The Old Days

For some reason nostalgia is kicking in and I have scanned some childhood pictures. What have we become and why? Were the influences of environment already started at the time these images were captured? Too many questions and not enough really good answers.
I find my writing falling off somewhat, and I think it's because I'm in a good place in my work. I just have to stop thinking of this blog as a part of my working self and realize I am simply trying to define who I am to myself.

Where is my blue pen?

Breakfast...

Another branch on the tree of life...

Rainy afternoon and all, I found myself looking around the bedroom for images. Sure there were a few, but as I write this I think that I am not spending as much time with hand-work or digital efforts because of the new-found interest in photo-making. The vision thing, the looking and finding is a key to any sort of art, but following through and creating something important to you as an artist/person is the most important aspect of being a "maker" of art.
Actually it's funny that I bend toward the philosophical here as I am watching the Louisville Michigan State game and the underdog is winning, which almost always pleases me because of what it says about the human spirit.
The somber weather has shown some clouds in front of Cadillac Mountain and I am having an afternoon of just kicking back after cleaning up this morning from the construction job yesterday at the Adult Education Center here in Sullivan. The view from the house is always spectacular, even on these darker days.





The next two pictures may be a bit unusual as still life, but they are the objects I have on my bureau and a shot of a pair of shoes under my bed. Photographs like these of "my stuff" are always like metaphors for parts of my life and how I am. Lately I've been more conscious of Matt and his circumstance as a part of my life than I ever have been, but I'm not sure why.

The last ice-cake just before dark tonight. The bay is pretty well cleaned out of ice. There is just one thin yet large sheet of ice that keeps drifting up and down the bay with the tides and the wind. I don't ever remember seeing anything like this before, but then again I haven't looked before like I'm looking this spring. There's something in the discovery of the words that I write here that relates to these pictures and really moves me in a number of directions. I'm finding more and more of a challenge in light, and light is life in so many ways.



I've used the flash at night before and gotten some interesting pictures from it, but it still always ultimately seems so artificial. I need to explore light sources away from the camera... maybe spotlights or such. This summer in the warmer nights I would love to shoot some portraits in the dark, lit by perhaps the setting sun or soft spots or such. The human being can be such a powerful subject, so emotional, so provocative. I took this well after sunset tonight, as I did the one of the house from down on the beach at low tide. and the flash was just an after thought. I will explore this more.

Repeat Subject

Sure, shoot a photo you like and then forget it... or, as often happens in the real life that is in the real world, when you do something you like, do it again. Do you see more than one point of view when you make an observation? I mean that metaphorically as well as photographically. I find myself looking back into the history of who I am and feeling like what often happened is that once I'd seen something (metaphor for touched, related to, danced with (a metaphor within a metaphor) or even imagined something) I thought that was it, that there wasn't any more.


I now know that there is more, a lot more, in taking a second look, taking the time to examine the details in what you observe and not just pass over quickly to the other side of knowledge without actually knowing.

Driftwood

One of the fishermen at the head of the bay had a landing float drift off on him, and we saw it yesterday at the edge of the ice pushing against the tide. One end was sunken as it must have had some of the floatation tear out of it in the ice this winter, and it just seemed to sit in the water in a tilted unusual way, adding interest. I went down to the shore and took a bunch of pictures, and I think a few of them came out ok. I really enjoy this photography thing and taking pictures of an event (no matter how minor) does please me!
Cara Romano asked me to put a piece in Sam Shaw's annual Island Artist's Show, so I will probably show at gelatin print. I'd like to do a few this spring anyway, and having a deadline for a show is a great incentive for me.

Test Strip

Has it really been thirty years? My seniors were gone from Photo I this morning and I had some of my 1978 negatives, so they wanted me to print this one. All I really want to post is the test strip. Thirty years seems like so little time, and now I find myself beginning to be concerned about how much time I have left and what I'm going to do with it... can I somehow make a difference to the world?

Mothers Make Magic

Nostalgia kicked in as I looked through some old pictures of my mom, dad, brother and I. I scanned a couple (will do more) and began to remember some of the things Mom did to make life good for all of us. Just a thing moms do. You guys are all special in your caring and nurturing modes and in so many ways. The magic that is made may not be fully appreciated for years afterward, but it lies there dormant at the least in all of us until we realize the nature of it. My mother was around 20 years old in this picture (circa. 1940) and I've always thought it meaningful that she was born the same year that women got the right to vote. She was a beautiful young woman and an independent, tough human being, handling everything that came her way with apparent ease. The breast cancer and last few years were difficult, but she held on and traveled and accomplished so much that she had planned in spite of her sickness. I'll never forget watching her take her dying breath.

Blogging on the GO!

What a day! Good day in school, but kind of ironic after the post I put up this morning. I called George to see about riding to work together and he said "Sure, whose turn to drive is it?" Well, I looked it up on the calendar and it was his, so he said he'd be down to pick me up. I got ready and he came down. About halfway to school he realizes that he had a 6:00 p.m. meeting and so said he would run me home rather than making me wait around school. Anyway, I ended up catching a ride to the Ellsworth Hospital with Bruce, knowing that Matt had an appointment at three, so I met Jennifer and Matt there. Now I'm sitting in the parking lot at Wal Mart typing this up to enter tonight, another first, blogging on the road!
The changes in routine are good, I think, but I am tired from late night last night and an awaked-ness in the middle of sleep that interrupted a very needed sleep rhythm. Some of these rhythms are not simply routines, but needs of the body!

Rhythm & Pattern - Principles of Life

Sure, sure I know they are principles of art/design, but I have been considering their importance of late. I've been reading Richard Florida's "The Creative Class", and am wondering how these principles effect and affect the condition of a person's existence. Is it natural that we have such solid routines in our lives that we often identify as "good" for us when they can actually turn us into rigid thinking "zombies"? Of course I'm speaking only for myself here. I'm always looking for new things to try or to do in my job. How can I teach students if I am not excited and exploring possibilities? And then I think of teachers I have known, although not well, that seem to be dragging and tired a lot of the time. I understand the idea of being tired because I start my day early and it usually ends late, and sleep is a necessary ingredient to good health, but the days that are most exciting are those days that contain surprises, take you out of the routines in life that you have set up for yourself, and nourish your spirit!
So, even though there are restrictions dictated to us by our society and culture, there is so much interesting "stuff" inside those restrictions that can make things like "movement & repetition" thrilling beyond belief even if for a relatively short time. C'mon let's break our routine!