We just returned home from a trip to the Lyric Opera’s performance of The Pearl Fishers. I’ve been wanting to see this in person since first hearing the magnificent tenor-baritone duet, Au fond du temple saint, performed by Nicolai Gedda & Ernest Blanc on a compilation of opera classics.

While the performance and the music were beautiful, the orchestra unfortunately slightly overwhelmed the singers on that duet. I was also somewhat surprised at how little of a story there actually was. But nevertheless, Jean and I had a wonderful evening out. Especially notable were the performances by Nathan Gunn (as Nadir) and Nicole Gabell (as Leila).

During my visit to my parents this weekend, I learned that Dad had just finished reading what I believe to be a later edition of the photography book from which I learned the basics way back when I was a teenager and all cameras were film cameras.

Since I’ve been needing a new camera for a while, both for personal use and for work, that provided the spark to do some quick online research and head out to buy a Canon PowerShot SD790.

While enroute, I mentioned flickr to Dad as being to photography what GoodReads is to literature — more or less. My goal: to get to see more of Dad’s self-selected best photography.

Now I’m back home and playing with this new toy.

And against my better judgement, but in the hopes that this may prove a fun and enlightening experience, I have taken on a new project. I am going to post a compelling photograph each day to my flickr photostream. While my primary goal for doing this is personal — getting into the habit of exercising my visual creativity on a regular basis — I hope that the photographs, and perhaps the process itself and my reflections on it, may prove thought-provoking and enjoyable to others.

The photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sknagle/sets/72157607559010644/

I’ve also added the stream to the sidebar.

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This collection of short stories — almost vignettes — published after his death shines at times, especially in “Happy Birthday, 1951″ and “Just You and Me, Sammy.” Overall, however, I never found myself as drawn into or as affected by this book as by his other, more well-known works.

View all my reviews.