Photography Water water everywhere, let’s all have a drink Jon Hillenbrand, January 23, 2008October 17, 2019 When I was 10 or 11, I nearly drowned in Lake Michigan. I remember the thrilling sense of speed I got when I dove deep in certain directions mainly away from shore. It was like dragging a parachute behind me though when I tried to swim back to shore. I…
Photography Cardiac Cath Photos Jon Hillenbrand, October 26, 2007October 17, 2019 Some of my images were placed on a blog that a great physician, Westby Fisher, runs for his patients and other docs. You can view them here: Click Here I’d like to thank one of the nurses for stopping me from walking into a room without a lead apron on….
Photography I fell in love and all I got was this effing t-shirt Jon Hillenbrand, September 13, 2007October 17, 2019 Such a nice day today. Crisp cold and I can almost see my breath. Sunny with sharp shadows, the kind you see in space photography. My outdoor shoot, distant across a green field, the blue sky almost as deep as black, a picnic with happy people. It’s coming together for…
Photography Love and Responsibility Jon Hillenbrand, August 15, 2007October 17, 2019 Cathy, the nice upbeat woman who worked upstairs from me at my company died two weeks ago on a Sunday evening in her sleep. I took her last professional photo. I’ve had other people die, two before, now three, that I’ve photographed or videotaped. And I can tell you in…
Photography Reality > Perception Jon Hillenbrand, July 28, 2007October 17, 2019 Reality is subject to our flawed perceptions. As true in Life as it is in Photography, you must realize that what you THINK is going on is not always the case. This is where experience comes in handy. Some people hear rifle shots behind them and duck and run for…
Poetry Listen not to vain word of empty tongue Jon Hillenbrand, July 19, 2007December 30, 2015 The title of this blog came to me wrapped in hard cookie. A crack later and the fortune spilled into my hand like hot mercury. Such wisdom nowadays comes to me at the end of a meal from someone who probably barely speaks the language they are writing in. I…
Poetry The uncertain glory of an April day Jon Hillenbrand, July 11, 2007December 30, 2015 “O, how this spring of love resemblethThe uncertain glory of an April day;Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,And by and by a cloud takes all away.” Spakespeare speaks here of control. Once Art became involved with money, like Life, it grossly spun out of control. As a…
Photography If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes Jon Hillenbrand, July 10, 2007October 17, 2019 Roy Batty, the four year old man spoke these words to the man who designed his eyes. Mortality defines us. When my four years are up, I’d also like to offer up some things I’ve seen and heard. As a photographer, I’m a documentarian of the world in instant and…
Poetry To sleep perchance to dream Jon Hillenbrand, July 6, 2007December 30, 2015 I was walking on a city street that looked like it had been frosted with gray ash. All of the businesses were closed, their windows unwashed. I was looking toward a crowd of people who were heading in the same direction past me, homeless refugees pushing shopping carts full of…
Photography We often give our enemies the means for our own destruction Jon Hillenbrand, June 23, 2007October 17, 2019 Aesop wrote the title of this post about 600 years before Christ was born. And though more than 2500 years passed before the city planners of New Orleans ignored this warning, they now have an opportunity to do something about the destruction. And so do you. High resolution images are…
Photography Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die Jon Hillenbrand, June 22, 2007October 17, 2019 I photographed a survivorship event tonight at a Cancer support center. All of the attendees either had or have Cancer. There was a beautiful woman who’s hair was just starting to grow back. She demonstrated her confidence by not wearing a wig. The decor of the center was interesting. Art…
Photography Confessions from the Barbarian King Jon Hillenbrand, June 22, 2007October 17, 2019 Who knows what inspires us. I recently smelled someone I had not seen for a while, and I swear I could smell her for the rest of the day and into the next. One of my tricks to get someone to look like they are thinking is to ask them…
Photography Not a stone, just a man Jon Hillenbrand, June 15, 2007October 17, 2019 But I gather no moss. I went running tonight, for the first time in a while. What was my motivation? Some show on TV of overweight British women trekking through the jungle. I didn’t have one of those moments where I said to myself, “If they can do it, so…
Photography Sweet as a field of grass Jon Hillenbrand, June 13, 2007October 17, 2019 Life is Beautiful, but it’s complicated. I looked up the song title “Life is Beautiful” today at Barnes and Noble, and 60 entries came up with that as the song title! 60! It’s plagiarism gone amok! And, of course, the version by Vega4 wasn’t listed, which was the only version…
Photography The gourd of life dries out and is later sold in a road side market Jon Hillenbrand, June 13, 2007October 17, 2019 Well, that last blog entry now seems a bit harsh to me. But that’s what I was feeling at the time. And it’s a blog. So it includes the present but only in the past tense. Work is getting slowly but surely easier for me now. Instead of 15 things…