Intrepid, Courageous, Free Spirit

FREE SPIRIT

Explore the outskirts

My journey in Mexico City to the top of the mountain

Embrace danger

The border of Jericho

Water is magnetic

Peace corps – lake bangwelu

Elevate your body

Health is wealth

Set your circadian rhythm

Just follow the light and the sunlight

Body is battery sun is charger

More power under the sun

Don’t confine yourself to a box

When I’m inside, my soul slowly dies, but when I’m outside I thrive, as I move my physical body, I exist outside the passage of time 

The art to walking

Walking barefoot

Vibram five finger elx

Strengthen your feet, legs, and posture
Longevity

Durability is an issue

Shoes are like condoms, you don’t feel the sensation 

We came into the world without shoes, let’s leave without shoes,

Penn treaty Park 

The hand of William penn on city hall faces the north east towards the park

Running rattles your bones

Alcoholism?

Leg injuries / knee

Burning calories is a scam

Fasting get you closer to God 

Eat satiating foods

One meal a day

19 months 100% carnivore diet

Keep the doctor away

Abundance of power

Fat and protein

Life hack

Upgrade your life

Become the strongest and most beautiful version of yourself

Once you start eating red meat, you realize that a lot of the things that you work for, where we work these jobs that we hate, above is shit we don’t need, buying food we don’t need,

The food pyramid

Eat meat sparingly?

Processed food keeps people addicted

Kellogs, General Mills, Coca Cola

Slave consumer

Eat food that fills your belly

Become more critical and skeptical,

Just look in a grocery store. Most of it isn’t real food

Real food is flesh

Fasting in the mosque during Ramadan

The day of sacrifice  

Fasting is spiritual

Feast as a community

Old Testament in genesis

Created in his image

Remove toxins

Reveal your soul

Subtraction of superfluous

The soul is your body

We are a skin suit, a bag of bones 

When you look at somebody, you can see their soul

Follow the light 

the light is the truth

Stay under the sun

Tan skin is more beautiful

Unshackle yourself 

Modern life keeps us inside in boxes

Sunglasses trick our bodies to think that we’re still inside 

Why do we find comfort in the cave in the shadows and darkness? 

Design your life to stay maximally outdoors

You’re not getting me to stay inside, to sit down, and take orders

Thrive on your own

Find what works best for you

The pursuit of a career?

Work until you’re 65, retire, and then you have another 10 years of life to live? And be free? Sounds like a bad deal to me… Modern slavery?

Working outdoors is a better option

You couldn’t pay me $1 million at least a year to sit on my ass in the Comcast tower, operating a computer, from 9 to 5

You can’t even catch the sunrise or sunset…

Sitting down for the entirety of the day?

Design your life to only sit down when you go to bed or eat

The house is a bunker

Are we still stuck in the desert?
Enslaved by Egypt, still searching for paradise?

Find your own way out of Egypt

Freedom is a mindset 

Freedom is to be playful, to be like a child, but also dangerous like a lion

To be as to be like a bird flying in the sky, without any care in the world

Naïveté

Optimism

Courageous in flight

Dancing, fluttering like a bird

Elevate your physical body. You will feel more free like a bird

Find a Panopticon view of the world, the city, your town 360 degrees

Conquer the day

Treat life like a video game 

Consider Skyrim where you start off on your journey, loading the game, designing your character when you’re naked. You select your facial features, height, size, etc.

Strip down to this naked state

Remove your shirt and your shoes

Tony Hawks pro skater on the PlayStation

your character develops overtime from acquiring stat points and assigning them to your skater

Assign the proper stop points. I always chose to max out speed and air right away because I knew that it would allow me to advance in the game further, at a much faster rate. 

Speed and photography

Compact digital camera

Everything is done with speed, automatic, modes, high contrast, black-and-white, small JPEG files, iPad Pro, photos app

Grinding in Minecraft for XP
Mining in the dungeons for diamonds

It’s a part of the game that you have to get out of the way in order to advance to the boss, to get to the ender dragon. You need diamonds, in order to get there.

To find the diamonds, you have to grind.

There’s this period of time in the game where you’re just banging out stone and searching for that particular or that is the most valuable and rare in the game

In order to get there, we must go forward with speed

Think about your 10,000 photographs, that are typically viewed as your worst photographs. Let’s get them out of the way, at faster rate. Let’s advance our character. Let’s advance our photography along our journey by moving with speed and using tools that will allow us to get there.

The most fun part of the game of Minecraft is fighting the dragon and going on the adventure

The most exciting part is dropping into the nether, descending to hell, conquering the castle, coming back to the surface, find the portal, and fighting the ender dragon 

The lust for battle

Enjoying the process

This is where we should be with our photography

We enjoy the process, the journey, as the most fruitful and enjoyable part of it all

Detach yourself from the outcome

Now you get wings if you beat the boss in Minecraft. I Never even acquired the wings because this is a new update in the game. What if we don’t get the wings? What if we never reach the top? At least you’ll enjoy the process in the attempt of trying to acquire the wings.

The auto mindset
The autotelic approach

What is the telos of photography?

Photographing for the sake of making photographs

Increasing your curiosity, and courage

it takes a lot of time to find things that are interesting

Lots of time spent doing the thing

Finding joy and meaning in the process

Success is curiosity. The ultimate goal is to increase your curiosity one percent each day.

To wake up in the morning, eager to go out there and explore like a child

A kid with a camera

Set your body in motion without preconceived notions

Humans are by pedal

The motivation is in your legs 

The more that you move, the more that you will see, the more that you see, the more that you will do, or photograph

Think less, do more

Put the sword to the grindstone similar to grinding for daedric armor with daggers at the blacksmith in Skyrim to increase your gold

Mind, body, and spirit

Fasting enhances the connection between your mind and your body

Sharp visual acuity like a hunter

Patterns that exist in both nature and human behavior with clairvoyance

I can predict patterns and things before they even unfold when I’m on the street

Spontaneity and serendipity

Use a wrist wrap

Extension an extension of your eye and your body

The Kendama meaning sword 

Hand eye, coordination, skill, toy

I forget that the cameras, even there

Intuition is composition 

photography is a visual game of putting the puzzle pieces together, but it is also a physical medium

The agility required on the streets

Camera operation

Photography is a physical pleasure

Be physically present in the world, bear witness, at the front lines of life, where the Photographer thread is on the front lines of life, close to life, both physically and emotionally.

I’m not just making a photograph. I’m making photographs as a way for me to connect with life itself to find meaning with it and affirm my life. To mankind. To uplift humanity to a height that has been seen before.

Sculpture architecture

Bronze sculpture of the eagle in the center of the Wanamaker building

Looking up at the world’s largest playing pipe organ

Music that increases vitality

Catholic Church paintings depicting biblical narratives.

the art makes you feel something on an emotional level that we can achieve in the photography.

Photography can become the Apex of art

Photography exist outside the passage of

Photograph transcends physics

Photographs exist, outside of space and time

After a decade, I am still very curious

flow state

Enter the Zen zone

Go slow 

Walking is meditation

Don’t think, and become one with the street

Meditation doesn’t have to be done before close doors and the lotus pillows, hunting, we’re chanting

Photography is the ultimate outlet for meditation

I thrive walking. I’m always outside

Where can you find Dante? On the front lines of life!

Walking, endlessly

Photography and art life meeting, and maybe this is something that we were searching for during this modern world this age of abundance

We have so many cars and technology, computers, bridges, architecture, yummy foods, TV shows, movies, entertainment, and artificial intelligence that can enhance our lives

Artificial intelligence can be good to help us learn

And child like optimism is needed right now

Not kindness for kindness sake,

When you change yourself and become more selfish, you can go out and be selfless and change the world

Your impact on a stranger, whether you’re holding the door open for them, smiling at them, listening to them, engaging with life and engaging with others and kindness, we can brighten the world and become a beacon of light that shines brightly in the dark

Painting with light

Light is the truth 

We wield light

The ultimate source of power

 Light fuels me with a blissful and abundant sensation

I’m merely grateful to be alive, to have another day, and that abundant feeling comes through gratitude

Abundance is gratitude

I have an appreciation for the simple pleasures of life, such as sunlight, water, and walking – everything else is an upside

Move onward into the unknown

Move onward into the unknown, articulating it, and put order to the chaos

This is similar to how this world was born, this universe

The world was once formless, but then there was light

Light etches and give shape and form to surfaces, places, faces, and things

The world is a canvas

We are not confined to a box or to the four corners of a canvas

We can walk endlessly or live until we are 120 years old and still not see everything in this world

Peace in the chaos of the streets

What is a photograph?

A photograph is not just light on surface, a paper choice, Allan’s choice, a camera, a film stock, etc. Period

A photograph is a reflection of your courage

You can create a New World in a fraction of a second

Are you shooting with your hip? No, I’m shooting from the heart

Stories shape reality

Photographing conflict in the Westbank

David and Goliath at the valley of elah

My experience at the valley of elah, exploring the caves

move forward with courage and curiosity

Photograph is a reflection of your heart

Cor = heart

I’m curious about the world about life I wouldn’t experience all of its complexities

David Armour himself with God with courage to go out there onto the battlefield

The photographs are new world in a fraction of a second. A miracle.

Photography is endless

I can walk the same lane, but always find something in nothing.

Photography is a superpower

Armor is more important, but I will my cameras a sword. Striking through the heart of chaos, revealing the soul of the street, creating visual order and harmony from the spontaneity of every day life.

Photographer is in the chaos, and the unknown

You don’t know what can happen on the front lines of life

The news promotes fear and hate

News, you’re not gonna leave your room it’s nothing but doom and gloom

Up in your covers with Netflix on and live on the sidelines of life

I grew up, spending lots of time in the woods. I made teepees and forts with sticks, made bridges with stones, sharpens spears, and attempted to hunt deer, climb trees, swung from vines, discovered, caves, and totem poles. 

Story of the founding of Rome. Remus and Romulus, the raised by the Lupa that she was in the unknown, in the unknown in the wild.

Stories and myths intrigue me

Can you imagine what RORY and intrepid you would be feeling? By being raised by a wolf by a baby.

At that point, nothing will stop you, and then you can go and be a founder of Rome

We are all ants in a colony

Every ant has a role-play

Warrior bugs.

Flik is an inventor, innovator. Speed up the process of harvesting grain.

All of the ants were toileting, picking up the greens one by one on their back

Flick made a machine to speed up the process of harvesting grain

Flick across the canyon on a dandelion

Flick was the first Aunt in the colony to leave the colony

Flick found his own path

He fought against the grasshoppers and he wins in the end

The goonies

Movies and memory

The boys are under pressure, they’re all friends, in a neighborhood, but their house may be taken away from them because they can no longer afford their mortgage

The boys have a call to adventure to find hidden treasure on a pirate ship after discovering a map in the attic

In the end, they find the treasure, and the goonies can stay together

Call to adventure

the individual within a colony must strive to be the hero

Washington, Crossing, the Delaware
A revolutionary hero
The stories echo from the water

Washington and his intrepid fighting against the British, then finding America

America is the Roman Empire 2.0

I’m reminded this when I walked by the Navy and recognize the power of our naval force and military across the world

America is the Apex of where human civilization can be strive to become

We have so much abundance here, but we squander our potential with the pursuit of pleasure

We become selfish in a destructive way through the pursuit of pleasure

Gluttony and hedonistic pleasure

Sex is merely just a little gooey stuff that comes out of an orifice. It’s a slight sensation for a second. It’s not worth pursuing for pleasure.

A lot of pleasure seeking is distracting

The pursuit of pleasure lead us a strike from becoming the greatest version of ourselves

the Peace Corps volunteer experience I had working with rural aquaculture promotion specialist. What is the most paradigm shifting event that I had?

When I arrived in my village, sacrifice was made immediately. I was presented by with a goat, hanging from a tree and was given a knife to slaughter it. We feast it for the next week.

I was now invited and welcomed to this new village and community or family

God, tribe, and land

Saying the Pledge of Allegiance and praying before class in Catholic school from grades pre-K at eight

Nationalism is good

we are all one big family that stems from one family tree

Thrive under a thatched roof

At the center of the village, there’s a gathering place, the church, at the center of the church, there is an altar

There is a sacrifice that is made in the church, at the altar, as we remind ourselves of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross

Reminded of this ideal man to strive towards, to strive to become like Jesus

Strive to become the greatest version of yourself

You all thrive together, with that ideal man at the forefront, at the center of the community

Archetype, hero

The teachings and philosophy of Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth

Good sleep

Eight hours a day keep the doctors away

feast like a God

Snacking is bad

Pretend like it’s ancient Rome and you’re defending the castle

Eating is a waste of time

how to feel like Genghis Khan

The first thing a wolf eats when it kills its prey is the liver

Restaurant = to restore

Beef pho is a healing broth

Probiotics in Kimchi

Your gut is most intelligent

God like intuition

Don’t keep anything in your belly during the day

How to find God?

The reading terminal market

Trust the Amish

Eat more red meat, eggs, and liver 

Spread the good news

The word

We can all thrive together

La Lupa

The myth of Prometheus being tied down to the rock, as a vulture constantly eats this immortals liver. Endless pain. Punished by the gods for stealing the fire and giving it to humans so they can create civilization.

Prometheus created humans with clay

God created man with dust of the ground

God breathed into man’s nostrils, the breath of life

Return to the garden of Eden

Adam and Eve

The flaming swords

Pick up the flaming swords and destroy?

Destruction can be creation

Create something new

Is man permitted to strive to become a demigod?

Transcendent

Societal norms have us limited

We lack imagination because we lack a connection to the cosmos. Too much air pollution.

Looking up at the stars in the village, recalling stories with Bwalya under a thatched roof, during the two week church camp

Bwalya told me about the story of Jezebel under the stars under a thatched roof

The prophet Elijah

ChatGPT is woke

memes are the smallest unit of knowledge and information

Memes are like genes

language, stories, and information, describe who we are

Follow the teachings of Jesus

Turn the other cheek

When I was in Jericho, I was confronted by an angry man amongst the crowd, he ripped the camera off of my neck and broke my strap. I returned to Mohammed house, he mended my strap, and I went back out to shoot more pictures. When the man broke my camera strap, I simply stared at him in his eyes, did not respond, as he huff and puffed, and walked away.

by turning the other cheek, I was able to come out unscathed during this conflict that arose and Jericho 

Watering Hassan’s garden

Jesus used justified aggression when he overturned the tables of the money lenders and used his whip 

All roads lead to Rome

I saw the eclipse a year before it happened

I photographed rainbows all across the world

Saint Michael the archangel is on my shoulder

Trust your intuition

Follow your gut

Shoot from the heart

I thrive in solitude

Separate the wheat from the chaff

Disconnect from modernity and connect with the divine

Sculptures in Florence

Achilles, dead, in the arms of Ajax, a beautiful death

Heroes and archetypes and stories

Achilles, Hercules, David, and Jesus

Surround yourself with beauty

I no longer fear of death. I am simply grateful every morning to have another breath.

Treat each night like a mini death and each morning like a mini birth

Courageous and fearless

Learning to skateboard as a child at FDR. Witnessing a man smashing his skull into the ground, a bloody mess. Why Im so intrepid

Whether or not you beat the boss or die at the end of the video game does not matter. The outcome is irrelevant because you fear not of it.

Intrepid, courageous, free spirit

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