Rousseau on Happiness

"If there is a state where the soul can find a resting-place secure enough to establish itself and concentrate its entire being there, with no need to remember the past or reach into the future, where time is nothing to it, where the present runs on indefinitely but this duration goes unnoticed, with no sign of the passing of time, and no other feeling of deprivation or enjoyment, pleasure or pain, desire or fear than the simple feeling of existence, a feeling that fills our soul entirely, as long as this state lasts, we can call ourselves happy, not with a poor, incomplete and relative happiness such as we find in the pleasures of life, but with a sufficient, complete and perfect happiness which leaves no emptiness to be filled in the soul." - Rousseau


photo from the book Look and Leave : Photographs and Stories from New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward © Jane Fulton Alt

A thought for the New Year from Rilke

On Patience



"I beg you…to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without ever noticing it, live your way into the answer…"
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Wishing you...

Lots of Love, Light and Laughter!


from Cathedral of Oaxaca ~ Angel © Jane Fulton Alt

Original Mind

Our "original mind" includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.
Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

Jonathan Traviesa ~ Winner of the Michael P. Smith Grant 2009

I saw Jonathan Traviesa's work at the Ogden Museum while I was in New Orleans. His environmental portraits give one a glimpse into the everyday of New Orleanians. He captures the essence of the person and the place over and over again, with frankness and honesty.





Jonathan was the first winner of the new Michael P. Smith Grant and also has a newly published book on the work, Portraits.

David Halliday

I became familiar with David Halliday and his work while in New Orleans this past week while participating with him on a PhotoNola panel discussion. His work speaks volumes about beauty...so elegantly seen and presented. Check out his website.


Frutti di Bosco, 1998
sepia toned silver print
4.5 x 6

Still Life with Cantaloupe & Scissors, 1998
sepia toned silver print
11 x 15

David's work was included in two shows that opened this week at the Arthur Rogers Gallery and the Homespace Gallery. The later exhibit was titled, Revival : Historical Precesses in Contemporary Photography and was curated by Richard McCabe. It included the works of many photography masters, including Sally Mann and Robert Park Harrison.

Ciccada, 1996
sepia toned silver print
11 x 22

I am planning on featuring more work from the New Orleans art scene so stay tuned. It is a happening place with lots of exciting work going on.

Greetings from New Orleans

Here few of the highlights from New Orleans...

I went to the L9 community art center in the lower ninth ward where Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun have their Studio. They lost many of their negatives after the storm but are reclaiming their lives. So great to finally meet them. And their work is awesome.


Mural at the New Orleans American Museum of Art, Culture and History


Second line parade Monday morning at 9:30 am!




Louisiana State Museum where I took a morning yoga class overlooking Jackson Square.


Christmas parade on on Canal Street.


On route from the airport there is a billboard that says be sure to check out the "miracle on Fulton street." I finally made it over to the one block to see this christmas extravaganza. They had a bubble machine blower that simulated snow...I guess that was the miracle.

Stay tuned for more on the New Orleans art scene...