true words

i came across a quote from Frank Lloyd Wright this morning: 

An expert is a man who has stopped thinking because "he knows."

let me never be expert at anything.

a picture and a link

here's a link to some of my work online.  i was honored to be selected as a 2014 Artist of the Month by the Arts Guild of New Jersey in Rahway, NJ.  July is my month.

www.agnj.org

and here's a picture, taken in the upstairs bedroom of Homestead, a lovely old farmhouse (rumored to be haunted) at Kathan Kamps on Great Lake Sacandaga in upstate New York.  this is one of my favorite spots to photograph.  we have returned to Kathan Kamps during the month of August for over 30 years.  i'm already counting the days until this year's return visit.

along the creek

last month my husband finally felt well enough to travel, so we hit the road for a quick trip back to Michigan.  along the way we stopped to visit my husband's brother and family in Lawrence Park, PA, a suburb of Erie.  we stayed at a lovely roadside motel, The Lighthouse Inn and Restaurant, that has maintained its 1960's style and charm.  the breakfasts and lunches served next door aren't half bad either.  the motel is located next to Four Mile Creek, which winds its way through a pretty little golf course to Lake Erie.  it is a popular spot with fishermen, as it is stocked with bass, perch and other game fish.

every morning of our stay, i'd rise early and photograph along the creek.  the hard winter of health travails and heavy snow had kept me from photographing for many months, so i was full of pent up energy and excitement.  the creek was magical.  everywhere i looked i saw beauty, as spring began to make its mark on the earth.  i could barely contain myself, shooting picture, after picture, after picture.  i shot so much i had to make a trip to a local camera store, Van Tuil, to restock my black and white film.

last week, when i finally had the opportunity to develop some of the film i shot, and to print a few images, the magic continued.  i spent a marathon day in the darkroom, printing image after image after image.  my feet barely touched the floor as i pulled each print from the fix and headed out into natural light to examine what i had.  my heart beat faster as i looked at a succession of small images taken during my mornings spent exploring the creek.  i was in love with what i was seeing.  and not with just one image... image after image spoke to me.  i truly do not believe i have ever experienced a happier, more fulfilling, more magical day in the darkroom.  i was afraid to stop working because i wanted the magic to last forever.

this is why i love photography.  photography allows me to approach that which is essentially and ultimately unsayable and present it to you.

hello again

i'm back, after a long hiatus... back behind the camera, back in the darkroom and back to writing just a bit.  i hope to post here more regularly.  but, quite honestly, shooting and darkroom work will always take precedence over writing.

i have been shooting with my 4x5 camera, using photographic paper for my negatives.  here's a recent shot taken at Colonial Park in Franklin Township, NJ.

by the way, everything looks miraculous on the ground glass screen of a large format camera.

Hyperbole

i am going to indulge in a bit of hyperbole and boldly say i think this image may be one i was born to create.  it contains everything i want in a photograph, and in life:  deep, abiding quiet; simplicity; tenderness; beauty; the oneness of all things, but especially small things in the natural world.  this image speaks truth to me.  i am so very happy i found it, printed it and can share it with you.

over the river

my family used to travel by car from Michigan to our home state of Iowa for the holidays.  we would always sing "over the river and through the woods" at the top of our voices as we descended the hill that led to my paternal grandfather's farm in Muscatine.  this memory will be indelibly, and audibly etched in my mind forever because my mother really, truly could not carry a tune.  she absolutely loved to sing and would wholeheartedly belt out each number, serenely oblivious to the cacophony she created with her voice and to her children plugging their ears and giggling in the back seat.

Lou and i will be heading over the rivers and through the woods of Pennsylvania and Ohio to Michigan at the end of the week, weather permitting.  i've heard rumblings from friends that a big snow storm may be brewing.  if it materializes we will wait it out.  but it's back to Michigan for the two of us as soon as possible...  hopefully in time for THE BIG Michigan State versus Michigan football game in East Lansing.

i do not anticipate that i will be posting here while we're back...  too many things to do and people to see, plus a super-duper slow internet connection.

i will be walking my brother's dog Lucky every day past this pretty little lake (or is it officially a pond?).   i do not know its name, but the geese love to hang out here.   it's tucked behind some apartment buildings off Abbot Road.

the city of East Lansing has created wonderful walking trails throughout town since i moved.  i plan to take my big girl camera, the 4x5, with me on this trip and take some pictures, especially here.

since i won't be writing for awhile, i want to wish you a scary Halloween, a peaceful November, and a fattening, family-filled Thanksgiving feast day.

please, do not shop on Thanksgiving.  spend it with your loved ones.  it's the best gift you can give them during the holiday season, whether you're traveling over the river or staying close to home.

see you when the show flies....

Janet Cardiff's Forty Part Motet

on Wednesday i was transported from my mind and my body by Janet Cardiff's sound installation at the Cloisters, The Forty Part Motet.  if you live anywhere near NYC, or you are planning a visit before December 8th, you absolutely, positively must make the trip north to Fort Tryon Park (the 190th Street stop on the A train) to visit the Cloisters and experience this in person.  it has been years since i have been so moved, so uplifted, so changed and exhilarated by a work of art.  it is a transcendent experience.

i have provided a link to the Metropolitan Museum page about the exhibition and a link to a Vimeo sound clip.  but really, believe me, i implore you to go to the Cloisters and sit quietly in the Chapel, surrounded by forty small speakers, and hear this magnificence.  wander among the speakers and listen to individual voices.  sit in the center of the chapel and be overcome by all the voices as one.

i'll be returning often, and staying long.  after this exhibition has closed, i will wish for the rest of my life that i could hear it once again "live."

http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2013/janet-cardiff

http://vimeo.com/74720972

(this image of Janet Cardiff was taken in 1991 by Don Lee
during a residency at Banff to create her early piece Forest Walk)