30-SEP-2008
7-year locust
I always loved the 7-year locusts when I was growing up. I'd collect their shells and examine them closely. There was something about the idea of shedding one's skin that appealed to me. Maybe that was why I also liked snakes. So now that I'm examining my life in these self portraits, I'm again attracted to the empty shells of this year's locusts. It feels like I am shedding skin after skin with every photo I take. I certainly am allowing myself to be naked and vulnerable.
CLICK HERE to see the two new additions to my "Falling Into Place" gallery of self portraits.
28-SEP-2008
Mrs. Jackson speaks of her life
Yes, I'm enjoying photographing the elders at Detroit's Hannan House Senior Learning Center, but even more than that, I'm loving the opportunity it gives me to listen to their stories. Mrs. Jackson, whom I photographed on Friday, is 95 years old and a former fourth grade teacher. She was visiting her daughter Julie and had accompanied her to the art class. As soon as I saw this wonderful African American elder, I knew I wanted to take her portrait. She was agreeable and I found a spot for her to sit right under her daughter's painting. That made her very happy indeed.
As has become my habit, I set my camera on the table holding it so the lens was framing Mrs. Jackson in a way that pleased me, and just kept snapping while she talked. I ended up with 125 pics, only a couple dozen of which were usable. The problem was not my set-up but the fact that Mrs. Jackson had a tendency to close her eyes as she spoke. But, even with closed eyes, Mrs. Jackson still looked more vibrant while talking than if she'd simply tried to pose.
I've now been working on this project twice a week since mid-June. It is teaching me so much about taking photos of people. I've learned that I don't want posed portraits. I either like to catch people doing something active like gardening or making art, sitting quietly by themselves, talking with one another or talking to me. If we're conversing, I don't want the camera between my eyes and theirs, so I shoot "blind" with the camera either in my lap or on a table. I know this technique wouldn't satisfy most photographers, but it works for me. To the honest, the photographs have become much less important than simply being with and learning from these folks. It is such a privilege to be in their company.
24-SEP-2008
Falling Into Place--my newly named gallery
I have a new title--the 6th or 7th in three months--for my ongoing self portrait/daily life book project. I plan to write an introduction that starts with the words: "It started with a fall, a knee-buckling ankle-spraining fall onto an unyielding sidewalk in Detroit." Then I'll tell a bit of the story of how I moved from being temporarily able bodied (TAB) to being a woman with a disability.
On Monday my mentor on this project, the Magnum photographer
David Alan Harvey gave me another tight edit that included my recent work. Where the first edit in late July had been done in person here at my home in Detroit, this one was handled online, specifically on David's blog, "Road Trips." In the process we discovered once again the dangers of trying to communicate online. There was a mixup and David clicked on the link to my interim edit which had 28 images, 18 of them new, instead of going to the gallery that had 61 images, 51 of them new. When he posted his choices and they included only 3-4 new images, I was crushed. That seemed like a pretty small percentage of keepers. Fortunately I shared my feelings of disappointment and that led to our realizing we were looking at different galleries of work. But because this had started late at night, it still took 12 hours before we cleared things up. When David posted his choices after looking at the proper gallery, he added 16 new images to our original 10. After retitling the gallery this afternoon, I added this photo that I'd taken on the day of my most recent fall on August 15. The "Falling Into Place" gallery now has 27 images. CLICK HERE to see it.
Oh my but this project has gotten under my skin. Every minute of every day I'm on the lookout for new opportunities to photograph my life. Most days I find something of interest. But that doesn't mean it will make my initial edit. I'd guess I've taken well over 1000 photos since starting this project on June 11. I wonder how many 1000 more I'll take before I'm done!
22-SEP-2008
Detroit's African heritage
Detroit is an amazing city. Often I feel as if I've traveled to Africa without having had to leave my city. The African heritage is so present here, not just in dress and style but in spirit. An example was this beautiful woman I saw today (Sunday) at the Russell Street Industrial Center Art Bazaar. I was scooting through crowds of people when I saw her in silhouette against the late afternoon sky. My heart went to my throat and I immediately stopped and asked if she would please hold that position so I could take her photo. She graciously agreed. We didn't even exchange names but I will never forget her. Her beautiful spirit will touch me every time I see this photo.
20-SEP-2008
daddy love
My first thought was to show you a photo I took of the world-famous Diego Rivera Court at the Detroit Institute of Arts where tonight (Friday) I heard an amazing performance of the
Oblivion Project playing compositions by the Argentinian nuevo tango master,
Astor Piazzolla, but then I pulled up this pic and it won hands down. At the concert this loving dad was sitting near me with his two daughters. I "lap shot" several frames--where I shoot blind with my camera sitting in my lap--and hoped I'd captured even a hint of their interactions. I guess I got lucky because this was among them. Sometimes lap shooting is the only way to get the candid shots I want. The minute I put the camera to my eye, people freeze up. But if it's just sitting on my lap no one even notices.
You can listen to Astor Piazzolla and his quintet performing his composition, "Verano Porteno," by clicking on this YouTube link:
11-SEP-2008
at the Detroit International Jazz Festival
I've been looking at some of my photos from this year's jazz fest and wanted to share this one with you. Actually I didn't take all that many pics this year, and the few I did were mainly of families with young children. Let others take photos of the performers. I'd rather listen to them and see the people around me.
Friday morning I'm off for the weekend to sing with
Carolyn McDade and a circle of women--many of them my dearest friends--on the shores of Crystal Lake in Northern Michigan. Will return home Monday late afternoon. Should be very sweet indeed. Have a great weekend yourself...
09-SEP-2008
Patsy at 2 & Patricia's hand at 66
Working on a long-term project is an exercise in trust and patience. I sometimes feel I'm taking one step forward and two steps back. But I guess those feelings come with the territory. I'd been forewarned by the Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey who's been mentoring me on what he insists is a book project. If it is, I might be pushing 70 before it gets done! Today was a good example.
I started the day by taking this photo of the bookshelf in my bedroom. Can't even remember how many frames it took before I got this one that I liked. Let's just say LOTS! And then I was off and running. Decided to look in my archives to see if there were any photos that might fit this theme. That was time-consuming but worth it as I found several possibilities. Oh well, I won't bore you with the rest of the day, just trust me when I say this project took more of my time and creative energy than you can imagine.
When I'm trying to create a gallery--even one that is constantly evolving like this one--my task is to find a common thread in the choices and sequencing. It has to fit together, at least to my eye. That means I must leave some of my favorite photos out, at least for now. It also means some photos that had made the last edit now have to be removed if they no longer serve the whole. Talk about a balancing act!
To see where I am with my self portraits/daily life project,
CLICK HERE. If you go there, you'll see that the title is ever-evolving too. It's latest incarnation is "Exposing a Life, My Own."
07-SEP-2008
urban gardening
There's a group called The Greening of Detroit that supports dozens of urban truck gardens all over the city. One of these gardens is at Hannan House where I've been photographing the elders since mid-June. You should see their harvest now! On Wednesday they gave me one of the cucumbers picked from this vine and it was delicious. They also harvested tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, basil, collard greens, kale, swiss shard, broccoli and green beans. And there's more to come...
05-SEP-2008
crowds at Obama's Labor Day rally
This photo was taken with my camera by Renee Drake. We met while waiting for Senator Obama to speak at Detroit's Hart Plaza on Labor Day. Actually, Renee was standing up on her seat looking at the crowds around us--we were in rows 5 and 6 from the podium--so I asked if she'd take pics from that perspective. She turned 360 degrees and took a set of wonderful photos. You can see Renee's crowd shots and my close-ups of Obama by
CLICKING HERE. Almost like being there yourself...but without having to wait over three hours in the hot sun!
01-SEP-2008
Sen. Obama speaks at Detroit's Labor Day rally
Sometimes I love being disabled and today was one of those days. Because I was in a mobility scooter I was placed in a special line with other disabled folks waiting to get into Detroit's Hart Plaza to see Barack Obama speak at the Labor Day parade. And because I was in that line I ended up in the SIXTH ROW from the podium where he spoke! The photo you see here was taken at 50mm so that gives you a good idea of how close I was. For tens of thousands of able-bodied folks in Hart Plaza and several hundred more on the sidewalk outside the plaza, Senator Obama was either a disembodied voice heard over the loudspeakers or a figure on a large video screen. But to me and the people around me, he was real as real could be. And from that perspective I got a good sense of this man whom I believe will be our next President. He is sincere, compassionate, intelligent and totally committed to this country and its people. Yes, he's a politician, but in the best sense of the word: he is a man of the people. And let me tell you, Detroit LOVES Barack Obama!! And so do I.
CLICK HERE to see my gallery of photos from this event.
