day 89 of 365

I participate in the monthly Boston.com RAW Amateur photo contest. There's a theme each month, and it's been really interesting to see what people submit and what the judges (who are professional photographers) have to say about the entries. Though so much of art is subjective, and I don't always agree with the final choices, I always learn something about technique and composition.

This month's contest theme is "The Items We Carry," and we are supposed to depict things we carry in our pockets and bags that people don't usually see. Right away the contest was flooded with photos of people's guns, and it turned out that a gun rights group had gotten wind of the contest and decided to make a political statement. The debate raged in the comments forum, and it generated more feedback than any other monthly theme.

So the above is my submission for this month's contest. It's not a particularly great photo, but more of a political statement of my own. Title it "the pen is mightier than the sword" or "books, not guns." An infinitesimal gesture in a crazy world.