 Godiva, a.k.a "Moppit Head". Here's the answer to a question I've never been asked, but secretly wish someone would have asked: What exactly is "the illusion exotic"? Really, no one has ever asked me that. Bummer. I'm going to answer it anyway. The simplest answer is that it's the title of my short story compilation, which is currently available in eBook form on Amazon. More specifically, the compilation's title, "The Illusion Exotic," was taken from a line in my short story "Spaceship Name." There is a line from the story that calls our sense that we truly control our fate an "exotic illusion." The Illusion Exotic is the human delusion that we are truly in control of our destiny. At best, we can influence our destiny, perhaps stack the odds a little bit, but in the end, we are at the mercy of fate, which has a mind of its own. I call it "going sideways." You think you have it all figured out, and then "BAM!" life throws you sideways, and all your best-laid plans are for naught. It's in those sideways moments when the universe teaches us an important lesson: that we humans are merely fragile fleshy water bags riding a hunk of rock hurtling through the galaxy. Why are humans plagued with this exotic illusion? It's sort of a byproduct, a kryptonite, so to say, from our superpowers. As intelligent primates, we only have two superpowers, and neither of them is making or using tools. (BTW, tools are overrated because eventually it results in way too many different types of screwdrivers.) Our first superpower is the ability to make a decision, a choice. With the exception of a woman trying to decide where she wants to eat out, humans are otherwise decision-making machines. The funny thing about that superpower is it can only be wielded in a mystical, magical land called "The Present," sometimes called "The Moment," or, as Sammy Hagar once said, "Right Now." Right Now is the crossroads where the past and future collide. It's where the probability wave function collapses and the cat finally commits to life or death. Before the Moment, our decisions are just ideas, and after that, our decisions become "history." It's in the imaginary lands of history and ideas, far beyond the Right Now, where humans suffer from the Illusion Exotic, and this is entirely the fault of our second superpower. First, let me digress and talk about dogs. Other critters besides humans make choices, but only humans can claim it as a superpower. For example, a dog may say to itself, "Do I bite or lick this hand currently trying to pet me?" or "Do I pee on this new carpet or do I pee on the linoleum?" Animals make choices, but no other animal experiences the Illusion Exotic except us (and maybe white mice and dolphins, but that's another story). That's because dogs, and other critters, only think and act in the Right Now. Humans, on the other hand, seem to get all wrapped up about what comes before and after the Right Now. That's because we've developed the unique skill of being able to store information and pass it from one generation to the next. Dogs and other critters suck at this. This is our second superpower, and why we suffer the Illusion Exotic. This is also why dogs feel sorry for us and have generally agreed among themselves for the past 10,000 years to suffer our indignities (and for treats, of course). You see, dogs and most other animals live in the moment and prefer it that way. Dogs have been patiently trying to explain this to us for at least 10,000 years, but we have failed to get the hint. Don't believe me? Go ask your dog; they will tell you. Here's how: First, call your dog's name. Second, watch them come running. Third, look into your dog's eyes. What will you see there? Nothing but love, and THAT is your dog telling you to live in the Right Now. Your dog isn't thinking about the past and therefore doesn't care that you didn't take her for a walk yesterday or at all in the past two months. Your dog isn't thinking about tomorrow or how to plot her revenge against you for not taking her for enough walks. No, she's simply staring at you Right Now, thinking about how much she loves you no matter how fat you are because you don't walk enough. (BTW, don't try this with your cat, because cats lack souls). I'm going to come back to this point. The ability to make decisions based on knowledge of the past and applying that to forecast the future are human superpowers. Superpowers are cool, and this generally makes us smug and think way too much of ourselves. That's the Illusion Exotic, the mirage of control that often robs us of the precious Right Now. It makes us fret over what we can't change and makes us anxious about a future we truly can't control. The Illusion Exotic makes us blind to those closest to us currently sharing the Right Now. Oh, sure, planning for the future is probably a good idea; just don't count on it and get all bent out of shape when it doesn't transpire the way you think it ought to. Don't live in the future, because it's not real. Life will go sideways like a rollercoaster going off the track, and your plans can crumble in a moment. In those times, all that will be important is who you are sharing the rollercoaster with. Yeah, it's great to learn from the past and occasionally bask in warm memories; just don't live there, or you'll find yourself dancing with ghosts. Which brings me back to that dog staring at you. She's looking at you that way because she loves you Right Now. A dog's love is perfect because it only exists in the moment. Dogs don't care about the past, and they damn well don't care about the future. They care about the Right Now and being with you. They are totally immune to the Illusion Exotic. What I'm really trying to say is maybe we need to be a little bit more like dogs. No, that doesn't mean sniffing butts and chasing squirrels. It means that you should get up Right Now, walk away from your computer or phone, and find that person you love the most and stare at them the same way your dog stares at you, with perfect love in the Right Now. Because life goes sideways. The past is the past, and the future isn't real. All you have is perfect love, and it's only meant for the moment. But don't take my word for it. Take it from Sammy Hagar and Dog Halen.  Dog Halen One step ahead, one step behind me Now you gotta run to get even Make future plans or dream about yesterday, hey C'mon turn, turn this thing around , hey It's your tomorrow (Right now), C'mon, it's everything (Right now), Catch a magic moment, do it Right here and now It means everything
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 I live in Southern Alabama. By "southern," I mean only a 25-minute drive to the Florida border. My region is a "sub-tropical" zone, and we may see snowflakes once every five years, and that usually doesn't stick to the ground. Even a mild snowfall can shut everything down, as local governments don't invest in any snow or ice removal equipment beyond spreading sand on the bridges. So when the forecasts last week started hinting at a snow event, most of us shrugged and assumed it wouldn't happen. As the event drew closer, and the forecast models firmed up, it began to appear the Gulf South might actually get measurable snow starting Tuesday afternoon. On Monday, the expected school and government closure notices were issued. Government offices told their workers to go home early on Tuesday. Social media was aflutter with people asking if certain grocery stores or Walmart would remain open. By Monday morning, the weathermen began to speak in terms of "historic." The forecast models began to move the dial from 1-3 inches to 2-5 inches of accumulation. This was going to happen; it was only a matter of how big and how widespread the winter storm would be. By 11 a.m. on Tuesday, a thin wintery mix peppered the asphalt. The wind suddenly swirled out of the north with an unfamiliar icy bite. The thermometer began dropping at noon. I'd felt this kind of weather shift before, but in places like Omaha and Michigan, not Deep Dixie. We get hurricanes and heat waves, not blizzards. Yet, a blizzard is what we got. The snow began in earnest about 1:30 p.m. It didn't stop until almost 9 p.m. Snowfall records were shattered across the entire length of the Gulf Coast, including where I live. I measured 9 inches at my house when all was said and done. I wanted to hop in my truck and take photos all over my town. I knew that would be a bad idea. Roads quickly became treacherous and remain iced-over three days later. I settled for walking through the nearby neighborhoods and getting what shots I could. One set of images is primarily black and white and were taken during the storm, about 3 p.m. The other set was taken about 24 hours later and are in color. We were fortunate. The ice storms missed us. The power didn't go out. I didn't have to drive in it. It's Thursday morning and I don't have to go into work. With all that said, a bit of magic came into our lives down here in the Wiregrass. I'm thankful for that magic, for the rare natural beauty and the few days my wife and I could spend together, alone, and in peace. The past few days were a gem in time. The Wiregrass will likely never see this magnitude of snowfall in my lifetime. I felt it was important to capture it the best I could. For my northern friends who will look at the images and shrug and say "So what?", please try to keep in mind our perspective. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the images.                
 Aurora borealis over Coffee County Alabama, 10 October 2024. It's 2025. Its 6:30 am on a Wednesday morning, January is already halfway through, the cat is currently wandering the house, meowing incessantly and the dog is being a pain in the ass. Life is good, even though 2024 was a tough year.
I lost friends and family last year. My mother passed, as did several good friends. It was a "season' so so speak. Yet, through it all, I am thankful and want to keep moving forward. Okay, where am I at with writing and photography? I've got two works in progress. One is a photography book, the other is Book 4 in the Chronicles of Fu Xi series. Both get little time, because most of my time is spent at my day job or at the gym. I have a sliver of time in the morning to write. This morning I'm using my precious time to blog. The biggest change in 2024 is I closed my photography business. Keeping a business open just to support a business license so I can sell at local arts and crafts fairs isn't worth the compliance exposure. Also, I have come to accept that portrait photography isn't my thing. I love portrait photography, but what that entails regarding clients, their expectations, is not a directionI want to go right now. I may do portraits in the future, but I'm going to stick to fine art photography for now, and I don't need a business license to do that. Bottom line, I want my photography to bring me pleasure and personal satisfaction. I am going to apply this philosophy to writing in 2025 as well. "Pleasure and personal satisfaction" for writing will mean finishing the Chronicles of Fu Xi. I HAVE to get Book 4 rolling again. The project is cold and has no inertia. I have to finish this series. Its devolved into a personal quest. I need a week in a camper in the woods with no internet and no distractions to pump new life into the manuscript. However, I don't see that happening any time soon. I look at my spring calendar, and its already filling up with other commitments. Speaking of personal quests...I lost 40 pounds in 2024. I feel so much better. I have cut out sugar, processed carbs, and alcohol. I drank once in July and once in December, and find I'm losing my taste for it. I have 40 pounds to go to my final goal, but the weight loss has slowed dramatically, even as my exercise has increased and calories have decreased. I'm disciplined, but my body seems to be resisting me. Yes, I drink all my water. I think it's the winter. The days are short, and that I'm not as active other than the gym as I would otherwise be in warmer, longer days. I live near the Gulf Coast, and its been unusually cold (I don't like cold.) I won't quit. In fact, I've just added jogging back into the weekly workout lineup, and I hope it accelerates my weight loss again. I estimate it will take me perhaps another year to shed the rest of it at this pace. However, NOT gaining weight is also a goal. Winning. When I hit my goal, I'll post some images. The upcoming photography book is an exciting project. I even has a research assistant (she's awesome!), as it will also be a local history book. I will start gathering images soon, perhaps as early as this weekend. This project will likely have a hard deadline. More to follow in the coming months regarding this project. BTW, I'm up and running on X (Twitter) now. You can follow me there. I post FAR more on X than I do here. It's easier to post and there is active interaction with other authors and the publishing world. I really don't care for Facebook anymore for reasons, though I have no plans to take down my pages any time soon. Also, I'm playing with AI as a marketing tool. You can view my ongoing experiment on Youtube. That's about all I have for now. Thanks for dropping by.  "Grizzly Customs #1", First Place in Class: Professional, Still Life/ Third Place in Division: Professional. The 2024 National Peanut Festival has chosen several of my images as winners at this year's event. I haven't participated in the fair's photography show for several years now, and having my work selected in several classes was an honor and a pleasant surprise. There were hundreds of participants and lots of excellent images by professional, amateur and youth photographers. Here are the other images that were selected. "Special Mission Aviators," First Place in Class: Open Black and White, People.  "Aurora Borealis Over Enterprise", Second Place in Class Landscape: Professional   My Mom. Two weeks ago my mother passed away. There it is, I won't sugar-coat it. It's been a tough, but my family and I are making it. Mom was 84 and suffering horribly from dementia for several years. This was not unexpected, but still difficult to deal with. I said everything I wanted to say about Mom at the service, so I won't rehash it here other that to say I loved her dearly and will miss her.
I will say she was my inspiration to become a writer. For all you parents out there, inspire your children. It matters.  I freely admit it, I'm a lousy blogger. If you've followed me for any length of time, you already know that. If I wanted attention, I'd post Youtube videos. I don't so I won't. Where have I been? Working my day job, just like most of you. My manuscripts are languishing, my photography has slowed and my book sales have cratered. But that's alright. It's all really not important. I've been spending time with family, and that's really good. I've also been spending time working on me. I've lost 10% of my body mass in the past 4 months, mostly accomplished through proper nutrition and a lack of alcohol. I'm jogging again for the first time in 14 years. I feel good. Actually, that's not the right word. I feel centered. Centeredness is something we take for granted in our youth. It comes from strength and health and the ability to live in the present. Centeredness, combined with faith and acceptance, puts one is a really good place. I like it here, and would like to take up permanent residence. Enough of that, let's talk about that image. This project's objective was to fuse two separate images into one using Photoshop (PS). This is a project I've been working on for the past three weeks. Its a composite of two of my images, one I took in the Aracata Forest in Northern California several years ago, and one of my daughter at DragonCon in Atlanta earlier this month. Here are the two images, taken about five years apart.
When I took my daughter's image, it was on a cloudy morning. I had the Arcata shot in mind when I posed her. I arranged her in a best attempt to match the light that morning in the redwoods. Also placed her in front of a background that made it easier to isolate her in PS.
I've come to a place in my photography journey where, when I take an image, I set my camera settings for one of two different outcomes. Outcome #1 is to maximize the light as if it were a conventional film camera. Outcome #2 is to maximize an intended effect in post-capture PS editing. I find myself being drawn more and more to Outcome #2, which is how my mind sees the image, not necessarily as the environment presents it at the moment. The forest image was intended as an Outcome #1, my daughter's image was an Outcome #2. Fusing the images gave me something entirely new - Outcome #3. My first attempt at the fusion was okay, but flat. Thankfully, my son tutored me on some PS tools I was unaware of. His help gave me the capability to create the effect I wanted. Namely, I wanted to convert the Arcata forest lighting that morning to sun shafts to spotlight the subject. Also, I needed to better convert the subjects albedo (light reflectivity) to match the Aracata forest lighting. Also, I had to adjust the depth of field on the subject to match the camera setting in the Arcata shot. Finally, I converted her blue dress to a green dress to better match the setting. I really enjoyed this project. I want to do more of them. I want to leverage AI to create a virtual "photo studio" for my subjects, but AI has proven a clumsy and often frustrating tool. It's far more effective to use my own images as backdrops and match subject lighting in post-editing. Overall, I was satisfied with the effect. As I practice and do more of these "Outcome #3" projects, I'm hoping to improve. I plan on taking more shots with the intention of using them as backdrops. I will likely be bugging my son for more Photoshop instruction, too. That's all I got for now. Everyone have a blessed and centered day. If you liked this post, and don't want to wait for months for me to post, follow my Instagram or Facebook sites for more frequent updates. https://www.instagram.com/p/C_dCTOMxeDI/ https://www.facebook.com/BrianBradenPhotography  Mt. Olive Cemetery, Coffee County, AL. 2024 First, I would like to thank everyone who took advantage of the January book promotion. I set some personal records on that one. Also, thank you to everyone who left a review or rating in the weeks that followed. A special "thank you" goes out to readers in the UK, especially those who left ratings & reviews. Proportionally, my novels have always performed far better across the pond than they have here. Since the year began, my novels have enjoyed a slight uptick in sales and some good ratings and even a review or two. It's heartening. Of that note, I have a favor to ask. My novel Black Sea Gods currently has 98 ratings on Goodreads. If you read the novel and enjoyed it (which might be why you're here) but have not rated or reviewed it, could you please go to the Goodreads page and leave a rating or review. If you're feeling exceptionally generous, a rating or review on Amazon US or Amazon UK helps tremendously with the algorithm, which in turn increases book visibility and furthers sales. Yes, its been three months since I blogged. When time gets crunched, blogging always suffers. In fact, everything except work , family, and much-needed home projects, has suffered recently, that includes photography and writing. Priorities have to be priorities. I hope to turn that around. Actually, it's already turning around. Since December, I've added about 10000 words to the final installment of the Chronicles of Fu Xi. I know it's not a lot, but the project is still moving forward. I've also reengaged in my photography. What I really want to do more than anything is finish the last novel in my series. I'm not sure that will happen unless I can get away for a while.  In years previous, I would escape to the North Georgia mountains for a week every autumn to write. That didn't happen this year. I didn't realize just how important that writer's retreat was to successfully completing The Bastard Gods. Looking back, I realize a significant portion of Black Sea Gods and Tears of the Dead were written at my old hunting club. I never was able to shoot a deer there, but I did a lot of writing in an old camper trailer into the wee hours of the morning. Its starting to dawn on me that if I want to finish this novel, I need to get away again.
I'm not sure that's going to happen any time soon. All that really matters is the here and now. Things are good here in the Redneck Shire and for that I am thankful. Deeply thankful. The older I get the more thankful I get. Gratitude centers me. Time is short, and life is precious. It's meant to be spent with those we love, in places we love, doing the things we love. That's it. Nothing is more precious than time and love. Until next time. Thanks for stopping by.  Its been many weeks since I posted here. Sorry.
In order to you have a successfully platform, one must produce content. Lately, I've failed in that department. Life has been too hectic to take many photos or to even write. To be honest, I'm a bit tired. Grateful, but exhausted. I've been on the road a lot, and its good to finally be back home. The holidays are coming and, quite frankly, I don't think I'm ready for them. I haven't begin shopping and the decorations are still in storage. Time to get busy! Regardless, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, and spending time with family. For the first time, my oldest child will not be with us for the holidays. He is fully adulting now, and due to job demands cannot make it home this year. That fills me with both pride and sadness. Yet, I have managed to take a few photos here and there. This is one of them from a few weeks ago, while I was passing through Crenshaw County. Photoshop has a tool that allows one to turn an image into a oil painting (sort of). The image seemed to lend itself to that filter, so I used it. It doesn't work on most images, but it worked on this one. Speaking of Thanksgiving, several of my novels (Black Sea Gods and the Golden Princess) go on sale starting Black Friday. I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! 
I've been a lousy blogger lately, but I've always been a lousy blogger. Blogging always takes a back seat. The last month has been challenging, but Lord willing, things have settled down. First, my last kid in the nest sort of left the nest. That was really what kicked my blog off line and it hasn't recovered since. Then, my mother got really sick. I was seriously worried about her, but she has since recovered. Then there was some traveling, including DragonCon, where I got to meet Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, and Sean Astin. Then there was more traveling in order to support kids at college. And this weekend there will be more traveling. Oh, and there is work, too.  Hey, anybody seen a ring laying around this place? Yes, blogging has taken a serious back seat. So has photography. The good news is my writing has accelerated. For those of you who follow my author Facebook page, you know I've started a new manuscript. This is not book 4 of my Chronicles of Fu Xi series. I've put that on the back burner. This manuscript has been bubbling in my mind for several years now, and I simply have to write it. Why now? A few events in my personal life have opened my eyes to time's passing, and how precious each moment is. It's time to quit talking, and get busy writing. Maybe I said it best on my Facebook page a few weeks back: I keep getting these epiphany moments; good ones, all centered around characters, including my protagonist. The manuscript's overarching themes are forming, such as gratitude, sacrifice and loyalty.
It feels good, and makes me happy. It also fulfills a new-found sense of purpose, and perhaps urgency. You see, recently a good friend of mine was unexpectedly confronted with life-altering circumstances, and they are not good. His situation got me seriously thinking about what I am doing with the time God has given me. I'm about to turn 56, and I feel strongly compelled to place family, friends, and passions first, and unite them all with the bond of faith. Of course, work and career are still important, but the prism of age and experience whispers to me with renewed urgency each and every moment, "Put first things first." "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." - Gandalf The Grey. In this precious moment that will never come again, I choose to write. |
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