http://www.benmckeown.com The Headquarters for the Work of Ben McKeown Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:12:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="" align="alignright" width="362" caption="The new Ben at his secret outdoor fitness center."][/caption] It's about time for me to get back on this. Over the past year or so, I've made a lot of changes for myself.  Physically, mentally, spiritually - I've slowly revamped the way I do things.  In the process ... http://www.benmckeown.com/hello-again So I've mentioned that I'm working on a new project with a friend and colleague...  I'm not going to reveal too much here, as we still have plenty of loose ends that need to be tied up.  BUT, I will offer this quick audio clip as a teaser of sorts.  ... http://www.benmckeown.com/this-is-gonna-be-awesome Greetings again from the land of Blogstoolittle!  I hesitate to even say it (because I seem to inevitably prove myself wrong), but I will make a genuine effort to change the name of this town from Blogstoolittle to Blogsalot.  Or at least Blogsenough. At any rate, I simply wanted to share ... http://www.benmckeown.com/vype-august-2009 The last month or so has been slow. At least as far as "work" goes - that is, official, solicited jobs that add some money to my meager bank account. And much of that has to do with my own preparation, I'm well aware. I embedded so ... http://www.benmckeown.com/eliminating-the-non-essential If you know me, you're familiar with my propensity to speak and write with verbosity.  It is true, I write poetry.  There are times when I speak slowly and with a lilt (surprisingly, sometimes) more akin to Garrison Keillor than Scott Van Pelt.  Recently, I was told by a special ... http://www.benmckeown.com/on-mushiness Long time no blog. Life seems tense these days.  It's a combination of things, I think.  Much of my stress comes I believe from the general undertone of worry being felt in this country these days.  Just as economic troubles seem to propagate themselves, so does the bad mood that accompanies ... http://www.benmckeown.com/revalations-and-such Come beside me fly a moment North, up, away from moments stuck, forth, we're only listening to rules that whisper and grin, flicker and then recede. Be a breaking force against the course followed, straightening for the souls swallowed, distilled, in stillness perpetual, inevitably still uninspired. Be apparent, live alive or lie and die - a corpse with blood and breath. Come and with ... http://www.benmckeown.com/your-coffee-our-dreams "It sure isn't the same not having you to cry with," she said in a text message. It was around 1:00 AM on a Wednesday night.  I was in Boone, North Carolina, she in Washington D.C.  I assumed she was lying on a bed in a hotel somewhere near the Capitol, ... http://www.benmckeown.com/it-sure-isnt-the-same As I was leaving I told her, "I really am happy that we ended up next to each other for a while, tonight and at this point in everything..."  I leaned down towards her, heavy, it seemed, like my whole body was a sponge that had been soaking up a ... http://www.benmckeown.com/i-knew I didn't sleep last night.  It was simply one of those nights which for me have become all too familiar, a night where this awfully electric, kenitically anxious vibe fills my mind, a night where I have to do something.  So in an effort to make that something a productive ... http://www.benmckeown.com/update-predictions A couple a man, a woman Alive today, strolling smiling through the corridor of the prism of history I see Today becoming Forever I see Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy - Obama. Hand in hand and slowly in my mind they walk and wave not fading so much as transcending, the warm and brilliant light of eternity casting their hopeful image on the photographic paper of benevolent immortality. Change ... http://www.benmckeown.com/change-awakens You must be special - more than I acknowledged - because I look away for three long months and all of a sudden I turn and I'm in love with you again. I let it sit, forgot it entirely, moved on in full form and somehow, somewhere in the immateriality of a season's changing, you stayed you and I fell for you again. I ... http://www.benmckeown.com/i-am-one-small-seed Photographers often seek to approach their subjects from a different, unusual angle.  As a photographer hero of mine, Joe McNally, once put it (and I paraphrase), "The world is much seen; find a perspective that will enlighten your viewers."  Essentially, the ethos of this theory is that new and valuable ... http://www.benmckeown.com/benjamin-button Stopped by Schoolkids Records on Hillsborough St. in Downtown Raleigh to grab these shots for this article, written by my talented friend and colleague, Acree Graham, for www.newraleigh.com.  More on New Raleigh in the near future. http://www.benmckeown.com/vinyl Just a few days after spending a night at Hillside, I had the privilege of meeting eight area high school girls basketball players.  We met at the local YMCA for a cover shoot for Vype Magazine As I've indicated before, I'm a huge fan of high school basketball.  It was a ... http://www.benmckeown.com/triangle-girls-basketball-players