My Manifesto:

1.The world and everything in it does not need a deity to be intricate or beautiful.
2.God is not a noun, but an adjective.
3.Humans are nothing more than animals, beautiful, natural, carnal, intelligent, and social animals.
4.We are responsible for our morals and our actions derived thereof.
5.A consciousness of some level exists and we are responsible for the health of our own consciousnesses and those of others.
6.It is illogical to intentionally harm (physically or mentally) any other living being because we all depend upon each other in some way or another.
7.Maintain a healthy skepticism towards everything.
8.That being said, don't let your skepticism adversely affect your happiness.
9.Curiosity is the height of human perfection, therefore, learn as much as you can about everything you can.
10.Love as much as you can, and then love some more.

Yesterday, I was struck by the real beauty of the sunset. Every color and hue known to our eyes are present, bidding farewell to yet another day. It seems like it will last forever, but the the yellows, reds, and oranges fall away. They're followed by the greens, purples, and blues. Last to leave is the indigo; it is replaced by the black night, and white stars.

Even more so, I was struck by the folly of art (namely photography, but it applies to other arts as well) in reference to the natural world. I feel that many times people will miss being able to experience the moment of beauty with their own eyes, because they have it hidden behind a viewfinder. Yesterday evening, while on the train, my first instinct was to move across the railcar to the western side, whip out my camera, and try to take as many shots as I could of the sunset. But something stopped me. Rather than go with my first instinct, I turned in my seat (for there was no one next to me), put my feet up, and reveled in the setting sun. The want to share beauty with those around us, in visual, written, or performed art, is a noble desire. However, we cannot forget to first enjoy it ourselves. A photograph is not the sunset. And although it will certainly last longer, it won't be as genuine as the memory of the time when you sat on the train, on a hot summer night, watching the sunset over your hometown.

Some of my entries have watermarks on them. However, they do not mean that I do not want to share my photos. If you would like to use the watermarked photographs (or any others for that matter), please just email me or contact me and I will be more than happy to share the original (and higher quality) version with you.