Comfort Food

State Farmer’s Market – Raleigh 8 August 2013

My head cold is about done and the lack of discomfort allowed some restorative sleep. There is however, a different view of life after 3 days of misery. Which brings me back to a You Tube video I stumbled upon in the web-o-sphere, made by some fellow Wake County, NC residents: Summer In The South. It was the tomato sandwich that got me.

The only way to make a tomato sandwich, besides some big ripe slices of tomato, is with Duke’s Mayonnaise. Just accept that. I do use Arnold’s Whole Grain Bread but that’s optional. I don’t do White Bread – too White.

So feeling better and post ‘mater sandwich, I read all of the news of the day, accompanied by some room temperature Bourbon and beer. Amused by Wash., D.C and dismayed by pretty much everywhere else, I realized that my intended evening menu was not desirable. And then – aha!. 

So when you don’t feel like cooking but need to eat something good and good for you, Duke’s to the rescue! An ample tablespoon or two, doused in fresh squeezed lemon juice (use you hands, they’ll smell good) and a good dose of Old Bay (Disclaimer – I use Old Bay a lot)! Stir that up and break out the celery stalks. Dried ends go into the freezer scrap bag for stock, the rest you dip and eat. A workingman’s Bordeaux and some chocolate after and you’re good!

Graceful

Cary Ballet Conservatory – 2013

As I explained to some folks yesterday, some images stay in memory. This is one. This week, on my almost daily walk, I saw the shadow of a large wing span. Looking up, I expected to see a Vulture, properly attending a recently departed neighborhood Squirrel. It was, in glorious surprise, a Great Blue Heron, who with astonishing wingspan, navigated between two houses into the ravine behind that begins Clemmons Educational State Forest . And I wondered how it survived the fertilizer and pesticides of the Golf Course behind it. Like finding a Rose in Snow, despite the Plows and Salt.

In The Moment

I started writing about photography recently  mostly to help some friends and students understand some principles of the Craft.  That part is the “How”.  Gaining that knowledge gives you a chance at the other part, the “Why” or Art.  I was going to write about making this image. About why it’s important to learn and understand lighting, composition and posing.  All those things are important but still, mostly craft.  After staring at this blank narrative for a long time, I realized everything I had to say was in the photograph. The key is something no camera can provide. Universally, every dancer I’ve met, from high school students to principals in major companies, said the performance on stage, those few minutes of a lifetime, make it all worth it.  It is, the moment, the clarity, the poetry, the magic of the best expression of ourselves, creating something that transcends the mortal and the specific. Which is why, as an artist, the few minutes of my lifetime it took to make this portrait are worth the years it took to reach them. The proof print of this image is much richer than any electronic display. That image, that moment, I hope her children will share.

Senior Portrait Session, Cary Ballet Conservatory, April 2015

Before The Call – First Dress

Chapel Hill High School

Last week, Monday through Sunday, I photographed the dress rehearsals and performances of “Anastasia”, a production of the Ballet and Jazz  Companies of the Cary Ballet Conservatory.   21+ hours of rehearsals and 5 performances with 300 plus dancers in each.  This was made before the first rehearsal