I’m taking a step forward. Or, back.

It all depends on how you look at it.

I haven’t been playing enough. I haven’t been experimenting enough. I haven’t been having enough fun.

Like many people, in this age of nastiness, meanness and cruelty. I’ve been taking things far too seriously.

So.

While the dogarito was sitting in the shade and enjoying a bit of a breeze, I started listening for passing jets. My timing is still pretty good, so I was able to put the planes where I wanted them in the sky. Then I thought, “Where’s the fun in that?”

When I got back into the studio, I started messing around. I kept messing around. I added layers. I added filters. I made this and a couple of other aeronautical pictures into something that I liked. Sort of. I kept going. And, going. And, going.

This is the result. I’m still not entirely sure about it. It sort of has an evil foreboding that you don’t really want in airplane pictures. At least that’s what they taught us in picture school.

And…

It appears that one of the comments that I suggested you read, still hadn’t appeared. However it was written it turned on my spam filter. Even by moving it from spam, it still didn’t appear because now it was placed in a moderation file that I didn’t know existed. It appears today. You should read it if you’ve been following along.

That said, I’ve mostly just sat back and watched. It is a good discussion.

I do have a thought.

There is the mistaken idea that if you open a business, you “have” to welcome everybody.

Uh huh.

I own a business. The reason I deal with the extra work of ownership — quarterly taxes, licenses, paperwork, incorporation fees and so on and so on — is because I want to choose my workflow and my client list.

At this point in my career, I turn down as many clients as I keep.

One of the biggest clients that I turned down in the last month was Air BnB. They wanted me to photograph people enjoying one of their properties in New Orleans. They wanted to show the “New Orleans Experience.” Besides the ton of pre-shoot work they wanted, they wanted me to indemnify them against property claims. I can do that because I have very high E&O insurance. You know. Another one of the necessities of owning a business.

The money was good. The job could have been good. But, I have a huge philosophical issue with them. What started out as a good thing — people renting unused space for a little extra cash — has turned very corporate with commercial owners buying huge swaths of property and essentially become hotel owners without dealing with the legal issues that entails. This is destroying communities.

That’s why I turned them down. I didn’t say that. I just said I was already booked for their time frame. No harm. No foul.

The baker could have said something like that. The gay couple could have Yelped him to death. And, took their money elsewhere. And, spread the news on what Jimmy Buffett once called the “Coconut Telegraph.” That would have probably killed his business, which I suspect was really the end game.

Instead, the went to court. And, more court. All the way up to the Supremes, where they lost. The only people who won — as usual — where the lawyers.

Yes. Rights. Both sides have rights. Is it discrimination to restrict a class of people? Absolutely. Does forcing someone to work for someone who they see as violating their religious beliefs violate his rights. Certainly.

There are two sides to every coin. One doesn’t outrank the other.

Use your head.