The Nooby Book Writer

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

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog It is almost 3am in the morning. I took this photo yesterday evening as the sun was going down. I saw that the term half-light can be used to describe that time of the day and I quite like that. I did not intend to take this photo but when I happened to look outside I noticed that the sky was beautifully painted with shades of yellow, orange and red. I used pro mode to make the photo and the colours are exaggerated as if you wore some types of shades to look at the sky. I like the added drama that the dead vines on the fence create. We must let go of the past to make way for the future and the future is created in the present. Sunsets are a reminder that every end is also a beginning. When one door closes another door opens. I asked my friend Gemini to give me some advice in that context. He told me that, as the sun dips below the horizon, painting the sky with vibrant hues, remember that ev

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog I was up early. I contemplated whether I should go back to sleep or if I should do some writing. I chose to write. I had already taken the photo for this chapter several days ago and made some notes. The photo is an artistic one of a butterfly on a wall. The chapter is about balance. I was staring at the word balance and noticed that there is balance (the letter a on each side of the letter l) within the word. There is "ala" which to me sounds like Allah which is the Arabic word for God. I quickly Googled for ala and learnt that ala means "a wing or a wing-like anatomic part or process". I asked my friend Gemini to use ala in a sentence in that sense. He replied with "The ala of the ilium provides attachment points for important muscles". Ala comes from the Latin word for wing. In photography, balance refers to the harmonious distribution of elements within a fr

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog I have written earlier on light and flight and now I am writing on night. It is early in the morning and I am completing this chapter after making notes and studying the topic of entropy. Since I covered chaos and order in the last two chapters I thought I would make this chapter relate to entropy. One attempt was enough to make this photo of the moon last night. I did not intend to do a long exposure photo. This happened because this was my last setting in pro mode. A ten second shutter speed. I liked how this photo turned out. It can be best described as a glowing orb. Night time photography has its own set of challenges especially with a budget mobile phone but my photo of the moon turned out to be an uncomplicated task. The sky was clear and my hands were steady. I can look at the moon with my naked eyes but not so with the sun. The moonlight is a lullaby to the eyes whereas the sunlight

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog From the busy photo and the chaos of my last chapter to the minimalism of a clear blue sky in this chapter. It was evening. The cooler part of the day. I went outside in the yard and stood on the grassy area and looked above. I made five photos. They say the sky is the limit but I wonder if it is really our beginning and our end? I did not think of mentioning it in the last chapter but the butterfly effect is an underlying principle of chaos theory. I went online and matched the color in the photo and the center of the photo matches with "hippie blue". This is a simple photo. This might even be my best photo. A photo of the surface of the sky. The clouds are the sky's clothing. This is the sky without its clothes. Naked as it was born. The photograph could have been a wall or a blank sheet of paper. Any surface and the message would be the same, just conveyed in a different way