horizontal like.
• I didn’t feel small in the universe. I did not feel big in the universe. I just felt like being part of the universe. A settling moment during an unsettling evening.