And the Beat Goes On

I'm one of those people who believe in cycles. Not just in terms of history and social trends, but in our personal and professional lives.

So many aspects of our lives are continuously up and down. If we take the time, we can chart these cycles in ways that graphically illustrate our health, our love lives, careers, happiness, security, just about everything and anything.

At times, many of the trends that reflect important aspects of our lives are simultaneously moving or remaining "up." Other times, they are universally "down." And still other times, probably most of the time, they reflect a mixed bag of "ups" and "downs" depending on what is being plotted on the chart.

I remember when the (hypothetical) concept of bio-rhythms was popular. Some called it pseudoscience. Others put much stock in its theorems. I tended, and still do, to more closely relate to the latter category of believers/non-believers.

It's not that I subscribe to bio-rhythms as a scientifically accurate predictive power. I don't. I do, however, believe it says something important (and occasionally semi-predictive) about our current and (possible future) states of being, i.e., while it doesn't necessarily predict future trends, it does, in meaningful ways, reflect the past and, more importantly, the present. By realizing where we are, bio-rhythmically, or cyclically in general, we can and should attempt to capitalize on those current cycles and use them to influence, if not predict, our futures.

It's like in baseball when a pitcher or a batter is either having a winning or hitting streak or they're in a slump. We never know when those streaks and slumps will end or if they'll ever return, but we do know that these trends, the streaks and slumps, mean something.

Many people, people other than those who are experiencing the streak or slump, use these trends to predict what, most-likely, will be the probable results of such trends.

Think gamblers, as an example.

It happens in photography too! As shooters, we sometimes find ourselves having good streaks or bad slumps where most all of what we produce either kicks ass or horribly sucks. I'm not saying these trends are purely chance. They're not. But they often seem to defy logical interpretations.

Currently, a fair amount of what's going on with me, from a professional POV, I would characterize as being on a streak.

But I'm old enough and wise enough and practical enough to understand that, for whatever reasons, the good streak -- leastwise, the good streak in terms of my career that is currently taking place -- doesn't necessarily predict that it's a continuously upward trend. I hope it is. And there are many indications that important aspects of it might be, at least for the foreseeable future, but nothing is certain.

The prophet, Yogi Berra, whom I met a number of times in my younger days, once said, "It ain't over till it's over."

That wisdom says a lot in terms of my beliefs regarding the lack of predictive power contained in life's observable rhythms and cycles.

I think Berra would agree that nothing means nothing. In other words, it's often true that some things means nothing.

We just never know about some stuff, do we?

But since, as Yogi also said, "90% of the game is half mental," I also believe that being aware of current trends in one's life allows us to Strike while the iron is hot! (I have no idea who originally coined that phrase.)

In other words, regarding striking while irons are hot, it's often a good idea to be aware of our ups and downs and to, somehow and in some way, use them as springboards or catalysts for, hopefully, positively effecting the odds of experiencing continuously trending "ups" or putting an end to those horrible "downs."

Sorry if this update has, again, become fairly random.

Besides recently doing quite well in terms of booking work and making money, I've finally, as regular readers know, been able to make production of the PGS DVD a reality.

Next on the hit-list are workshops and similar events.

I've recently been contacted with a proposition to visit Bali, in Indonesia, to conduct some pretty-girl-shooting training. I've also, as a result of another contact, started putting together an exotic destination workshop.

Anyone else think Costa Rica would be a great place to hold such an event?

As a result of a currently ongoing discussion with a Costa Rican glamour photographer whom I've known, cyber-known, for a number of years, Costa Rica is looking like the locked-in destination for an exotic-destination PGS workshop.

Please note that there are U.S. domestic locations also in the planning stages for fun PGS getaways.

Costa Rica, besides being an affordable and not-too-long-a-flight-away, has an abundance of unique settings for such a workshop: From pristine beaches to lush, tropical, rain forests and more. English is Costa Rica's second language. There's no political turmoil to speak of, it enjoys a low crime rate, has a big middle-class population, and is the #1 off-shore retirement destination for Americans.

Costa Rica also has more than its share of gorgeous, willing, enthusiastic, glamour models to shoot!

Here's the website of my friend Freddy: CR Model Place, Freddy is a most excellent pretty girl shooter and experienced model wrangler. The site is in Spanish but don't let that stop you. Check out some of the galleries: They're easy to locate in any language.

Here's another one of Freddy's sites, Costa Rica Dream Photo, albeit this one, and the idea that drives it, is still in a semi beta mode.

If you have current plans to visit Costa Rica, you might want to consider Freddy's services.

If you think a PGS getaway, where you learn and have fun, is something you might be interested in, hold on to your hats, we're putting that together.

Okay, back to work. Still have lots of prepping to do for this Sunday's PGS DVD shoot.

The pretty girl at the top is Aveena from 3 or 4 years ago. Like much of this update, it's selection for use in this post is rather random.