Danny Schweers

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Essays by Danny N. Schweers. Click on any headline or image to see the entire essay.

Rice Spill

Don’t hold jars by the lid! If the lid is loose, the jar will fall. I speak from experience. When the loose lid slipped last week, almost a cup of rice scattered before I caught the jar. “Arrrgghh!” I cried as I stood there barefoot in the kitchen, grain all around my feet. “Stay right […]

Airline Disasters

Photo of concentric rainbows — a “glory” — centered on an airliner’s shadow, the shadow of its contrail a straight line to the right. Photo copyright 2012 and text copyright 2021 by Danny N. Schweers.

I confess! Lately I relax by watching episodes of “Airline Disasters” on the Smithsonian Channel. What I enjoy most about this television series is the recurring idea of redemption. Every episode ends on a positive note. Talented and diligent safety inspectors analyze every accident. Often the cause of the accident is mysterious, but our dauntless investigators hunt down […]

My Episodic History As A Writer

An acquaintance recently invited me to join a writing group, a very organized group, with agendas and roles. I like the sound of it! New members are asked to share their writing backgrounds. Here is mine. Photo Prayers Every week since 2007 (well, most weeks), I write a prayer and pair it with a photograph. […]

He admitted to himself it had him.

  “William Weigland took a hurried look at the sketch map, decided to chance it, and swung left off Route 22 on a narrow macadam road. He drove a few hundred yards and pulled the Buick to the side of the road. He stared at the map and admitted to himself that it had him.” […]

Seven Comments on Change

“Seven Comments on Change” at the Washington Printmakers Gallery, Georgetown neighborhood, D.C. in November, 2020

As part of its exhibit “Sea Change”, the Washington Printmakers Gallery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. asked me to say something about change. Click here to see my “Seven Comments on Change” — words and photos taken from my Photo Prayer project over the past ten years. The photo is me as a […]

Ideas and Enthusiasm

Why do ideas, so brilliant when they first inspire us, appear deadly dull when we return to them? Ideas of things to do are like fireworks when they first come to mind. As each one appears, I can hardly wait to pursue it. I quickly jot it down, looking forward to taking it up when […]

What do we need? What should we pray for?

abandoned railcar near New Hope, Pennsylvania, along the Delaware River

Soon to die of an assassin’s bullet, Louisiana Governor Huey Long’s last words were, “God, don’t let me die. I have so much to do.” Foolishly, he thought more time was the answer. It is not. If we were given ten extra years of health, or twenty, it would not be enough to get everything […]

“Florida” Selected for Rehoboth Art League Exhibit

Florida image by Danny N. Schweers at Rehoboth Art League, January, 2020

  I am delighted that “Florida” — an ominous photograph with contrarian text — has been selected for the 5th Annual Regional Juried Photography Exhibition at the Rehoboth Art League (RAL), 12 Dodds Lane in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Opening reception, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Friday, January 31, 2020. Juror’s Talk by Gabrielle Tillenburg, Saturday, February […]

Bread and Variety

o one wants the plainest of sandwiches — two slices of unadorned supermarket bread with nothing in between, with no fillings or spreads, just machine-made monotony. Sure, if two slices is all we have and we are very, very hungry, then two slices are a feast! Otherwise, we want variety — extras from garden, pasture, orchard, and ocean. We crave diversity. Our Father, give us today our daily bread and, if it pleases you, give us the bounty of your cornucopia — or make us very, very hungry. (Photo of bread slices drying before going into turkey stuffing.)

Bread has been a symbol of sustenance as well as boredom for many thousands of years. When the tribes of Israel, fleeing from captivity in Egypt, were nearly dying of hunger in the desert, God rained down manna upon them — the bread of heaven. But soon, miraculous as this food was, people got bored […]

Humble Yet Radiant

Even the humblest of things can be glorious. Here, for example, is a photo taken just outside Harvey Road Auto. I had just paid for  the repairs to my pickup truck, got my keys, and left the garage. Off to the right I  looked down to see this oval of orange rust covered by a […]

Turtles All The Way Down

Two turtles in an aquarium.

In one cosmology, the universe rests on the back of a turtle. In another, the one I prefer, it rests on forgiveness. How else could quarks and leptons be so closely bound? How else could atoms combine to form compounds? How else could people, even you and I, abide in unity? Is there any limit […]

Making Photos, Reading Poetry

People make photos and read poetry. That was my immediate conclusion the other evening in Barnes & Noble, as I went back and forth between the poetry and the digital photography sections. Such a difference in titles! The photo section was all about how to take better photos but there was very little in the […]

Faux Folk

This is NOT a photo by William Christenberry. Neither is it a photo of authentic vernacular art. In that sense it is doubly false. Or is it? This gnome’s house is some artist’s creation in the style of a folk artist. The photo is my creation somewhat in the style of William Christenberry. “In the […]

The Form of Writing

danny schweers relaxing

“The form of writing matters,” writes Christopher Calderhead. He says, “Humans are mark-making animals.” He does not say that making marks is what distinguishes us from other animals, or that making marks is our essence, just that it is something we do naturally, and that how we do it matters. Calderhead wrote this in his […]

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Danny Schweers teaches photography lessons in and around Wilmington, Delaware. To learn more, click here to contact him.

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