Are you ready to rrrrrumble!?

The alarm clock is not supposed to go off at 5:30 on a Sunday morning, but I had a job to do. The job was to go cover the 'Peterson Ridge Rumble' a local long distance trail run.

I covered the 'rumble' last year as one of my first freelance assignments. I really wouldn't call it an 'assignment' per se, it was more like volunteering to spend your day taking pictures for name recognition, and just the fun of shooting masochistic people who choose to run 20 and 40 mile distance along mostly muddy trails in our beautiful national forestland.

This year I contacted the event organizer, Sean Meissner, asking him if he had anybody shooting the event this year. He replied that he hadn't and would love have me come out and shoot it. Last year one of my shots ended up in 'Trail Runner Magazine,' my first publication in a national magazine.

Most events like this are run on a shoestring, so getting paid is not much of an option. The hope is that you can hand out enough business cards, or the event organizer lets the runners know there will be a photographer out on the course taking pictures of smiling runners, grunting their way through another leisurely 40 miles.


After spending the better part of five hours on the course and taking over 300 shots, I am now in the process of uploading the shots to my web page, where hopefully a few of the over 400 runners will venture over, look for their mugs, and plunk down a few bucks for a picture of themselves sweating, spitting, and picking their noses, all to help feed a photographer in need of an income.

Whether they do or not, really doesn't matter. This is what I do now, and I love doing it. I got some very nice shots and I hope some of the runners appreciate the effort put forth to drive from location to location on the course, trying my best to get as many of the over 400 runners as I could.

Congratulations to the participants yesterday. To run those distances are amazing to me. Some of the runners remind me of the Eveready Bunny, just chugging along, pounding their drum, in a world all of their own. I couldn't do it, nor do I want to. What drives these  people is admirable and I hope to see them next year.

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge!

Man that felt good. Sometimes when you feel as though you've had enough, there is only one word that will do, or should I say one acronym that will do.

There is much debate to the origin of the word 'fuck', or for those of you not paying attention, 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.' The debate begins with the word itself. Where the hell did it come from, and what does it really mean?

Well, many would have you believe that the origin of the word began a long time ago in ancient England. It is said that during that time, a person could not have sex, or 'fornicate,' unless you had consent of the King. Of course if you were a member of the Royal Family, you could pretty much fornicate all you wanted, with whomever you wanted, wherever you wanted. Thus the world was introduced to, 'Fornication Under Consent of the King.' You would have to hang your permission to lawfully fornicate on your door while fornicating as to not have your head lopped off later for fornicating unlawfully.

Apparently, there is also a somewhat different take on the origin of this most unlawful act. The King, in all of his infinite wisdom could order one to fornicate. Depending upon the fornicators this could either be a good, or bad thing. This of course was called: 'Fornication Under Command of the King.'

For those who thought they could remove themselves from this rather archaic and midevil predicament by hoping on the Mayflower and creating their own set of rather strict rules, think again fornicator!

Once the Puritans had established themselves a beach head in Jamestown, they set about creating their own set of rules pertaining to unlawful fornication. We all know that prostitution is a very bad thing and that back in colonial times the prostitutes were punished for their wicked ways. Why their customers were not equally punished is for another blog, or not.

It appears that the evil doers were put into stocks for their fornicating ways. Unlawfully carnalling with knowledge of the for, or for the crime of, 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.' Now the cops got tired of writing this rather lengthy phrase on the stocks, so they abbreviated it to, 'F.U.C.K.'

So there you have it. The cops got smart, wrote 'fuck' and it stuck. How it ever evolved into the word we so lovingly embrace now would take far more time and space than I'm willing to give it.

Later though, a singer in a rock n roll band, who was tired of censorship by the likes of Tipper Gore, decided he and the band should call their next album 'FUCK' as a response to Tipper and her group of mad moms. Somebody later suggested that it might make more sense to title the album, 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.' The singer, Sammy Hagar, and the band, Van Halen agreed and went on to have quite a sizeable hit on their hands. Later, they hit the road with the 'F.U.C.K. n' Live Tour', to great success as I understand it.

Whoever created it, or however it evolved, I am eternally grateful. No other word that I can think of sums up the heat of passion, the heat of a disagreement, the disbelief of a last second shot, the indescribable feeling of stepping barefoot in your puppies doody, or the befuddlement of the human species than the word 'fuck.'

Now that we know the history of this most misunderstood word, I hope you have enjoyed this latest installment of the fucking blog. It was a fucking joy to write, and I hope you fucking learned something from it.

The more I know, the less I understand

Argh! I don't know what I want to write about today. I'm not convinced that I even want to write, but write I must. The books I've read recently, pound into your brain, that if you want to even consider being a writer, that you must write. Nowhere does it say anything about being a good writer, just a writer. You must also read a lot. Well, considering that I also try to make a living taking pictures, it's a lot for my fragile, little eggshell mind to get a grip on. Write, read, shoot, rinse, repeat.

I understand that this life, if you're lucky, is just one long journey with destination unknown. Until you get to the end of course, when you look back at how long this journey took you, and then you ask, "We're here already?" That's right bubba, the long strange trip you thought would never end is over, and you maybe  haven't even took the time to really enjoy it. Or if you have, you're trying to figure out a way to make a deal with someone for just a little more time. One more beer, on more breakfast in bed.

Either way, the trip seems to be over before it even got started. You wish you had done this, or done that. Maybe you think about the things you wish you hadn't said, or maybe more importantly, the things you wish you would have said.

I'm getting somewhere with this, really I am. What it means to me is that while I'm on this journey with a one way ticket to ride, the ride doesn't come with any instructions. You get dropped into this world with nothing, and leave pretty much the same way. Along the way you learn what it is to get along in this life, and hopefully the mistakes you make a long the way, make you smarter, and more importantly, a better person.

Life is complicated. It's also wonderful, but at times can be very painful. The longer you live, the more you are exposed to. It seems like there is always another mountain. Something else you have to learn, something else you have to master. The technological advances we witness can make a person's head spin. Yet, you better keep up or it will all pass you by.

I guess that's what I mean by today's blog title. I'm always on a quest it seems to learn the next thing. Figure out how my camera works. Try and decide what lens, or light system, or software to buy, and then have to try and figure out how it all works, or what direction to try and go with it all. Some days, I just don't want to deal with it, but deal with it I must.

Some days I don't want to do anything. Other days I just want to be left alone to shoot, or write something totally inane, just for the exercise. Some days like today, I have to deal with business, trying to explain to someone that I'm in business just like others, to make a living. I'm all about win/win situations, but I'm tired of giving my work away for 'considerations' or 'free publicity.' Woohoo! that's great to a point, but it ain't paying my bills.

So there you have it. Another hill climbed, another lesson learned....I think.