The current books and where they lead my brain

I like browsing through the photography related books at the library. Periodically they cycle through them, perhaps exchanging with other branches. I think COVID was a good time for that, keeping people busy and all. New ones don't show up very often, these are 2018 and 19, respectively. I got them out thinking they might help my thought process around a couple portrait projects I'm working on.

This first one is a real winner! Many of these are really similar to the kinds of photos I'd like to be able to take. I really enjoyed going through the book, and even found it on Facebook and explored there a bit.

This one was also pretty good, if not quite exactly what I was looking for. Be warned, it's big and thick and very heavy. I had to prop it up on the arm of the chair to look at it for any length of time. The best part of it was learning more about the "Afghan Mona Lisa", seen here in the upper left of the cover. There is a matching photo of her as a grown woman.

I'm wondering about the process they used. Surely they didn't wander around taking street photos. Somehow they asked and got the person to pose, even when there was a language barrier. I'm just guessing there had to be model release forms involved, but how valid are those if the model doesn't understand the language?

That got me thinking about all these women and their lives and the hardships they've had to overcome. All of them. Different levels of it in different parts of the world, carried out with varying levels of subtlety, including no subtlety at all, just naked misogyny.

I remember talking to my mom about her (then) new job about the detailed, (and when I say detailed I mean DETAILED) list of what was appropriate wear for women in the office. The men's list said simply, "suits". Even then (I was in high school) I thought it was insulting to tell a grown woman what was suitable wear to the office. I'm just guessing some man had the task of determining if the dress code had been violated.

Then in my own working life I watched the evolving dance around "business casual" and "casual Fridays", and that was well before the COVID working from home. The rules were always more specific about women's wear. (Don't get me started on high school dress codes!) I've had several people mention they took a delicious pleasure in dressing completely inappropriately while working from home, and one mentioned they came THAT close to accepting a call while nude. During my last in-office working stints it was rare to see someone wearing a suit. 

Dress codes are just one of the ways women are repressed. Just lately a female beach volleyball team was fined for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms, and almost simultaneously another athlete was told her shorts were too short. Were they shorter than the bikini bottoms worn by the volleyball players? Having a tough time with that concept. 

I understand clothing standards where it matters for performance. Clothing worn in swimming, speed skating, and other sports have a direct and measurable impact on the finishing times, and those that can afford the most 'slippery' outfits have an advantage. It makes sense to make the playing field level. But what of most other sports? If the men can play beach volleyball in shorts, why can't women? For any random sport, why don't the uniforms look pretty similar?

Yes, I know, TV ratings. 

I've always thought that getting more women into the corridors of power would lead to better government, and better run companies. Let's just say it's a longer road than I thought it would be. The stories of the lengths the patriarchy will go to in order to diminish women are astonishing to those that think men are the rational sex. And yet I think it's important that men do what they can to help break that glass ceiling for all women, not just the extraordinary ones who have powered through in the face of resistance that stops almost everyone else.

Which leads me to the Civic election in Calgary this fall. My dilemma is this, I believe that politicians are like diapers; they should be changed often and for the same reason. I strongly dislike how our current ward councillor has voted on several issues. (The mayor too, but he's not running again. More about that later.) Our ward councillor is a woman, one of the longest serving councillors having been first elected in 2000, and would be the senior voice in what will be an almost complete turnover. I think only 3 or 4 of the councillors are running for re-election out of 14. 

The other three people contesting for her seat are old, white, men. Not sure how rich they are. One is a UCP shill. One is almost completely inarticulate. One seems plausible, just like an insurance salesman. I've met two of the three, and I'm not sure what to think about the vibes.

My thinking is that rich, old, white men have been running things for much longer than long enough. Time for someone else to have a chance. The someone else in this race qualifies for the diaper rule. Decisions, decisions.

While I'm on about it, the race for the mayor's chair is stupidly huge. I think there's 20 people running. Three of them are former councillors, which gives them at least some idea how City council works, though one of them is a grandstanding disagreeable obnoxious fool. One candidate has already been accused of violating election laws in relation to political action committees, and there's a couple of those firmly in the right-wing camp. They smell like UCP. 

A couple of the candidates are easy to eliminate, since they can't even organize a web site, or they hold views so reprehensible they shouldn't be allowed out in public without a minder. That all still leaves a large field of candidates, at least some of whom look at least plausible at first glance. I've no idea how all this will end up.

Enough of that. I've got breakfast to get, and prep for a dragonfly hunting expedition with a buddy later today.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower, the first dahlia of the year.

Peony

Lily

But first a serendipity, with the rain chain in action.

Bee

Linda working on her garden, but first a serendipity. I think this was part of a series exploring just how macro a photo could be.

It's been really hot so far this year, and kind of hazy overcast with smoke, so there's a lot of garden watering happening to keep things looking nice. She gets a ton of compliments on the garden from people walking past. Some are regulars.

Retro

This shows up as unblogged, though it probably was. I don't think I'll get any complaints. It's from mid 2016, and is almost completely unedited. Curtis was such a handsome kitty he almost never needed any editing to look good, only to correct flaws in the photographer's technique. I'd like to work on getting portraits of people with this sort of look.