Sconce (Imagination) A fact, this bit of wallpaper revealed when the knob-and-tube-wired sconce was removed, a clue to a previous life for this room, rudely interrupted by current technology. What stories do you imagine, or substantiate, past or future from this fragment of information? Sometimes the large story lives in …
Objects may be closer (Imagination) Summer rain mists my window, glass cool against my forehead. Headlamps stream too soon. Cars hiss swiftly past— fast, then slow so we pass again under the overpass. And you, ever the object of my affection, are closer to me than any object in my …
Tough-N-Dry (Fantasy) Eighty-five muggy New England degrees, at noon-thirty, and this man shows up on the job site, jacket buttoned to his neck, wearing gloves. Something like a sock bunches around his neck. Slightly more curious than nervous, I introduce myself. He responds, “Tough and dry.” No name. I look …
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Fruits of Our Labor (Fantasy) The tree might be a hundred years old. It suffers from an old injury to its base. I consulted three arborists. One said it was a hickory, and would never recover. One said it was a locust tree. Trash. Not worth saving. One confessed outright …
Concrete Abstractions (Common Sense) If I asked you the subject of this photograph, what would you say? Most people would suggest the cement truck, the foundation, construction as subjects… Why? Generally, because we can readily wrap our minds around objects, scenes, and events. We name them, picture them (hey, it …
4:20 Peace Train (Estimation) Should we assess a photograph first on its technical merits (composition, exposure, focus, subject, contrast, sharpness)? Or on its artistic intent? Let’s examine this one, and see where each method takes us. First a technical analysis: Some point-of-view distortion; decent exposure, rendering lots of detail in …
Methods of Work (Imagination) Cooper, studio cat extraordinaire, keeps me company at all hours, reminds me when it is long past meal time, and pushes me off my chair when he thinks it’s bedtime. He occasionally edits my work by dumping the laptop on the floor, with a motion easily …
Convertible Night Sky (Memory) I’m wearing silk and denim, freshly showered, platform wedge shoes, camera in my lap. My husband smells like summer, sports a happy Tommy Bahama shirt and a baseball cap, and guides the car smoothly home. It’s date night and we are high on Chris Smither, laughter …
Fairy candles lure from the coolness of the house to a steamy summer garden bonfire Alive with spicy promises Whispers, laughter, distant music.