Single White Male

Single White Male
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Ah, sex. It's everywhere, permeating our culture, our eyes, and our experience. Even when I compose and search my environment for that elusive shot, those little stories hidden everywhere and around, it is relatively simple to uncover a topic related to sex.

Creating a tension that is not there is one of the most interesting processes in photography, akin to conjuring gold from lead, a conceptual alchemy that is simply delicious when attained.

And of course when it’s about sex, it’s all the more tantalizing…

Sputnik

Sputnik
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Complacency vs. Action - - Indifference vs. Empathy - - The Individual vs. Community.

My personal yings and yangs, those everyday dilemmas that I deal with, depending on the state of mind, the current emotional condition, and the reluctance of habitual existence in society that molds and manipulates us.

Is ambition an unintended means for self-development, or a want for acknowledgement? Or perhaps an ugly motivator that ultimately reveals insecurity because of an unidentified need for attention? Or perhaps a hint of an inner drive that seeks stimulus, where recognition simply resides as a side-effect?

Probably a little bit of each....

Question

Late
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Where and what will IT all lead to...?

Play

Play
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Sometimes an image causes an impact in an unexpected manner, despite any preconceived notion that we bring down to bear on it.

Yesterday as walked around downtown San Francisco I whimsically captured this shot, and went home. I uploaded this image the following morning to my Flickr account and to my great surprise it was instantly popular, commented on and generally much appreciated.

As I looked at the image I realized that it was, despite my initial indifference, an image that captures attention. Perhaps it's the scale of the person against the illuminated backdrop, or the equally divided composition where black is so predominant, or even its inherent basic raw graphic quality?

Whatever it was my eyes were opened through the input I got when placing it a public forum, and I learned to appreciate something I had created.

Interaction from the outside is so invaluable...

Holy Cow

Holy Cow
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I am at last getting that drive back, the kind that inspires a desire to act silly so as to percolate my experiences into something larger and more meaningful. The jejum juice that enriches life, in a sense.

The last few days have been particularly rich in unexpected positive manifestations of humanity, with resulting smiles and gratifying interactions in multiple directions.

As usual we are not immune to what happens around us, whether it be good or bad. I suppose we can accentuate and focus on certain aspects, but sometimes the weight of what is happening around us can be too overbearing to ignore.

There is an odd sense of the "luck-of-the-draw" to that idea though, that both excites and scares me...

Zone

Zone
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I walk around and look. And what I see inspires me. It inspires because it is anonymous and created by talented people that I will never meet.

And then it strikes me: as individuals we can contribute to our environment around us, and art is in fact everywhere, and even more so valid when on the street, in our minds and everywhere around in an apparently benign manner.

Not to say that what we see mounted and emphasized in a gallery is somehow less pertinent or more detached. Not at all, since there is always a place for the dissected observation that is processed and presented.

But I'm in a phase that appreciates the apparently mundane and everyday, the quiet aesthetic that abounds everywhere. The evidence of some kind of thought in a physical gesture that is seemingly whimsical yet on further observation reveals an artistic soul...

Adventures In Photography

Also Sells Cherries
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Part of the difficulty of wandering around wielding a camera is capturing people in the environment around us, especially strangers. It's the time-old barrier any budding shutterbug desires to overcome when attempting to expand on one’s thematic range.

It's curious to me how the relationship between camera and portrait so defines how society functions, the hidden codes and protocols associated to our daily interactions.
I equate the experience to having a large magnet hovering over me that somehow becomes charged the moment I point a camera toward my intended capture. As the person I try to portray becomes aware of my intention, the level of interaction increases dramatically, and we are drawn to each other. The closer one gets to the subject, the stronger the interaction, and the more unpredictable the outcome.

These are the crucial moments; the eye contact to request permission, the casual smile that acknowledges my presence and the banter that sometimes arises. And finally the capture, the moment we hope to encase in the little box that freezes time. More often then not this all occurs within the space of a few seconds.

I am always amazed at how this process mimics the dynamics of life, especially those significant moments that define later endeavours and achievements…

Corn on the Cob

Corn on the Cob
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

What is the big deal anyway?

What makes people necessitate some kind proverbial mirror of one's desires and wishes, a process that both illuminates and inspires?

That incessant need to complement the other, that ambition to counter-balance or accentuate the pre-determined notion of partnership and progress through unity, specifically as a force of dynamic and exponential growth through mutual sustenance and inspiration haunts me, as it is somewhat contradictory to my capacity to effectively interact and move freely. Yet I have seen that it is true and valid, necessary and effective, beautiful in its truest manifestations.

Here lies my dilemma; that search for a complement that exists through a lack of friction, in both directions, mutually exclusive yet intertwined and greater than the sum of its parts…

Off Center

Americana
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I feel torn between the outright bizarre and the underground outlandish, but not too often.

I mostly appreciate things left of center, but only slightly, or least only slightly in an immediate manner.

You know, those surprising individuals who display a certain degree of quirkiness and eccentricity, but only after we've been exposed to their personality over some time. Over-the-top craziness almost always bores me, particularly when it seems to be contrived and pretentious, as if some mediocre plea for attention based on perceived notion that the more outlandish the better.

Give me the closet poet weirdo who wears a suit, the philosophy-wielding neighbour that works as an accountant, the sex-addict madam under the veneer of someone prim and proper, and oooh-so responsible.

That's the real fun, the true eccentric, the verdadeiro freaking mind twisting conundrum, slowly revealed to us, causing astonishment and respect, wonder and a slight tinge of bewilderment.

Stimulation by stealth, I like to call it...

Afar

Afar
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I feel it now, that sense of looking and pursuing something apparently intangible.

I am a little off balance, somewhat disorientated, but fortunately sufficiently familiar with myself to know that this is a sensation that has significance, and that it will pass.

I know what has caused this feeling, what would help overcome it (unfortunately it is most likely beyond my reach), and what consequences I may expect.

This is often enough,, as I supppose this has to do with the familiarity I feel with this sense of turmoil.

Funnily enough, this is even somewhat predictable, and therefore manageable. It still leaves a strange emptiness in my belly though...

Wall Flowers

Wall Flowers
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Flowers come in many shades and colours, shapes and forms. The word "flower" is in itself deceptive, a very powerful and iconic image that evokes a sense of warmness and positive disposition, romance and joie de vivre associated to spring and renewal.

I however cannot help but take a look from the sidelines and explore a more subversive interpretation of this archetype for bliss. I tend to find bliss to be bitter-sweet and tumultuous, anarchic and heart wrenching, beautiful and melodramatic, surprising and deadly addictive, raunchy and maddening. And so it should be, for it to be meaningful and effective. Flowers that have dark streaks tend to be that little more interesting, although one has to watch out for the thorns (even roses have these).

And let’s not forget lustful. Meaty lustful, yet tender and post-lovemaking smooth-skin soft; if you can get my contrived pseudo-virtuoso nonsense metaphor. Whew. Whatever.

None of that running-in-the-meadow-stuff for me though...

Refresher

Refresher
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

In need of one...

What Lies Yonder?

What Lies Yonder?
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Every once in while an event happens in our life that causes one to think about the future, and what we want it to hold.

More often then not the event is unexpected, and therefore more meaningful and difficult to digest. The stealth approach proves again to be the most effective and consequential.
As time moves on the emotional impact takes shape, and becomes ever more meaningful. The permanence of its effect serves to reinforce the importance of significance.

I appreciate these events, these moments in our lives that shake the foundations a little, and as I write this I realize how strong it actually was. I am simultaneously saddened and joyful, anxious and grateful, lost and found...

22nd Street

22nd Street
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I desire simplicity in my life; where ignorance is a virtue, innocence a natural state of being that needs no intellectual inducement, and having some form of regularity is welcomed and nurtured.

I desire simplicity in my life; where satisfaction is available, little pleasures are truly appreciated, and the very existence of thought is not layered with innuendo and double meaning.

I desire simplicity in my life; where the sun shines warm on my face, where all sex is love, where mind is merely a conduit for functioning, where an emotion is novel, and my state is of permanence.

I desire simplicity in my life, but then I would be bored…

Num Num

Num Num
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I've always loved that wonderful Seller's movie, "The Party". Irreverant, original and a damn good laugh.

Everything I aspire to be, in my own little way, as I forge onward in this large, mad world that I can never seem to grasp in all its entirety, which is of course fine.

Think about it: what would we do if we were sure of ourselves, had nothing more to strive for? That sounds deadly boring to me, much like an early retirement sitting around waiting to die. Luckily that will never happen to me, I have too many interests and desire to learn for my own good.

And now I shall proceed with the rest of the sketchy, under-development, amorphic master plan...

Tease

Tease
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Seduction and insinuation, the untold story that may be, the potential to be found, the hint of what we want.

We need it, we want it, we desire that spike in curiosity, often to the point of not wanting to know too much to stay at that proverbial peak.

So tantalizing and near, yet not quite what we think or expect, expect the unexpected, inspect the detected, and reflect.

But not too much. The cerebral has its place, and it isn't here.

Like good sex...

Horizon

Horizon
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Isn't it odd how we can sometimes see our future in the distance, with all the promise that it holds, a distant manifestation of everything that we will achieve, if only somewhat constrained and blocked?

It seems so agonizingly nearby, all that is necessary is to reach out and stretch the arm somewhat for the intangible to become real, as the yearning marches of time and expectations beckon to be consummated, an unfulfilled potential. And yet it lingers beyond, teasing provocatively, as if to increase the sense of latent lust.

However, what matters is that we can still see it through the thicket of barriers and obstructions. The very knowing of the potential future somehow brings it closer, and makes it less elusive...

In The Woods

In The Woods
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

I love big long redwood trees. Gigantic roots, entrenched and real, earthy, vivacious, a supporter of all types of life ranging from the fungi clinging to the base, to the blue jay chirping away at its nether heights. Stillness in their presence despite the majesty of their size is perhaps the most pertinent and revealing feature.

As I walked around these massive living beings I felt surprisingly soothed by the mood that was present all around me. A large hallway painted with stabs of light percolating through the high leaves define a tranquil space, mesmerizing and peaceful. I felt well here...

Bask

Bask
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Things are often not what we perceive, what is revealed to us is mostly set in the context of a cloud of information that may conceal as much as reveal.

Unintended miscommunication is the potential result, subtly altering all original meaning and pretense.

I however do not want to be jaded through caution. I trust myself enough to get it right on a significant number of occasions, so as to enable to open myself, to experiment and toy with what may be, to indulge in the potential of every situation...

Coming Home

Coming Home
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali.

Home. Where is it, and what makes a place feel like home?

I've always grasped the idea that home is esentially where the heart is, but unfortunately it can be emotionally wrenching when one moves around as often as I do. Places and people to a certain degree come and go, even meaningful friends, and only the strongest of relationships survive the physical distance.

I've come to believe that a sense of home necessitates a certain perception of permanence, not necessarily the type offered by a physical place, but rather an emotional state that is a bellwether.

Such a state can for example possibly exist when one is on the move with a partner/lover/friend.

Permanence on the move, a metaphorical rock amongst enviromental instability. I like that notion, but it is still out of reach...