13 Benefits of Photography for Anyone

1.  Historical uses.  Many photos may have several of the benefits combined.  Historical photos will show changes in many areas - fashion, structures, transportation, and on and on.  The top photo is of my great great grand uncle, and the bottom photo is my great grandmother and is a tintype photo.

2.  When looking at your photos, you may see something you hadn't seen when you shot the actual photo.  I've been surprised many times by this.  For example, I did see and shoot this strange cloud formation, but  can also see the street sign so I know where I was, and also there is a readable for lease sign with a phone number, in case I or someone eslse might be interested in that.

3.  It may help you focus more (pun intended) on things that are important to you, such as family, friends, pets, the environment, etc.  The first one is my younger brother, and the other was my German Shepherd, Wolf (from many years ago).

4.  It will help you find more beauty in life, which in turn can help you become less stressed, leading to better health and enjoyment.  This photo is from along the Ballona Creek Bike Path.

5.  It makes memories more vivid.  Looking at past photos can bring you back to that time - hopefully, a good time in your life, perhaps lifting your mood.  The first photo is of my father, mother, older brother, and me.   The second one is of me, my father, and older brother at Jones Beach, NY.  Those take me back a long long time ago.

6.  If the photos are of people, you can see how fashions have changed over time.  If of specific locations, you can see the changes there, too.  From the '60s - miniskirts and bell bottoms.

7.  This is more of a benefit for others, but you can help them to experience things that they may have missed and that they find interesting.  For example, the recent ciclavia in LA or perhaps Halloween in West Hollywood, or performers at Venice Beach, CA.  Photos from Halloween Carnaval in West Hollywood.

8.  It may be good exercise by getting you to explore new places and also to move around to get the best angles.  The below photos were shot at the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook - I went there for the first time to test a new lens.  It was definitely good exercise, even more so because I rode my bicycle to the location.  The bottom photo looks like the stairway to heaven!  I took the trail to the top - a little longer, but not quite so steep.

9.  You may get to meet new people and hopefully make new friends.

10. When you are shooting a particular subject, it can clear your mind of everything else when you are really concentrating on getting the best image.  Lena, in the photo below, always made it easy to get the best image.

11.  You may see details that you normally wouldn't have seen as you are looking for something to shoot.  Well, Halloween in West Hollywood there are always things to shoot, lots of details, too.  I definitely would not have normally seen a scene like this, LOL.

12.  To tell or illustrate a story or event.  This is especially true for weddings.

13.  Show humor - I think these two photos and the change of expression shot at Halloween in West Hollywood are pretty funny.

Pretty much wherever I go I carry a camera with me.  You never know what you may see when you are out and about, whether it's a strange cloud formation, a beautiful scene, a famous person, a beautiful young lady, or the odd and unusual.  Below is a current photo of my first camera, which I got as a present at age 7 (probably still works) and used until I was around 22, when I got my first semi-professional camera, and a couple of years later bought a Nikon while in the Air Force.

Hope you've enjoyed this post.  The photos go from probably the late 1800s to the present.

Vaccinations, Eczema, and New Eczema Drug - Oh, and Fake News, Too! (And More)

Before getting to the subject of this post, I was sitting and thinking about these posts and came to realization that at this point in time, although posting these subjects (vaccines, health) gave me hope that perhaps a few people might change their views or at least research the subjects further, I don't believe there is anything else I can add.  I know because of my research how I feel about these subjects, and that I will never get a vaccine unless they are safe and effective, and probably not then as I really have no need for them thanks to a healthy lifestyle (diet, supplements, exercise, sleep, etc.). I hope I've gotten at least a few people to at least do the research and get educated about their health.  If I continue with this blog, and not sure I will, it will be about only photography from now on...after this post.

It seems every few days I hear something on the news that ties things together.  Today, for example, I heard about a new eczema drug that will cost $37,000 a year.  What is a side effect of vaccines?  Eczema.  What can you do if you or your child gets eczema from a vaccine?  Since you can't sue the company that makes the vaccine, you'll have to pay $37,000 for a year of relief to get back to where you would have been without the vaccine.  Are you starting to see how this scheme works?

Why did I mention Fake News?  Because most, if not all, of the stories about vaccines in the news are fake.  Vaccines got rid of all those diseases - fake.  What about the charts they show and how those diseases went way down in them?  They conveniently pick a set of years where the disease was briefly on an increase before the vaccine came out, and then decreased, just like the chart would have shown without the vaccine.  If you look at charts from the late 1800s to the present and mark the spot where the vaccine entered the population, and you won't see much change at all.  And in fact, you can check the few diseases with no vaccines that also disappeared at the same rate as those with a vaccine.

There are many other areas of fake news.  Any time industry and the government can get together and make more money by claiming some "fact" that is not true, they will, and it will be in the news constantly.  Sometimes they use the same misleading methods as with vaccines.  Pick a range of years to show you one thing, but if you pick a different range of years, you'll see something completely opposite.  They do whatever they need to do to promote their objective.

What can you do?  Never believe the fake news (i.e. - most of the news and other media sources) - do your own independent research, and from independent sources.  And then verify the information you do find.  About the only good thing with all the political news these days is that people are finally becoming aware how much new may be fake.  It used to be you listened to the news and you believed it.  I hope that happens no more.

Now to tie together vaccinations, health costs, and mandatory insurance (Obamacare).  Prior to Obamacare, around 46 million were uninsured.  Those 46 million people - how were they going to afford to pay for the 70 vaccines before the age of 18 on the CDC schedule (plus all the new ones that will be coming along), and the rest of the adult vaccines that are recommended, and how were they going to pay for all the injuries caused by those vaccines?  After all, the drug companies aren't responsible.  They came up with the perfect plan - make everyone pay for the vaccines and the damage they cause and call it "affordable health care."  I guess "fleecing the public" wouldn't have sounded as good.  And the poor diets people eat which is responsible for most of the other health problems.

Speaking of health costs - I had thought it was around one trillion dollars per year, but just read it is three trillion dollars per year!  With the U.S. population just over 300 million, that comes out to about $10,000 per person per year.  No wonder insurance is so expensive and why they wanted it to be mandatory for all.  Unfortunately, instead of trying to promote health, they promote sickness through poor diets, vaccines, environmental toxins (in our food, water, and the air we breath), and drugs.  This is why you must absolutely educate yourself about these things and take responsibility for your own health - no one else will.  Or you can choose to enter their system and be sick and broke.

I wish everyone the best of health and happiness, or as Spock said, "Live long and prosper."