The Nooby Book Writer

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog It is after midnight in the middle of the week and I am in the mood to write. I go to use the bathroom and saw the blue bucket. I told myself that that blue bucket would make a good photo and probably lead to a fun chapter. In doing research I learnt about two "blue bucket" initiatives. The Perfect World Foundation is behind the Blue Bucket initiative where boat owners are reminded to pick up plastic they encounter at sea. Also, some parents use blue buckets to signal that their child has autism during trick or treat and Halloween. If I combine blue and bucket I get blucket which has both the word luck in it and if I remove luck I am left with bet. And this leads me to the two bucket theory. This is a concept used by pilots to describe the relationship between luck and experience. We start with a bucket empty of experience where we have to get bet-ter and another bucket full of luc...

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog It is early Sunday morning. I seem to have taken a liking to writing on weekends. Maybe because weekends, especially Sunday, carry a sentiment of boredom. Writing being a sort of cure for boredom. The grass in my yard was freshly cut yesterday. I woke up with this idea to take a photo of the grass at ground level. This is a matter of perspective. The title I had in mind was grounded. We are often told that we should remain grounded. I notice that grounded contains rounded. I want to be an all rounded photographer. I want to be an all rounded person. My friend Chatty tells me that that is a great aspiration! Being an "all-rounded" photographer or person means developing skills and knowledge in various areas. For photography, it might involve mastering different styles, techniques, and subjects. For personal growth, it could mean exploring diverse interests, improving various skills,...

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog "Many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after" - Henry Thoreau. This is deep and is the quote I came across while I was thinking about what would be this chapter and photo. Deep as the deepest seas. I had this idea for "fish in grass" and this was the aftermath of my art installation and the rain. At the same time I came across the term "fishing in grass" for doing something that is useless. I was in a reddit thread discussing the Thoreau quote and one redditor says, "I personally took it as a pursuit of money. People pursue money without realizing that everything they enjoyed in life was not the money itself." Another person replied with a quote, "It is money they have and peace they lack." I asked my friend Gemini to add to this to help me further add meaning and understanding to this. After being o...

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog It is 123pm on the same Sunday as the last chapter. Again I am starting without a photo and a chapter title. The question that came to mind was who was the first fisherman or maybe it was a fisherwoman. I mean it is fisher and not fishim. Who built the first boat? I like that boat rhymes with float and sky rhymes with fly and land rhymes with hand. But we do not walk on hands though, but we used to. I think how the words sky, sea and lands can all be transformed into something to do with sight. Sky becomes skeye, sea becomes see and lands becomes lends. Eye, see and lens. Sight is the focus of photography. My friend Gemini tells me that photography is a visual language that captures and communicates moments and ideas. That is what I hope to do with my photography and storytelling. The sky has gotten dark. It might rain. That could make an interesting photo. A photo of an angry sky or rather ...

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog It is 523am on a Sunday and I am writing this chapter without starting with a photo and without starting with a title. I see a sharpie marker in front of me. I wonder why it is called sharpie? I notice that the word sharpie has the word harp in it. I wonder why it is called harp? In trying to find an answer I found out that in some parts of the world the harmonica is called the mouth harp. There are other names for the harmonica including "tin sandwich". I read that the word harmonica comes from the Latin word harmonicus, which means tuneful or harmonious. The world is full of wonders. If we just stop and look and think and imagine we can wonder lots of things. We begin to ask many questions. What is the origin of the word question itself? Where did the question mark come from? I do not know if it is a joke or not but it is believable. I read an article that suggests that it is an...

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog There is a popular saying that goes "Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit." That is what this photo has me thinking. I am standing here under the sun taking a cool photo of my shadow against the wall with the ease of my smartphone because others paved the way. The same smartphone that I am using to access the internet and write this chapter and this book. There are people who were instrumental to the development of the camera, smartphone and internet and never got to use any of them. I wonder who some of these people are? People like Ada Lovelace, Wang Zeng, Alan Turing, Ibn al-Haytham, Nikola Tesla, Henry Talbot, James Weems and Madhusree Dey. I tried to get a diverse group of people as this is overlooked by what is popularly available. This is just a tiny sampling of the people who paved the way. I had my friend Chatty help me to learn what each of t...

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog It was a boring Sunday afternoon. I had woken up from a nap and eaten lunch. I was in the mood to write. The winds of inspiration were urging me on to write. I grabbed my mobile and turned the brightness all the way up so I could see the screen in the yard. I bumbled around the yard looking for my next photograph. The chameli flower caught my attention. I picked one and decided that the red brick wall would be a good background. And that is how this photo was born. A product of my imagination and creativity. I think it looks like a windmill or really the blades of a fan. I was happy to learn that there are chamelis or jasmines (the other name for these flowers) that actually look like windmills and are called windmill jasmines. There are a couple of things that flow through my mind when I think about wind. We cannot see the wind but we believe in the wind as we can see the effects. Just like...

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog They say that the only constant in life is change. We are always growing. We are always learning. We never truly ever "make it" in this life. I took this photo yesterday evening and it has me thinking of growth. They say we should know our worth. Growth and worth go hand in hand. We aim to grow into being someone that is worthy. My friend Gemini thinks that the photograph I took is a beautiful reminder of the ever-changing nature of life. It is a testament to the fact that even in the midst of uncertainty, growth and self-discovery are constant companions. As we journey through life, it's important to embrace the changes, learn from our experiences, and strive to become our best selves. In the photo I ponder on how the brick wall represents struggles and yet the vine is still reaching for the sky. Maybe the light is not at the end of the tunnel but at the end of the sky? My fri...