Brighton Beach, Skimming Stones

You have to kiss a lot of frogs, the saying goes, before you catch herpes simplex; and you have to skim a lot of stones before you catch the flat water at just the right angle with the right circular pebble, and watch it bounce: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12...

The best stones, like all stones, disappear, and the more successful you are, the further they go. After the throw, you only have the satisfaction of the count, the memory.

There is a Peanuts cartoon I have always loved, in which Charlie Brown throws stones into the water with a look of happy satisfaction. Lucy, watching, remarks, that stone took a million years to get there, and now you've thrown it back, to Charlie's dismay. But there is something extremely egalitarian and universal and ageless and sublime about the throwing, the skimming of stones. It is open to all, completely absorbing and completely and utterly free.

When I take pictures, I take many. Yesterday, I took seventy two, and shot three phone camera movies. I average about 750 images a month, maybe about 30 mini-movies. Some of them are good. Like stones, and frogs, the more you take, the greater chance you have of catching the moment. But the real secret is just to sense the moment approaching, and be ready before the singular opportunity it offers.