Before ... and After

Wild Stallion, Jaffa, Israel, November 2012, Nikon D600 with FX 50mm lens, 
1/15 sec @ f1.8, ISO 1600, 0 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Now that is some impressive graffiti.  Certainly a talented artist made this mural on the side of a concrete bulding.  And I love how the artist ignored the depth and material changes in his "canvas".  I think it is really impressive.

Now if you take a look at the photo below, you will see what the building looks like without the mural/grafitti.

Now you might think this is a "Before and After" comparison, and it is.  However, the second shot is the "after".  Yes, for some reason, the building owner (I assume) decided to paint over the mural with this really attractive grey paint ;-)

Now I don't begrudge the owner doing whatever he thinks is needed.  Nor am I lamenting the loss of that great Wild Stallion mural/grafitti.  No, my point is that you must not assume things will always remain as they are.  Everything is impermanent.

That's not good or bad, it just is what it is.  So seize the day, and make your art while you still can.   Tomorrow, who knows?  Your mural may be lost, but everyone who has seen it will be the better for it.  And now look what you have -- another blank canvas.  What more could an artist hope for?

Apology

Apology, Amsterdam, Netherlands, August 2012, Nikon D5000 with DX 18-200mm VR lens, 
44mm, 1/200 sec @ f7.1, ISO 200, 0 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

The scale is a little hard to see, but notice the herringbone walkway at the bottom of the picture.  This is some large, and apparently intensely-felt graffiti .  I love how some of the plywood fence is left natural.   I wonder if the graffiti artist suffers like the city's most famous painter -- Van Gogh.

Water Color

Water Color, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 2012, Nikon D5000 with DX 18-200mm VR lens, 
300mm, 1/100 sec @ f5.6, ISO 200, 0.7 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

My eye doctor fine tunes my prescription by dialing in lens corrections until I can read the tiny letters at the end of the hall.  When he is nearly finished, he will make small adjustments and flip between them to let me identify the best.

He'll do this by saying, "Which one is better, number 1 or number 2 [flip] ... 1 or 2 [flip]"

I think of that when switching between yesterday's post, and today's post.  Yesterday or today.  Number 1 or number 2.  Please choose whichever is better for your life.