Photo Finish

The title of my friend's magazine is Photo Finish.  It is a magazine catering to amateur photographers pursuing their passion in photography and developing film.

The featured article "The Fall and Rise of Film" features a round table discussion among top professional film advocates Ryan Pfluger, David Benjamin Sherry, and Ellen Rogers; as well as celebrity analog film aficionados Jeff Bridges, Elijah Wood, and Michael Stipe. 

In this issue, Photo Finish with also begin a campaign for readers to submit letters and photographs to the magazine sharing their passion for analog photography to be published in future issues. 

The star-powered article and reader campaign will surely revitalize this floundering magazine.  Not only that, this issue hopes to rejuvenate interest in shooting pictures with film and rediscovering the magic of film photography; inspiring readers to fall in love with it all over again, and lay the groundwork for the next generation of film enthusiasts.

“There’s a spirituality that’s connected to it. I go out to take the pictures and at the end of the day I’m by myself, alone with my thoughts, in the dark room. It becomes very meditative.”

-- David Benjamin Sherry 

Magazine Maverick

October 2017 Writing Assignment: Magazine Maverick

You've owed a good, old friend a favor for over 15 years, and now they've come to you with the ultimate request. Save their magazine from going out of business.

You're a well-known humanitarian and you have met nearly every mover-and-shaker, in nearly every industry all over the world.

You have one chance to make it happen for your friend.
The magazine's fate is hinged on how creative you are to guarantee the success of its next issue.

What will you do to create the most timeless, and alluring issue, that saves the magazine, and your friendship?

Your assignment is to choose:
1. The title, and industry of your friend's magazine.
2. The cover of the magazine: who or what will be featured on the cover? Upload a JPEG image from the internet to give us an idea of the cover image idea.
3. The featured article or interview. What special celebrity/influencer/artist were you able to interview for this issue? What article topic will you be featuring that you sure will sell copies, and save the magazine from doom?
4. If you'd like to spend the extra time, write, and post your "article" or "interview" from the magazine!

Decomposition

Decomposing tides, withered worn joints of the sea,
willing me,
showing balance where life can grow.
as always, natural things flow
the paths of least resistance,
they decompose.
they release,
they die.
they let go.

Rivers and rivulets, breaking free,
expectations not.

it's the end of the world.
in every step of growth.
it's the end of the world, as we know it,
and as it will never be known.

Telling All

We are told we are here to raise vibration to experience grace in the chaos of time to relieve our spirits of grief and pain. and to relinquish our burdens to higher powers, ourselves included. we are given tools for empowerment shown ways, and guided by mentors and gurus samādhi practices, and breathwork prayer, and agonizing stretches. we are pulled from both ends by society, and then every other side as well. stretched beyond natural capacity. oddly gripping tight the comforts of habit, the creaturely ways of our thought patterns that have developed who we are over our lifetime. no longer questioning ourselves, and our interpretation of our daily ritual. facing days, as if to climb a mountain that leaves no footprint. surrendering to our ignorance, as our Will has plummeted, as if weighted and tied to stones in the river... we so Willfully, unknowningly so, give up our power. just to feel less feeling. to receive less change, less flow, less Spirit force pulsing through our minds. to deny the body, is to deny the Self, ever flowing, capturing pictures of itself for review... for validation. Breath, voicing ourselves outward and then inward, salvation hurries and scurries near us and then dearly holds us. we survive, and then we thrive. our choice. one breath.