So apparently the word restaurant derives from “to restore” or to “refresh.”
The word “restaurant” comes from the French word restaurer, which means “to restore” or “to refresh.” It was first used in France in the 16th century to refer to a highly concentrated, inexpensive soup sold by street vendors that was advertised to “restore” health. The term evolved over time, particularly in the 18th century when a Parisian soup vendor named Boulanger opened a business selling soups and other “restaurants” (restoratives). This establishment is considered by some to be the first true restaurant in the modern sense of the term, as it provided a menu with individual dish choices, a novelty at the time.
By the 19th century, the concept of the restaurant, offering a place where patrons could order meals from a menu in a separate dining setting, spread throughout Europe and to other parts of the world. The word was incorporated into the English language, maintaining the essence of its original meaning: a place where people go to be restored, both in body and spirit, through food.
When I consider restoration and refreshment, it makes sense that you would find these foods within healing broths. I’m reminded of my time in Hanoi, Vietnam, where people consume a lot of pho which is essentially bone broth and beef.
The most amazing thing that I’ve noticed about the people in Hanoi is the fact that they are very healthy, fit, and strong, even in old age. Many of the elderly people gather around 5 AM in the morning to work on their fitness, stretch, do calisthenics, dance, and partake in physical activity before eating. A lot of the elderly men look as though they are 20 or 30 years old when they may be 70 or 80. Also, many of them smoke cigarettes, but are still extremely healthy and look like they are filled with life. Maybe it’s because the foods that they consume are not poison, but have healing qualities.
Box life
When I consider life in the United States of America, we seem to have an affinity for living in boxes, working in boxes, whether offices, or cubicles, and operating technology, which essentially is just another box, a computer. We also carry boxes, or rectangles in our pockets, use the phone to receive notifications, text messages, take calls, email, and do all of our work. It seems that we are always glued to a box, even when we’re at home, watching a box, a TV, for entertainment, before we go to sleep.
I’m seeing a lot of advertisements along the bus stops and newspaper stands in Philadelphia for some sort of food delivery service. They use some celebrity or whoever, Kiki Palmer, to promote this product. I’m not too sure what the name is, but it’s essentially like these TV dinners, that come in boxes, and set you up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all packed neatly within plastic boxes, for you to put into a box, microwave, where you wait for the ping, the notification, “food that goes ding” similar to the text notification that you get on your phone.
Consumer culture
I think the big problem with these foods is that they do not restore your body or refresh you. A lot of the food in cities is processed junk that keeps you addicted and hungry. We have a complete disconnect to the food that we consume, considering transportation, and cities’ distance from farms. Also, when you look at a food, pyramid, like one that I’ve looked at, from Harvard University, they tell you to eat meat sparingly. My theory is that the less meat you consume, the more hungry you will be, driving you to consume more, eat breakfast, eat lunch, and have an endless craving to eat more food. Maybe the food pyramid is designed to keep people enslaved to this consumer culture of needing more and ultimately driving economic activity.
Freedom is a choice
At the end of the day, the greatest thing about living in America is the fact that we have the freedom to choose how we want to live our lives. We can choose if we want to box ourselves in, spend time in comfort, consuming, and inside. Or, we can choose to be outdoors, not consume, create, produce, and innovate. We have the ability to make decisions openly and freely.
I believe that everybody has the right to choose the way that they would like to live. I may be right, I may be wrong, but the point is that I follow my intuition. I believe that this is where truth is- by listening to your gut and your body.
Maybe the truth and God is within the light. Going forward I seek to follow the light and crush the shadows.
The physicality of photography is something that maybe goes overlooked. You must be agile, and capable to move your feet, long distances, on the street. I believe that as much as photography is a visual game it is a physical pleasure.
Think of video games where you start out naked and you have to design your character. Maybe it’s best to just strip back down to the basics, the bare bones, the naked.
In Aldous Huxley’s novel “Brave New World,” the soma pill represents a powerful symbol of government control through pharmaceuticals. Soma is a drug distributed by the state that provides an escape from reality and induces feelings of happiness and satisfaction with no side effects. It is used to maintain social harmony and keep citizens from experiencing negative emotions or questioning their societal roles. The frequent use of soma underscores themes of conformity, control, and the sacrifice of individuality in the novel.
My new goal is to empower other photographers. No more secrets, no more rules, no more guidelines. We create our own game and within this game, we will dominate. 
Perhaps it is our direct experience which shapes reality as we know it. I like to consider my camera as a passport and a way to explore the world. Through my raw experiences in everyday life, or traveling, I find that these moments are what shape my worldview.
When I consider language and the impact that it has on culture, and the world at large, perhaps viewing photography as a universal language becomes a superpower. Where language gives meaning to life, and direct experience is what shapes reality.
Information
In this cybernetic world that we currently live in with automation, machines, and technology that feed us information through digital platforms, such as social media or the news, whether on television or computers, perhaps we should be more critical of the information that we consume. Just think, when you hear news about conflict in the Middle East or legislation that’s passed in a state that’s across the country, do these things truly matter in your everyday life?
Why consider what’s going on outside of your city, your state, and focus on worldly affairs? Perhaps the language that is used within the information that is so easily accessible is what causes neurosis and anxiety amongst the masses that gather in protest.
The real war isn’t going on in the Middle East, it’s in your mind.
Maybe we should trust our real and direct experience more, and ignore the noise and all of these distractions.
Language
Think of the word fat. When you hear the word fat, you may believe it to be a bad word. Am I permitted to tell somebody that they look fat? This would be seen as morally unjust or bad. However, a doctor is permitted to inform you that you are overweight and that you must lose weight.
I like to consider the body as a human battery and the sun as the ultimate charger that fuels us with power. What I find most interesting about fat is the fact that it holds and stores energy within our body, and charges our battery. Maybe people that have an excess amount of fat, or as doctors would say, “overweight,” can survive without consuming food for longer periods of time because of the excess energy stored in the body.
I know that when I consume fatty red meat, I get better sleep, and am fueled with more power, energy, and can sustain my body for a very long period of time. I only need to eat one time before I go to sleep, and never feel hungry throughout the day.
American people have been deceived through language.
When I go into a grocery store and view the Cheerios box, it informs you that it helps lower cholesterol and it is good for your heart health. How is it that this factory-made carbohydrate can provide my body with any sustenance or energy worth consuming? It seems a bit deceiving to me and astonishing to me how we feed it to children. I’ve also seen those weird lab-grown meats that Bill Gates is a proponent of and find this to be very alarming. Why should anybody trust a fat guy?
Also, it’s my belief that a lot of the causes of obesity have nothing to do with the food, but the beverages. Alcohol, soda, and all the sugary drinks are being consumed even more so than the junk food. Perhaps this is the big problem here, soda, alcohol, and any sort of drug.
Don’t trust anyone that drinks sodas or alcohol.
Going forward we should consume more flesh and fatty red meat as a way to give our bodies the energy that it truly needs.
Zero buffer
Photography should not be this thing that gets in the way of your life. You shouldn’t have to take your camera out of the bag, consider all these technical things and jargon, different cameras, lenses, etc. I believe that it should be a very streamlined and easy thing to practice, no matter the circumstances.
Set your camera and forget it.
All I need to do is click a button, the shutter. I believe that the snapshot is a very liberating approach. There is no barrier to entry and everybody has access to practice these days with compact digital cameras. My thought is that the compact digital camera will be the future of photography because of its accessibility. Don’t allow photography to be this thing that you set aside for dedicated walks or trips or outings. Just simply carry the camera with you.
If it’s too big to fit in your pocket, maybe that’s the problem.
Danger is exciting
This morning, during my walk along the river trail, I noticed a man with a taser in his back pocket lurking in the shadows surrounded by trees. I’m reminded of my time passing through the halls of City Hall when a crazy man threatened me with a knife, just walking through the center of my hometown a few months ago during the winter months.
I traveled all throughout the various Palestinian cities in the West Bank. The most dangerous one that I remember was in Nablus at the refugee camp, Balata. In this refugee camp, there are not any police whatsoever. I remember seeing these two gangster types with camouflage pants, black T-shirts, and pistols, tucked away in their pants and visible. I remember hearing gunshots as I left the refugee camp as they practiced during sunset.
When I arrived with my friend, we were greeted by a group of young children with a pocket knife. Playful, but rather threatening, and they constantly would flash it towards my friend and me. Ultimately, we wound up disarming the boy, and moved on to the next location. We then stumbled across a cemetery. A group of young boys took notice of us, and were playing with Nerf guns. I made a photograph of the boy standing on top of the grave holding one of these guns. It reminds me of my youth, playing with Nerf guns, buying BB guns, and even as a young boy, I would carry a pocket knife in the woods to sharpen sticks and make spears. However, the boys began pelting us with rocks, and we were hiding behind one of these gravestones. In order to leave the situation, we had to hop the fence and get the hell out of there. Next, we were being chased by a group of teenagers with another knife. This time, much more threatening, as the men were certainly older than the boys and were military-aged males. Because they were such a large group, the only thing that we could do was run. I remember running through the various alleys and stumbling across a shop. We entered the shop and were greeted by a woman who saw me in distress. These women went to the door and scolded the boys, and I was able to move on freely and leave the scene and never come back.
The youth have a respect for their elders as they hold some authority.
I remember taking the bus back to Jerusalem the following day and reminding myself that this is not a place to play.
The decline of culture
When I consider Philadelphia, you can clearly tell that the culture is on decline. All you have to do is notice the various trash scattered all around the beautiful Philadelphia Museum of Art in the grass. It really is a shame because it’s such a beautiful location, but the people that inhabit these spaces have no respect for these places. It’s kind of funny to me that somebody will consume a meal and then just throw the trash down on the ground when there’s a trashcan just nearby.
Yesterday I witnessed disrespect like no other. A young family with many children were waiting to cross the street, but a bus driver was dropping off some riders at the corner. There were four women supervising a group of children. One was very obese, one alongside a child, one pushing a carriage, and the other walking along. The bus driver was closing the door and began moving. The mother, or presumably so, maybe an older sister or something, threw a soda can at the windshield of the bus. Another woman began kicking the windows of the bus, and the next woman started to twerk, or shake her butt, as many young children sat back and laughed.
This is a really crazy city, Philadelphia.
Who knows what the next generation will bring to the table, but I’m sure it won’t be orderly. Maybe they eat too many Cheerios or drink too many soda pops? I think that the foods that we consume in cities, whether sugar, soda, and processed junk, are a huge contributing factor to mental decline or disease. Maybe the people that consume these things will inevitably be out of control.
I love chaos
I know for a fact that I thrive in chaos. Perhaps as a street photographer and artist, it is a good thing that culture is on decline.
I do thrive in chaos and surrounded by danger.
This is where interesting work is produced. Maybe to embrace it openly is wise. My thought is, just don’t die.
Ever since we were little kids, we were programmed to sit down, shut up, and take orders. I remember when I got to high school, and I dreaded class. The most jarring aspect of my public school experience was the fact that you could not enter the school without going through security, metal detectors, and x-rays to scan your backpack. There were security guards all over the halls, most doors were locked, and you could not go outside during lunch. It felt like school was a prison.
Maybe our newfound prison is of the mind, and it is our duty to free ourselves of this mental jail. We become influenced by others, societal standards, dogma, religions, politics, and philosophical ideas. Perhaps in order to go beyond the mental prison requires a return to childlike curiosity, and the spirit of play. Where the prison becomes a playground and the freedom is of your mind.
Freedom
I participated in a Passover dinner celebration this past weekend. I was reminded of the stories of the Israelites fleeing Egypt from slavery and the journey of Moses through the desert. The Egyptians were plagued 10 times, one of them being the swarming of flies.
Last night, I was awakened by a nightmare. It was a really crazy dream where I was sleeping in a tent or some sort of home and flies swarmed the house. I got up to close the door, but they kept pulling through. In the dream, I was trying to go back to sleep, but as I set my head down on the bed, I was consumed by flies, entering my mouth, and my nose, preventing me to breathe. This was a vivid dream that woke me up immediately.
Maybe our subconscious controls the dreams that we perceive and draw images upon the things that we previously experienced or thought about.
Reflect the world
This morning, I am walking along the River Trail, as usual, looking out towards the river. I find peace along the river and enjoy watching the ebbs and flows of ripples in the waves.
While walking under the bridge, I observe the shape of it and the way that it is reflected upon the water. Maybe like the reflections cast in the water, photographers also reflect the world. We reflect reality through what we see and photograph. The artwork and photographs that we create are not only a reflection of reality, but become an abstraction of it, and a reflection of our soul. As much as the photographs we create are a reflection of the world, they are a reflection of ourselves, and how we perceive things.
Under the bridge, and looking out towards the river, it almost looks as though you are being consumed by a snake in the mouth of it where the arches on the left and the right look like two giant eyes. Lots of street art, images of demons, and various scratchings of words and other things left behind are drawn under the bridge along the wall. Perhaps street art is a reflection of our current culture and society. Consider street art as the new hieroglyphic.
When I consider the first hieroglyphics, and those of cattle or oxen, I feel as though people viewed them as most high. Oxen is a source of power, food, meat, and were viewed as something worth depicting in images upon the walls of caves. The significance of oxen hold a special role within ancient civilizations. Consider ancient Greece or Rome and the way they would sacrifice hundreds of cattle in hecatombs to Zeus. I’m also reminded of the story of Moses rising to Mount Sinai and the Israelites, filled with anxiety and worry that he may not return, crafted a golden calf, and began worshiping this idol.
When I consider modern street art in urban cities, they often depict demons, discuss morose or deathly things, and generally very emo. Just observing the scratchings on the walls whether outside or upon bathroom stalls, you will recognize that the human spirit is weak and suffering.
Suffering is necessary
Maybe at the end of the day, a world without suffering is not worth living in. Think of the story of Jesus and the suffering that he endured throughout his life. While seeking to make peace, and heal the hearts of others with hope, he was then put to death. These heroes such as Jesus or ancient myths of legends like Achilles, are worth emulating in modern times.
Think of Achilles and the Iliad where he disputed with King Agamemnon when he took his war prize, Briseis. He just wanted to chill with his woman, and did not want to fight any longer. This caused Achilles to withdraw from war as he felt disrespected. Achilles suffers the death of his close companion, Patroclus. In Florence, I observed the beautiful sculpture depicting this suffering of The Pasquino Group (also known as Menelaus Carrying the Body of Patroclus). The death of Achilles’ friend caused grief and rage within him. He transformed his suffering into action, and returned to the battlefield to kill Hector of Troy who killed Patroclus. The suffering led Achilles to become one of the most fearsome warriors in Ancient Greek mythology.
Going forward let’s draw inspiration from ancient myths and use them in order to ascend to greater heights of excellence.
Equality is mediocre
When I consider equality, it sounds good on paper. However, equality promotes mediocrity among the masses. Just think, if everyone is equal, everyone will be the same, boring, and not excellent. The great notion of capitalism is the ability for the individual to rise to great heights and become greater than others. There is a natural imbalance within a capitalist society and I believe that is a good thing. It allows for people to reach new heights, and seek more excellence. Excellence was something that the ancient Greeks held highly considering the birth of the Olympic Games and the drive they had to reach new heights within human potential.
Power
Ultimately my goal is to seek more physical power. The more physical power that I hold, the better my art becomes. I feel like within the realm of photography, the physicality of the medium is oftentimes overlooked. You must be able to walk long distances, stand upright, and move your body with agility. I believe that movement makes for improvement, and gradual increase of strength over time will also sharpen your mind. The better and stronger you become, the better your visual acuity will be. The more you walk, the more you will see, and ultimately, the more that you will create.
One practical suggestion I have is while walking, strengthen your core by flexing the muscles in your abs. While walking with your abs contracted, and your back upright, you will increase your posture and strengthen your spine. I believe that physical strength is easy to increase and does not require a gym membership. There are various techniques that you can use by simply engaging your physical body weight. Consider pull-ups and push-ups and squats, and the various ways that you can create strength without fancy equipment.
Language and story
When I think of Western civilization being formed essentially from Christianity, I can’t help but consider the Bible and the stories within it. Perhaps the stories and language used within these texts are what shape our reality as we know it. For without the text within the Bible, no other texts would be formed from there. The Bible, and all ancient myths become archetypes and stories that we can draw from to this day. I believe that there is an inherent truth within these texts that we should seek to learn more about.
Also, consider photography as a universal visual language. When I consider the way that it transcends language barriers, cultural differences, through visuals, it becomes extremely powerful.
I’m a fan of this notion of following what is beautiful, and photographing that. Perhaps the accessibility of the medium of photography, where everybody has access to a camera, is a great thing, because now everybody has the ability to share what they deem to be beautiful.
Last week I was asking various people on the street, what they consider to be more beautiful: the Comcast tower or City Hall. I personally believe City Hall to be the most beautiful building in the city of Philadelphia, as there is a story told through the architecture, the sculptures, and the detail. It is the largest municipal building in the country after all. However, the majority of people deemed the Comcast tower to be more beautiful, and it’s perhaps because of its grand height, touching the sky as a large skyscraper.
At the end of the day, maybe beauty is subjective. Where I find beauty in the decay, and the moments that are oftentimes overlooked. But through the power of photography, I can create something that is otherwise ugly, and make it beautiful. Perhaps through photography, we can seek the objective truth by following the light, but evoke our subjective taste of beauty through what we put within the four corners of a frame.
The greatest thought I have about photography is that the world is our canvas, and it is endless. You could not live until you are 120 years old, and experience everything, go everywhere, and see everything on this earth and what it has to offer. This abundant feeling, is what keeps me curious and engaged with everyday, mundane life. Where I go through life, with all its strife, and still manage to find something to uplift through the medium. Where my physical body is moving through the world, and I am not confined indoors, to the four corners of a canvas to draw upon like a traditional painter.
I wield the power and source of truth, the sun, and paint with light. Follow the light, but crush the shadows.
The adventure is more fulfilling than the photograph
While you can enjoy the photographs you create at the end of the day, and share them with others, I find the ultimate joy of photography is the adventure that it takes you on. I travelled far and wide throughout the world to practice photography, but at the end of the day, it does not matter where you are, adventure is always calling.
The most helpful piece of advice in terms of practical mindset shifts when photographing is to embrace your hometown like a tourist. Think of the movie The Goonies and the adventure they went on just in their backyard. I believe adventures await no matter where you are, it is just a matter of creating this mindset. When you’re on the street, just go out there without preconceived notions, like a child, and find yourself lost in the chaos.
“There is no reason to be ‘burnt out’ or ‘unmotivated’ to practice street photography because of your location. This is a lemming mindset.”
You must become abundant to practice street photography on a daily basis. This means that no matter how familiar the place becomes, or how boring and banal it may seem, it is up to you to create paradise for yourself. My thought is, the ultimate sign of success for a street photographer is simply remaining curious. If you are waking up each morning with your eyes wide open, eager to explore the world, you win.
