The Life and Times

october twenty nine, two thousand eight
Prosperity is not money, or financial gain. Prosperity begins as a state of mind. You are as rich and successful as any individual walking on earth. The true question of wealth is do you know it. Do you realize your riches that lay within? Prosperity is a state of mind that begins in the consciousness. It goes beyond money and material passions. It requires only that you realize the anger, hurt and disappointment of yesterday and embrace the now. Enjoy the richness of your life today and do not fear the uncertainties of tomorrow. Know yourself, who you are and love it. Love what you are doing. Feel your freedom, your peace, your simplicity and your love, both for yourself and for others. If you can strive to accomplish this, you are living and you must, bountiful wealth will adorn you. - dba




A dear friend, "Just Brad" came back to town. Hung for a while, visited friends, played some music and in short we all had a good time. He has built a nice site with his obscure words and music. Take some time to visit this one. You will enjoy it.




From the Archives: This image was shoot in the early 90's while I was stringing for biker magazines. To say the least this era was a wild one. Both for the images I captured and for the ways of the rallies.

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october twenty six, two thousand eight
So many humans of today have the self-loathing ability to make their day as difficult as possible. For some sadistic reason they want gloom and despair, and they thrive on it. By looking for the worst in any given situation or a person they, in their sick and morbid way, can feel better about their life. What a disappointing life it must be to have this ritual so deeply imbedded into your mind that you can not find the good.
    If you refuse to see the good in something or someone, you will never find it. When your voice, words, actions are of strife, despair and unhappiness, you draw it into your life. We can create our own well being by conducting our mind, voice and heart in a blissful way. When we expect the best we get it. When we send out positive vibrations, they return to us. When we speak of good we see it, and we receive it. When you cleanse your heart of fear, strife and anger, your heart will become blessed. - dba

Image From the Archives: This image was shoot in 1990 while I was in San Carlos Mexico. I was in a grocery store when one of these boys that were bagging groceries saw the FM2 on my shoulder. He asked if I wanted a photo of him. I nodded yes and motioned to go outside in the better light. With that he whistled and the whole store emptied of the bag boys. They were out the door up against the wall and posed themselves. I shot the image, said thanks. They smiled back and ran back inside to bag the groceries of the stunned and waiting shoppers.

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october twenty three, two thousand eight


I Will Change
I close my mouth to argument, my eyes to anger.
I close my hearing to slander and lies, my feelings to hatred.
I close my mind to injustice, my heart to hate.

I open myself to thought and understanding.
I open myself to affectionate caring and compassion.
I open myself to generosity and loving kindness.

I will show an enlightened mind and will not deny your existence.
I will portray these actions with gentle kindness, and be awake to the present moment.
I will accomplish all I say and believe, and then I will be alive. - dba

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october nineteen, two thousand eight

    Hugging is a Western custom, one of the best known to man. There is nothing like the bond of hugging an old friend, a new friend, a loved one, or a lover. Why is this practice slipping away, and become the uncommon thing to do? Why have we given up close human contact in favor of a "high five?"
    A good, 'wrap my arms around you and hold tight hug' is being bastardized by the uncaring, leaning in, shoulder touching nudge. The age old French tradition is being disgraced by kissing the air instead of the checks.  
    When you hug someone, hug them! Keep your back straight and have meaning. For this small amount of time spent with someone in your arms live in the now.
    Instead of letting the practice of hugging diminish, we can add some Eastern influence of conscious breathing, hugging can become even better. It becomes the best. When you hold someone in your arms hold them like you want to be there in the now and embracing them. Now breath three times, long conscience breaths that bring you to the now. This simple action will magnify the meaning of the hug while increasing your happiness. If you are distracted and thinking about something else your hug become distracted. It will mean nothing your hug becomes false.
Think about your breath and feel the person in our arms. It does not mater who they are, be with them when you hold them. This is a wondrous encounter in life and you have to be present in the moment. Breathing consciously, uniting body and mind will make you a real person. Then the other person becomes real as well.
    It takes time to become comfortable hugging this way. If you sense an awkward, uneasy feeling drift into the moment, pat the one you are hugging on the small of the back. Let them know that you are there, really be there. This can become second nature with conscious breathing. Suddenly everything becomes complete. Both of you will exist in the moment and it could become one of the best moments of the day. - dba

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october sixteen, two thousand eight

Image From the Archives: When I start thinking about the blues of winter approaching I try to snap my mind into a delusional state that it might not come this year. Looking at this image I shot years ago helps me get lost on a nice summer day,

There is very little comparable to the sensations that overcome your body when crawling on to fresh clean sheets in a newly made bed. Pulling the tightly wrapped sheets open at the corner of the bed can only be referred to as foreplay and excitement. When you see the clean sheets you know what bliss is coming. Your hedonistic mind becomes giddy with a euphoric feeling that will soon take over your whole body. Your mind is racing, your skin is stimulated as you glide along the cotton fabric entering into these pleasure folds. Deeper and deeper you slide until you have entered completely, but still you push your body just a little deeper, as you close the folds around your neck. The sensational feeling, the clean aroma is virginal. Your eyes close and your mind completely resides inside.  You bask in the euphoric grace of ecstasy, letting your eyes close and your mind drift deep into that other plain. - dba

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october fourteen, two thousand eight

Will it Return
One day my mind wondered, and it has never came back.
I wonder if it ever will.  - dba


Turning the chrome handle a free flowing stream of water shoots out and riddles your skin with thousands of massaging droplets.  Dismissing tension while standing in the shower your entire body exposed to water, steam and relaxation, all stress is washed away.
Now, It's all about the details, the simple things.
Things like adjusting the pressure on the shower head so the jet flow is just right.
Things like assuring the water is directed evenly and powerfully so its direct path stimulates your skin, your body, and your mind.
The moment of pure satisfaction is right here, in the now.
"Could you turn the head so the stream has more pressure, oh that's it."
"Now point it towards me, a little more, yes."
"Not quit so close to the wall, that's it. Wow."
Your body calms, your body relaxes under a shower of precise water alignment. The wonderful look of contentment comes across your face as I watch the water droplets roll over the your skin and fall to the floor. Each one empty of the pleasures it left behind. - dba

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october twelve, two thousand eight


On October seventh I was driving along a seventy-seven mile stretch of highway and saw seven dead raccoons. They were all auto-assassinated. All the dead and mangled raccoons were sprawled out on their sides, but facing the same direction. I wonder if they were coming home from a raccoon saloon. - dba





The Idea for this series of photographs came from a painting created in 1559. The artist was an unknown master of he Second School of Fontainebleau. The name of the famous painting is Gabrielle D'Estress and one of her sisters in the bath. It hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
   It might be a stretch but this is where the thought came to photograph my hand pinching a nipple. And it can be known that I have been inspired from stranger places and things!

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october eleventh, two thousand eight


I went to the lake again today, although today I went with different eyes. I walked through sagebrush, grass and a forest that seemed bathed in a different light.  As I walked along the sandy beaches and rocky shores, what I was looking at I saw. My surroundings became bright.
   Read More >>

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october ninth, two thousand eight

    We live on a powerful planet that can gives us everything that we need. We can harvest its food, drink its water, breath its air and most importantly repaint our souls with its energy. We are merely a tenet on this beautiful planet that truly provides for all our needs. It is all here for all of us, everything we need to live and nourish ourselves is placed here.
    What are we doing? Through our greed and uncaring we are destroying the very place we dwell. An uncaring action that will do nothing but destroy us in the end. I think about this and wonder why we have lost all caring for our mother earth. In reality, world wide we do little or nothing to protect her and we are slowly killing the very place in which we live. Because we cannot feel the immediate harm and destruction of our actions, we think nothing is really happening. We are living in false hopes and doing nothing for the security and longevity of our true home, the same home that we are leaving for our children and our children's children.
    We have to start living with the awareness of what we are doing. We have to understand, know and not forget that everything we do has an effect on where we are doing it at. A world-renowned Zen master wrote that; awareness is knowing what you are doing. Think about your actions and do not let them become second nature. This is a fault of so may. Our actions become second nature and we forget that each action can cause a ripple effect.
    When you throw away lettuce and orange peelings you know that they can transform into a beautiful flower in very short time. When you throw away a plastic bag it does not. Think about and know when you throw a plastic bag into the garbage how long it will take to become a flower. Becoming aware and these actions will help save the earth. By being aware of your actions and what they will, or will not cause, will help you use less plastic bags.
    Think about the 400 years that it will take a disposable diaper to become a flower. Think about our pure air turning brown from our waste. Think about our pristine waters becoming void of life. Think about the nuclear waste that will never become a flower and know that it is buried, or hidden in almost every state. Now think about our children. No, better yet think about your children. - dba

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october seventh, two thousand eight

Don't let life happen to you, make life happen for you. – dba


I went by a cemetery the other day. It was a crisp, cloudy fall day with vibrant, but subdued colors everywhere. The cemetery was full of crows, ravens and magpies. They were jumping on, and frolicking all around the headstones. I thought for a moment about all the crows, ravens and magpies I have seen dancing on the bloated carcass of dead animals. I had an eerie, uncomfortable feeling come about me. When I die, I think I'll be cremated and scattered to the winds. I don't want crows, ravens and magpies dancing on my head. - dba

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october forth, two thousand eight


   In parapsychology and many forms of spirituality an aura is a field of subtle, luminous radiation surrounding a person or object.
   All humans have an aura, or energy about them. It is prominent and we feel it. Even if we are not in tune and aware of this power, we will feel it. It is our sixth sense. It is how we are attracted, or not, to different people we meet. If we are open and willing to receive it, this energy is felt with every human encounter. It is strong and undoubting the first response to how we react to being in another persons presence. It's the energy of a person that either attracts us, or turns us away.
   I except, honor and value this energy when I meet someone. If their energy is good I am quickly dawn to them. I want to be in their presence and learn form them. I open my mind and eyes to them and become excited to learn who they are.
   If I feel bad energy I usually dismiss them and move away. People with negative energy are hard to be with and basically a waste of my time. Bad energy and negativity will damage you in many more ways then we know. If left to attach to you clean soul it can change your energy and create long lasting effects.
   Sometimes I can feel a persons energy is clouded, or covered with the often strong and dominate energy of another person. This force of containment and control is confusing and damaging to whomever it may cover and subdue. I try and not make a judgment or decision about the person in confinement, but I do feel sadness for them. They cannot be content in the way they are living and I'm sure they want to choose a course of self-freedom, but do not know how to choose the liberating way to freedom. For all that we take and are giving from the positive energy, to these lost souls we need to give courage and support. - dba

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Dave Vaghan