Ray Pfeiffer

Just looking...

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. “

- Franz Kafka

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“I felt that my mission in life was to make visible what appears to be invisible and do that as someone who is blind and comes into the world and suddenly begins to see.”

– Bruce Davidson

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“You don’t take pictures with your camera. You take pictures with your mind and your heart.”

- Arnold Newman

[thevisualanthropologist]

Throwback Thursday

Don’t mind me, I’m just lookin’ around…

[thevisualanthropologist]

Throwback Thursday

Many photographers like to present their work as projects or distinct bodies of work. Images curated around an idea or theme to create a unified whole. I also tend think about my work this way. Otherwise, all we have are just a bunch of pretty pictures. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“Every photograph is a certificate of presence.”

-Roland Barthes

[thevisualanthropologist]

Throwback Thursday

Continuing the sorting of images from the past couple of years has been largely an exercise in futility. I’m just not able to categorize so many of them very easily. I’m having an extremely hard time making decisions on what to save and how to sort.

That being said, there are themes that are starting to emerge which may turn into projects at some point down the road. It’s funny what your subconscious can be doing while you’re doing something else…

Here is a small sample from this weeks finds:

[thevisualanthropologist]

For my 200th post in this decade I was looking for something special. But this was all I had. Oh well, maybe next decade. If anyone is looking for me, here’s where I’ll be. #ocean #water #yugen #sea https://www.instagram.com/p/B6wwFrZgSFl/?igshid=1gzfwal319xeg

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wabi sabi #restlesseyes #fineartphotography #fall #wabisabi https://www.instagram.com/p/B5QY72FAEkN/?igshid=12j45g532mu1a

[thevisualanthropologist]

Fantastic plastic #holga #holgaweek #fscholga #film #ishootfilm #filmisnotdead #fineartphotography #blackandwhite https://www.instagram.com/p/B3LrgycA2Ou/?igshid=1akacj3q16ogq

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“Beauty is the universal seen” - Alfred Stieglitz

[thevisualanthropologist]

Throwback Thursday

Still working though the morass of negatives and files… Where do they all come from?

Oh, wait. I know. Silly me…

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“Art is the one place we all turn to for solace.” - Carrie Mae Weems

[thevisualanthropologist]

Throwback Thursday

As folks are often wont to do this time of year, I am sorting through mountains of old image files to catalogue and save for future reference. Every time I add a new storage device it seems like this becomes a necessity. The older one gets the more wisdom you’d think would be gained. In may case, apparently not.

Perhaps because digital imaging allows us to create so many more images, or maybe because of the unending possibilities and ways to use our pictures I have such a difficult time keeping things organized, I’ll probably never figure out. But here is a selection of pictures recently rediscovered that I really like.

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“It’s not enough that an artist sees. He must make others see” - Edgar Degas

[thevisualanthropologist]

Throwback Thursday

Using pictures of water is something I do quite often as a way of expressing ideas that are otherwise difficult to put into words. I’m working on a series now exploring that very idea, that I hope will develop (pun intended!) into something.

This image is from an early trip to Wrightsville Beach shortly after I moved to North Carolina almost 20 years ago. It is the old pier at the Oceanic. I have another panorama. from about the same time that was an early attempt at stitching panos. A careful search of the site will reveal it.

Progress on this recent work can be found soon on my IG or tunblr account. Stay tuned…

[thevisualanthropologist]

Wednesday Wisdom

“What makes life worth living? No child asks itself that question. To children, life is self-evident. Life goes without saying: whether it is good or bad makes no difference. This is because children don’t see the world, don’t observe the world, don’t contemplate the world, but are so deeply immersed in the world that they don’t distinguish between it and their own selves.”

— Karl Ove Knausgård