Happy Birthday, Janie!

Janie Rose Brooksby joined us on this earth two years ago today. Last night her grandparents and family got together to celebrate a little early. She did not mind. In fact, she did not seem to care much about all the fuss. She will accept a gift anytime.

As kids tend to do, she valued the bag that we brought her birthday purse in more than the purse itself. With the pink bag, she could carry all of her gifts around.

I liked this image of her listening to John read a small book that she had picked out for him. After all, she is her daddy's girl.

Playing with Collage on these posts

A composite of shots from our trip to Texas. These were the main players. I just went along to document the experience.

Off the Road Again

In March, when I went to New York, I mentioned that I hate taking touristy snapshots. They remind me of the old travel slideshows where the viewer sits there with little connection with the ever changing images on the screen.

A few days ago I returned from our Trip to Texas. My daughter and her family went along. I went as a sightseeing guide and resource on family history. I allowed myself to make snaps this time only because it is doubtful that those who accompanied me will ever return. Family members are passing on.

Capturing images of my grandchildren was akin to documenting a panicked mob running from nature's wrath. You get what you can get. (Traveling with children under the age of 12 was an unforgettable experience.)

Taking their pictures was a satisfying experience. Still, I returned home with the proverbial slide show. I dare not show it to anyone lest they give into the impulse to toss stones at the screen and me. So I will spare even you. However, here is one taken at the Petrified Forest when we were more at the end of our ropes than at the end of the road.

Transitions

As a school teacher I always looked forward to May. It was a time of transition. School ended. Students moved on. And I got some rest.

As a retiree, I lack regular transitions. I have to experience them vicariously through others. It can be as satisfying.

Last night, Maya, my friend from the previous post, performed in her last production with Jeanne Wright's Dance Group. The program was a nice respite from the previous week of endless travel, and I enjoyed watching her perform. Perhaps, next year she will be in a new level as a dancer. In August she enters kindergarten.

Adam, my oldest grandson, just graduated from kindergarten. He is definitely ready for first grade. There is little likelihood that I would ever interest him in dance lessons. I will just look forward with him to the first day of classes in August.

It is nice to watch the changes others experience as regular time. Less stress on my part. Still, there is a little bit of envy and lots of celebration on my part.

Maya

I have known Maya spiritually since before she was born. Her mother, her aunt and I taught at the same school when both of them were single and not related to each other. Maya, and her cousin, Lily, were just something that happened in the ten plus years that the three of us worked together. I am not related to any of them, just kind of "adopted".

Tuesday Maya turned 5. I was off shooting a wedding when she turned 4 last year so her mother wanted to make sure I took photos to commemorate this year's event. Even then, it was close because I am leaving town tomorrow.

We hurriedly drove to Freestone Park in Gilbert and I shot like the wind because Gloria wanted to attend the Commencement at Mesa High. (Some of our sixth graders graduated this year.)

Well, Maya is no model wannabe, but she is a great trooper. Dancing is an important part of her life right now. That meant two wardrobe changes. And although the shoot was about Maya, mother managed to sneak into a few poses. Maya photographed beautifully. Somehow, we ended up with a decent number of keepers.

Her mother will not be able to receive the proofs or final product until I return from Texas. Nevertheless, she can get a quick peek here.

I recommend that her Daddy start saving up for a nice, handy shotgun. It is going to come in in about ten more years.

A Documentary Travel Journal

In a week or so I will accompany my daughter and her family to the area where I grew up in Texas. I do not get back there often. Funerals are usually the motivation so that the photos I grab are related to that event and snapshots of survivors.

This time I will be traveling with three grandchildren, ages 2, 4, and six. The drive is long. They may not handle it well. This may be the last time they ever make the trip since my elders won't be around much longer.  So, I have decided to create a documentary travel journal. It will allow occasional breaks and let the grandchildren participate.

There will be the usual posed family shots. We will note tombstones at various cemeteries. (My family has left few other notable monuments to record or remember.) At my step-mother's farm, I hope to let the kids interact with the wild hogs, roaming deer, and ostriches at the nearby ranch. Perhaps, the fireflies will be out. (My own children slept through them 20 years ago.) Maybe we'll visit the Peter Pan memorial in Weatherford like we did in 1990.

There will be dinosaurs outside of Holbrook, AZ and the LDS temples in Lubbock, Tx., Albuquerque, N.M,and Snowflake, AZ. All of these things will be noted in the photo journal and photographed with the kids in front of them, but the highlight for me will be a visit to Ft. Sumner, N.M. After all, Billy the Kid is buried there. If now one else is impressed, then, they just take a picture of me standing by his grave. I will loan them the camera and they can put my picture in the journal.

Viewing a Photograph

When someone hands us a photograph, it takes only an instant to respond or react. We can take a longer time ruminating over the image, but we make up our mind pretty darn fast.

We forget that a photograph is the capture of an instant in time on film or taken digitally. Sometimes the photo is pleasing. Sometimes it is not. Taken an instant before or an instant after, our reaction might be completely opposite of the one we are experiencing now.

The photographer can use composition, lighting, viewpoint, framing, shutter speed, and depth of field to affect the outcome. When he shoots landscapes, he has the most control. When he brings people into the scene things change. Even when he has the control of elements and poses in the studio, he cannot control a person's self-perception. Shooting people in situations outside the studio puts him at great risk of failure, rejection, and condemnation. There are so many variables that he cannot control. In the instant that the shutter clicks, maybe he will get lucky.

Keep these things in mind when you view a photograph. A moment before or after the click, you were probably beautiful.

Whether or not a photograph is taken outside or taken inside a studio, it is documentary. Posed, you look pretty good because of all that is disguised. Otherwise, you are stuck with awful truth, which may or may not be discomforting. That is how you looked in that instant.