IT SEEMED IMPORTANT at the time

So It Seemed

MY MAGPIE EYE is attracted to colorful things that make me do a double-take.

What is that? Or even, what could it be? My best photos are shot from the hip.

A man on a motorcycle in Cambodia, burning down a dirt road at sunset is feeling the glow. Superheroes with Jesus in a mural in Guadalupe, California provide a public service announcement. And, somewhere

in the Nevada desert, there's a turn-off to Beverly Hills.

All of these photographs seemed important—at the time.

Portraits from the Poum

TEN PORTRAITS out of hundreds taken during my service in the Peace Corps (2015-17).

Most of the faces belong to friends or acquaintances in the village where I lived once upon a time in the Kingdom of Wonder, far away now, yet still so vivid.

Rounding up this essay is a portrait of a little

Khmer cowboy. With hemp rope in hand, he ran to keep up with his older brothers to bring the cows home for the evening. When the sunset glow lit him up, I asked for the picture and he obligingly turned his solemn face toward the sun.

& black & white & black & white &

MOST OF THESE BLACK & WHITE photos were taken in Northern Colorado. where I live and in Northern California, where I like to visit. I don't think I've ever gone out the door with my camera and not brought back a picture.

There are times when the mood of the image is truest when the colors are limited to black and white. (And what lies between the two). The pattern becomes paramount. Silhouettes stand out. It lets you see the picture in a new light.

Copecetic Colors

SAN MIGUEL de ALLENDE undergoes a makeover in the spring. Casein-based paint is applied by hand with a large, rough brush to the walls. If two artists work on the same wall, it will look like two different paintings from the same palette.

During painting season some houses wear swatches of color for a couple of weeks before the resident decides what will be the color of the season. The streets of San Miguel are dotted with spontaneous minimalist galleries painted on the walls. Eventually, the rain will wear the paint down and the colors will fade

in the sun. Then the ritual house painting will begin again next spring.

San Miguel de Allende in Pink

THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF COLOR in Mexico. A pink ballerina and pink roses in this series appeared after a morning rain, sparkling in pale pink. The bright pink broom was caught coming out of a restaurant called Casa Rosa. A gift of serendipity.

Señora Mojiganga, resplendent in fuchsia, stands about 7 feet tall, while the luchadores in pink and blue tights are at 3/4 human scale. (Those stretchy pants are one-size-fits-all.)

And then there's That Guy with Christmas Toys stuck all over his faded red VW, which appears in photographs as the color pink.