Zooming Zombies: Drive Carefully

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Drive carefully. A wise admonition. Taken from the film "Viva Las Vegas", this warning appears on Carnival parade floats in Provincetown and on Kurt Fowl's performance art. It's the last week in August, Carnival time on Cape Cod.

  So what's the point of the warning? Life is dangerous. Breathe, look around, move from your reptile brain to your frontal lobe and stay focused. Be mindful when you drive your car, and your camera.

 Headlessly, we photographers ignore the sign's message. Our iPhones rise up and our awareness retreats. A series of mesmerizing sights appear: Elvis seems to replicate as he struts, Liberace smiles, Zombies gyrate their broken bodies to the disco beat of the Viva Las Vegas theme song.

  Like Zombies, we iPhone-ographers lurch directly into the path of passing floats, just inches away as they roll down Commercial street. Only the parade Marshalls keep us safe, shouting "watch yourself," as floats and people begin to collide.

  The moral of the story is the essence of Slow Photography. Drive your own body carefully when you shoot. Don't be a zoom Zombie. You'll make better images if you survive longer.

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