Month: April 2026

Across Generations

A full afternoon waiting in an automobile service dept. offers free coffee and library-like quiet. Finished reading and looking at this today, a 1952 re-issue. Found a kindred artistic spirit. And belatedly discovered his foundation was a short walk from the vacation apt. we rented in Le Marais. My late Sweetheart would have chewed me out for highlighting passages and bending page corners – but it is, my book. And I found a communion of artistic spirit. My pile of notes for a book about the alchemy of the How and Why of photography making Art are nearly plagiarism. I was two when this was published. Some ideas are timeless and transcend technology.

Henri Cartier Bresson “The Decisive Moment”

Stupid Human Tricks

Dog sitting with this sweet dumpster rescue for the next half hour while her rescuer “Vacuums” their apartment. Time for a story.

Started to mount these on lights stands I had with 5/8″ studs and 1/4 20 male threads. Went to Lowe’s Hardware and bought some knobs in the hardware aisle with female threads to mount them. Back home, could not make them fit! Until today!

Realized I had transposed 1/4 -20 with 10-24 – not only a different thread pitch but the thread diameter is .190″ vs .250″. Duh!

A trip to my local Ace Hardware for 1/4 -20 Wingnuts fixed the problem. Tossed 8 bucks of mis-purchased knobs. Dinner tonight is “Crow”.

The Wisdom of Children III

Photographed at weekend event at Ashworth Village in Cary, long ago. I was making photographs for Cary Citizen. And discovered that the lack of guile in children is, vitamins for the adult spirit.

Nearing 76 turns about the Sun, I get spiritual renewal watching kids invent play with shopping carts at the grocery. My late Sweetheart & Boss Lady thought I was embarrassing, riding our grocery cart, downhill to the car. Tried it the other day – I weigh too much, cart tilted backwards. Or maybe, it was empty and light, shopping for one. And 16 years later, I remember the unvarnished honesty of this child.

Chewing Through Ropes

Safe at home on a damned near perfect afternoon, with Beer and Bourbon. Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Shooting Straight In The Dark”, playing on my bookshelf stereo. And reading a gift, from my young dog rescuing neighbor, a wonderful book, “Dog Songs” by Mary Oliver. And taking a license with a title, “Ropes”. Like the dog in the story, been chewing through ropes, as long as I can remember. Like a lot of us, looking to be free to discover. Free now.

Tungsten Fresnels

This arrived today, none of which I needed but the price was irresistible. As was the possibility of making a portrait. Smaller than my Mole-Richardson gear that I sold on retirement. But maybe, a good fit for an apartment , to make a portrait of a young friend I greatly admire, a la the following image, made after my 2012 lighting epiphany.

Travels With Jane #9 – Pac West

Made this photograph in September of 2009, on the back end of a wonderful voyage aboard the Aurora Explorer. The car ferry from Victoria to Seattle, via the Strait of Juan de Fuca, allowed me to be topside, something ex-Submariners find, astonishing. Saw this on the stern quarter. Big Boat – 560 ft vs the 425 ft Lafayette Class Polaris Boomer I was aboard. They’re sailing for a “Nuclear Strategic Deterrent Patrol” aka “Making a hole in the water for a few months”. In 2026, they’re still on Patrol.

Ohio Class Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine with USCG Escorts, outbound.

Travels With Jane #8 – Marais, Paris

This is wildly ahead of the chronology of my Post Plan but:

A mid-April, windows open, 90 degree Saturday in North Carolina, with good Hefeweizen from Bavaria & Bourbon from Kentucky, listening to Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time”. Deciding on the last prints I’ll order for my home gallery and an exhibit plan I’ll submit in mid summer. But that’s not what this is about.

Made this photograph on another Saturday, in Sept of 2016. Print arrived last week. I’ll frame tomorrow. That September afternoon, after wandering about Le Marais near our apt., we lounged a few hours at the cafe on the right. Shared a meal with my late sweetheart. It was, the very best of times.

Place Ste. Catherine

Like a lot of others, we’d both made poor marital decisions, had child custody battles, witnessed the deaths of parents and got corporate downsized. And we struggled through two years of Stage 4 Cancer consequences. Yet, we’d found each other – “In the Nick of Time”. Arriving home in North Carolina, we decided the kitchen renovation could wait a year and revisited Paris, the next September. Which included the 5oth Anniversary Performance of Balanchine’s “Jewels” in a good box at the Palais Garnier, aka the Paris Opera House. Which the Paris Opera has announced for it’s next Season. I won’t attend because my love, to paraphrase Etta Jones, won’t be there.

Robert Burns Was Right!

“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men often go awry”

The wonderful Dancer and Actor who has performed as “Herr Drosselmeyer” in the Cary Ballet Company productions of the “The Nutcracker”, recently asked me for some photographs to show some folks who had never seen it. Retired as I am, I set off into archive land, thinking I could give him a well deserved chronology and evidence of his artistry, from my work of 2011 to 2021.

Was going well until I discovered I’d never edited the rough gallery from the 6 PM Sunday performance in 2018. And it was a bit of photographic special. I do remember thinking, last show, I have everything, so let’s take some chances! Added a 1.5x Tele Convertor Lens to my tripod mounted Sigma 100-300 F4 Zoom. So now, I was at 150 mm to 450 mm focal length – capable of making head shots from rear of theater. But high risk, including the loss of an aperture stop and narrower Depth of Field, so lots of soft and out of focus images. Still had my 50-135 mm on the other body. And I’ve spent the last two afternoons winnowing down my mistakes. I forgot how much work this was. Stay tuned!

Easter Thoughts

This AP News article took me back to another Sunday morning, standing at the intersection of Rue de Rosiers and Rue Ferdinand Duval, near our Paris Apt Rental. I’d walked down the very narrow street to a Jewish Bakery for our daily bread – and some goodies.

And nearby was a plaque, that I made this photograph of. And after I read it, closed my eyes and opened them and saw nothing that could not have been 1944 and I was there, then, being taken to Auschwitz. And it was the most terrified I’ve ever been.

And thought, I’d served in a Missile Control Center on a U.S.N. Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine. Willing to be directly responsible for the unimaginable, collateral incineration of millions of innocents.

I need to have a serious discussion with The Great Spirit.