The dust from the snap election in Japan may be over but that doesn’t mean that all is well. People of all shades and character are pretty fed up with government here in Japan.  I, for one, will never place trust in the hands of politricksters.  They are only bound to disappoint us all with their ego, greed, and money.

I place my faith in higher hands.  I place my love in my heart, I try my hardest to lead a good life.  I will take the nonsense that the politrickters dish out to us, and transform it into beauty spiced with love.

Egotistical, nationalistic posters, transform before my eyes into beautiful works of passion.

Caught in the long hallway between Otemachi station and Tokyo Station.  A lovely little corner of hidden gorgeous abstraction.  It is all about the east to the west!

A few more from the upcoming mayors race in Urayasu.

Time to see through, and seek truth.

Yep!  It is that time of season again.  The time when the citizens of the wealthy enclave of Urayasu head to the polls to vote for their next mayor.  I don’t know maybe its me, or maybe its my age, but I have become so jaded by the political process.  All these slick glossy images don’t pull me in; however, they do pull in my eye, and are captured with my lens.

It is time to rethink the way we are all impacted by politricks.  To deconstruct the images of the clean, and dirty politician, and see them all for what they are.

The sun shone so high on Saturday.  It was lovely to be out and about with a cool dry wind blowing though the neighborhood.  The unusually hot summer I suspect has disrupted the natural rhythm of blooming and fruiting of nature.

The wall was just dotted with these beautiful deep hued blue flowers.  Melded into a sky blue sky and the tarred asphalt.  All just a glorious day to be out in my own backyard.

Those that know me, know that I am not a big drinker; however, I do like to enjoy a nice glass of wine once in a while, and especially to celebrate the coming of the sabbath.  In moderation, to be savored and enjoyed the fruit of the vine can work miracles.

So enjoy a glass or two now and then.

The wonderful fruit of the vine.

It is Wednesday.  It is windy and as usual I walked my tired self home.  It seems like the closer I get sometimes the farther away I feel.  This being said, I still am truly thankful for the world that we live in.  I am thankful that I have the time and energy to keep on pursuing my voice, no matter how hoarse it may become.

There are two basic themes in my work these days.  One is seeing the shapes, and angles that make up the concrete metropolis that I inhabit.  The other, still based on shapes, but in an abstracted way.  That is what these images represent.  That same world close up.  That same world that plays with all the elements of image construction.

I don’t mean that everyone on the planet will take ecstasy, I am talking about that the Japanese will go out to cast their ballots in an election.  I hate the noise of the loudspeakers, but I can’t control myself with the political posters.  I love taking them and flipping them.  Subverting them and converting them into an artistic expression.

Get out and vote with your cameras, and brushes.

Next Sunday is the election in Japan.  Until that day arrives we will have to put up with the loud speakered buses at 9 o’clock in the morning.  The silly posters will all come down and we will all go forward with our lives.

Pure fields of colors to delight my inner self.

Enjoy.

I love that pause that starts Friday night.  The time to recoup my strength.  A chance to restore my mental and physical energies.  I time to reflect on the week, and plan the week to come.

I give thanks that I made it to another Friday night.  A lovely ritual of home cooked food, a glass of wine, the warm glow of candles, and the company of my wife.  It is a beautiful ritual.

All stay upfull and blessed!!

It is high time for the political campaigning.  At every station those politricksters are out pressing the flesh with their bleached white gloves.  The posters have been and are being hung across the entire country of Japan.  They all become visual media to be remixed with my lens.

Colors, lines, fragments take on expressions that challenge there sincereness in which those politicians are portraying themselves.  But we all know better, don’t we?

Take what you see, and flip it like a giant flap jack.

Flip it baby, flip it!

A snap election has been ordered here in Japan after the new prime minister Kan took over a few weeks ago.  The election will take place on July, 11th 2010.  Only two weeks of campaigning are allowed.  At least that saves our ears from the endless loudspeakers that roam the neighborhoods asking us to vote for their politrickster.  Another good point is that there is a lot less money wasted on the campaigning than the pornographic amounts wasted back in the states.

The best thing for me as a photographer are the political posters.  I just love to have fun with them.  They are up all over the place and are put up on specially erected boards that each party has an assigned space.  I love to get in there with my lens and abstract, pervert the already perverted message that the politicians are trying to portray.

They have no real power.  Only the illusion of real power because “we the people” have given in to them.  The people are not ready for real change, because real change will mean heartaches.  Therefore in the meantime, as the humidity and the heat rise so does the foul stench of politics.  In return I will strive to take such ugliness and turn it into an expression.

Don’t give in to the politricksters illusions.  Go out and fight the real fight.

This can be a motto of my life.  I always seem to be zigging and zagging on though it.  There is never that clearly defined path.  So, I tend to just make my own way.  Stumbling falling down, but every so often there is the right push, and that zigging and zagging creates a break though.  A way to see beyond the next avoidance.  Do not be afraid of those unexpected failures, those crashes that leave the ego bruised and battered.  Get up, look around, and discover how you can crash on though.

These were the thoughts that occupied my mind as i wandered back to my home this afternoon.  Trying to make everyday the day that I crash and break on though simultaneously.

I try not to fret.

I try to my troubles.

I let what is to be, be.

and I create those spectacular crashes ALL by myself.

Live Up ! ! ! ! !

Fire, fire, fire is on my brain, and the random interconnected images that make of my stream of consciousness for the day.