Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Or, everyone in the U.S., anyway.

 

This year, as you gather with family and friends to watch parades and/or football, gorge yourself on way too much food, nod out to a nice tryptophan high, and do it all over again for dinner, take some time to give thanks to the One who created all of that, the One who made you, your friends and family, all the people in the parade, all the animals and plants you cooked and/or consumed, the timber or stone the house was made of, your senses of sight, smell, texture, and test, all of them so important to enjoying the holiday, the changing seasons, all of it, everything and everyone that exists, existed, and will exist. All praise and thanks belong always and only to Allah, the Creator, Provider, Sustainer of all of us. Alhamdulillah.

Nobuyoshi Araki – ‘Sentimental Journey 1971 – 2017 -‘

Nobuyoshi Araki is one of the more (perhaps the most) prolific photobook makers ever, with over 500 to his credit. Despite his renown, I’ve avoided his work. Every time I’ve gone looking, I’ve wound up finding Tokyo Lucky Hole or one of his other, more or less explicit/pornographic works, and I’m not too interested in exploitation.

Araki’s Sentimental Journey 1971 – 2017 – is different, though, and I’m a bit surprised I haven’t come across the Sentimental Journey series before. It’s different, and really brilliant.

Continue reading “Nobuyoshi Araki – ‘Sentimental Journey 1971 – 2017 -‘”

Keep your hands to yourself

If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks, you might wonder about the timing of this post, but as regards the second hollow one, there’s a reason the parties and dinners I attend with my neighbors are gender segregated: in addition to our inability to watch our mouths, we humans—especially men, but women too—have great difficulty keeping our pants on, much less keeping our hands to ourselves.

And lowering our gaze? fuggedaboutit. Continue reading “Keep your hands to yourself”

Cognitive Dissonance in the Mountains with the Yashica

The last week of October found me in Arkansas (and Oklahoma) for a brief visit with Mom, some photography, and some introspection. I’ve been slow in getting the film processed, so look forward to more photographs from this trip in coming weeks.

For now, it’s all about Cinestill films in the Yashica Mat-124, a party, of sorts, in 5 parts. Continue reading “Cognitive Dissonance in the Mountains with the Yashica”

Watch your Mouth

Abu Musa reported that

رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ قَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ أَىُّ الإِسْلاَمِ أَفْضَلُ قَالَ ‏ “‏ مَنْ سَلِمَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ ‏”‏‏

Some people asked Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), “Whose Islam is the best? i.e. (Who is a very good Muslim)?” He replied, “One who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands.”

In a hasan (good, but not perfect) hadith in  Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri narrates that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said

إِذَا أَصْبَحَ ابْنُ آدَمَ فَإِنَّ الأَعْضَاءَ كُلَّهَا تُكَفِّرُ اللِّسَانَ فَتَقُولُ اتَّقِ اللَّهَ فِينَا فَإِنَّمَا نَحْنُ بِكَ فَإِنِ اسْتَقَمْتَ اسْتَقَمْنَا وَإِنِ اعْوَجَجْتَ اعْوَجَجْنَا

When the son of Adam wakes up in the morning, all of his body parts bow to the tongue and say: ‘Fear Allah regarding us, we are only part of you. If you are straight we are straight and if you are crooked we are crooked.’

Continue reading “Watch your Mouth”