My primary obsession is with the nature of reality and what it means to be a human being: Who are we? Where are we? How did we get here? These questions are approached in the photo-illustrated Journal, one of the more popular segments of which is the essay on Free Will. The Links page lists some other folks with similar concerns. The Reviews page looks at the work of people who relate--sometimes agreeably, sometimes not--to these concerns. Lastly in this category is my podcast, Bare Brains. You don't need an ipod to listen to it, (I don't have one myself)--just click on the file and it will open in your browser. There are twelve episodes so far.
My secondary obsession is with having fun, which can take innumerable forms, some of which result in viewable artifacts such as photographs, drawings, paintings, sculpture, and video (including 3D). Examples of all of these will eventually find their way to this web site, although at present, photographs hog the stage.
The Journal was originally supposed to be a blog-like thing--before there were blogs--but I thought it needed context, so I began it with some biography and the evolution of my thinking. There were three entries when 17-year-old Laura (daughter of my wife's cousin) came out from the East Coast to Oakland in 1996 for a visit. Eve was showing her the wonders of Apple computers and in the process exposed her to my web site, which she then read in full after her return to New York. She began asking me questions via email, which I answered at length, and since our discussions augment and expand the Journal entries, we've decided to include them as part of it.
During the course of our writing, I had uploaded a fourth Journal entry, "The Great Myth of Personhood", so the letters have been inserted in two sections divided by that entry. The first section includes: The Letters Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3, and Part 4, and the second section includes Part 5 and Part 6. In December 2005, I added a new entry, Getting Current Again. Since then I've been concentrating on the podcast, Bare Brains, and things I might have written in the Journal have been discussed there.
Related to the Journal is a page called Open Letters, which contains letters to editors that were never printed, or to people (famous or otherwise) who never responded.
News! March6, 2008: Episode Thirteen of the podcast, Bare Brains, is the latest, so click and listen. My blog, The Short Version, has moved from tumblr to WordPress, and some new images have been added. Check for new posts.
Older Photos:
Below you will find thumbnails of photographs which are linked to larger versions of each, and in a future upgrade of this site you will also find additional information about how or where each one was taken and any manipulations involved. They are grouped into three categories: Camera Plus Computer, Studio Work, and The Great Outdoors. Once you have followed a link to the larger views, you can scroll up or down to see the rest of the images within that category. Links will also be available to bring you back to the Photo Index or to take you directly to the other offerings available here. The photographs included in the Journal are not indexed. (The strategy is that you'll get bored waiting for the downloads and read a few words.)
Newer Photos:
An index page to more recent photos is here.
Under Equipment you will find general information about what I use, and under Technique you will find some specifics on how. For more specifics on two of my more recently exhibited photographs, start with "Eve's Last Bowls Singing."
What I am about to say may seem strange to those who have not yet read the Journal--consider this an introduction to that section. I do not regard myself as deserving of either credit or blame for anything that appears here. My memories of people who have affected my thinking begin before preschool--parents, relatives, friends, unknown strangers. Later there were the book people--those who wrote them and those they were written about. Movies, television, magazines, computers--all have contributed to who I am. If my brain happens to provide a point of convergence for all these influences, it is nothing I can take personal credit for, nor do I take criticism of any of my brain's output personally. We are all in this together.
Business: Everything on this site is copyrighted by me, Norman L. Bearrentine, and should not be used commercially without permission. Prints and high-resolution digital files of all the photographs are available. E-mail for information on prices and sizes.
