“JUST WONDERING….”

I consider myself a “photographer” – sorta, kinda – if taking a camera and shooting a picture counts.  Haha.  No training, no planning – just doing it A LOT.   With digital cameras and Google storage, I photograph everything.  If you and I were having a coffee, chances are I would have a picture of you or me or both of us or the coffee or the restaurant or the flower on the table or….   I love it!  If I post the name of the restaurant, they love it.  I cannot speak for my friends, or strangers, or the waiter, but most people have gotten used to it.  Even the vendors at the flower market have gotten used to me.  At first, some tried to stop me.  Now, most people smile as I am shooting the insides of a cantaloupe.  Haha.  (The artists don’t like it.  I understand.)  They all think I know what I am doing.  I don’t.  I just go with something that looks interesting to my eye.

You see, photography for me just happened.  It started with a Blackberry Smart Phone that I got in 2005, when Steve and I moved from Brentwood to Westwood.  The Smart Phone had a camera.  What??  Who needed a camera and all those apps to make a phone call?  Apparently, I did.  So, during my morning walks, I decided to learn how to use the camera.  First, I needed to start by taking a picture.  A picture of what?  Well, that rose is pretty.  I’ll try that.  I showed Steve the picture of my rose, and, as a fluke, he said why don’t you post it on Facebook.  So, as a joke, I did.

When I started getting “likes”, I thought that was a hoot!  I started posting a picture a day.  I posted a closeup of a rose on Facebook, and later on Instagram, because that was what I liked to shoot.  At some point, I started posting roses on Foap.com, a Swedish website for photographers. I got the attention of Getty Images. Several of my photographs were chosen by them, and one sold!! This is the one that someone purchased.

Now, thirteen years later, I am an avid photographer as the result of a fluke. I post pictures on Facebook, Instagram, Foap, Jayspeakblog, book covers (“Moments in Time” and “Capturing Beauty” by Jay W. MacIntosh), and other venues.  Is most of life like that – a fluke? Steve and I often laughed about the way we met at Dodger Stadium.  We both wondered if it were a fluke.  I’ve wondered if my meeting Andrea Emond on Angloinfo.com was a fluke.  It was my first posting on that site and not something she often checked.  If it were not for her and her excellent guidance for a year-and-a-half, answering our questions, Steve and I might have missed eleven wonderful months together, in France – two kids in love.  

Have you wondered about Life by Fluke?  It makes as much sense as predestination or “meant to be” or such.  AND, if you are wondering about anything at all, you are intelligent!!  How do I know? Well, read this.  I saw it last week and made note (haha):

I think the post was meant for Trump. But, I took it to heart.  I wonder about everything.  I am intelligent!!! YES!!  Vasudev said so.  Who??  I looked the name up – Vasudev was either 1) Vikas Vasudev, an acclaimed portrait and fashion photographer, currently based out of India and working across the world; or 2) Jaggi Vasudev, an Indian yogi and mystic who founded the Isha Foundation; or 3) Mr. Chander Mohan Vasudev, who served as a Secretary of Ministry of Finance, Government of India and was in charge of the Department for Economic Affairs, Department of Expenditure and Department of Banking; or, 4) P.M. Vasudev, who joined the University of Ottawa in January 2011,  and specializes in business law; or, 5) Naveen Vasudev, a Clinical Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology at the University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.  Bottom line, we don’t know who said  ‘those who wonder are intelligent and the rest are a bunch of idiots’.  I’m going with Vikas – the acclaimed portrait and fashion photographer, currently based out of India and working across the world – because he is an acclaimed photographer.  If he didn’t say it, he should have.  We don’t like idiot photographers.

Now, if you look up “fluke”, the Collins English Dictionary says, “If you say that something good is a fluke, you mean that it happened accidentally rather than by being planned or arranged.”  Hello.  Yes, I know, I know – you are going to tell me about God’s Plan.  Well, today, I am wondering.  Besides, most things happen accidentally.  Remember Vin Scully, “If you want to make God smile, tell him your plans.”  Well, I don’t want to be an idiot, so I will keep on wondering.  Hope I can keep from telling God my plans.  I have a lot of them…..

Enjoy the photos. I had fun shooting them. 

Best, Jay, the Photographer

For the Record…..