photography

Bridge

/ Benn Bell / Leave a comment

Benjamin Franklin Bridge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I have always loved bridges….I have been photographing them my whole life. This in one of my all time favorite bridges in the world which spans the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Camden. Informally it is known as the Ben Franklin Bridge.   Work began on January 6, 1922. At the peak of construction, 1,300 people worked on the bridge, and 15 died during its construction. The bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1926, three days ahead of its scheduled opening on the nation’s 150th anniversary. At completion, its 1,750-foot span was the world’s longest suspension bridge.

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Traces

/ Benn Bell / 9 Comments

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I love to see the traces of the places you have been

it gives me hope in the possibility of seeing you again

the things you leave behind like a band for your hair

reminds of the fact that once you were there.

Suchness

/ Benn Bell / 4 Comments

The Nature of Reality

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Reality cannot be expressed by conceptual knowledge or by written and spoken language. A  person who has never tasted a mango cannot know its taste, no matter what and how many words someone uses to describe the experience. We can only grasp reality through direct experience.

The nature of all things is unconditioned and can be called “suchness,” or “Tathata.” Suchness is the nature of all things. From suchness the lotus arises. You and I arise from suchness. We can call someone who arises from  suchnessa a tathagata , or one who thus comes.

 

Teaching is from Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh,  Photograph by my me.

Beauty and the Beast

/ Benn Bell / 8 Comments

Frank and Elise

Beauty and the Beast

Dear Elise:

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I finally got to see Beauty and the Beast. You were right, I loved it. I know that it appealed to the little girl in you. I always loved that little girl, as much as I loved her older sister.

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I don’t know who was your beast but you were always my beauty.

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Love,

Frank

PS: I know the main reason you loved the movie was that they lived:

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500 Miles From Home

/ Benn Bell / 10 Comments
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Kentucky Refugee Ministries

I had a rather unsettling experience the other day while teaching ESL at Kentucky Refugee Ministries here in Louisville. We have students from all over the world in the class room: The Congo, Cuba, Somalia, Syria, and Iraq to name a few.

One of the other teachers in the class room was teaching a lesson on home and asked the students to name their home, as in what countries they came from.

She declared she was from Arkansas and then asked the students to name where their home was and they answered in turn. Then, for for some inexplicable reason, she turned to me and asked, “Benn where is your home?”

Well she caught me by surprise and at that moment I was dumbstruck because I literally could not think of an answer and it was at that moment I realized I did not have a home.

So I said, “I don’t really think of any one place as home as I have lived all over.” Well she repeated this back to the class and as the words rang rather hollowly in my ears, she went on with the lesson.

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If you miss the train I’m on, you will know that I am gone

I sat there stewing in the inadequacy of my lame answer and finally came up with a better one. I raised my hand and grabbed my hat!

“Here is my home,” I cried. Then I took my hat and hung it up on an imaginary nail on the wall behind me. “My home is any place I hang my hat!”

Claire dutifully repeated this back to the class, then she caught my eye with a moment of silent recognition, then said, “good one.”

Lesson learned.

 

Rainstorm

/ Benn Bell / 11 Comments

From the Hagakure

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“There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you will still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything.”
― Tsunetomo Yamamoto, The Hagakure: A code to the way of samurai

EXPERIENCE HENDRIX

/ Benn Bell / 14 Comments

Are You Experienced?

Lot’s of serious guitar playing going on at last nigh (3/19) at the Jimi Hendrix tribute tour at the Louisville Palace, in the heart of beautiful downtown Louisville, Kentucky just blocks away from Positively Fourth Street.

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All the old familiar tunes like Hey Joe, All Along the Watch Tower, and Purple Haze were on display for an adoring audience. Some of the biggest names in Show Biz were there to cut some mean licks and shake up the bricks.

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Buddy Guy

80 year old, down by law, Buddy Guy was there. He was a major influence on Hendrix as well as Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Buddy Guy is a six time Grammy winner and is ranked #23 best guitar player of all time by Rolling Stone.

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Beth Hart and Kenny Wayne Shepherd

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Beth Hart and Johnny Lang

Beth Hart was the whole reason I went to this concert. She has already stolen my heart and damned if she didn’t steal the show. Blues Magazine once dubbed Beth Hart as the Ultimate Female Rock Star. But to me she is the best blues singer this side of Blue Heaven.

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Zakk Wylde is a former Ozzy Osborne band member and now solo artist and master guitarist.

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Ana Popovic

Of all the things I have ever done in my life I don’t think there has ever been anything quite so exciting as attending a live musical concert.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky….