Wedding in the Woods

Had the honor of photographing Beret and Paul’s wedding two weeks ago at Wellspring Spa
in the foothills of Mt Rainier.

Love in the labyrinth

It could not have been more lovely. Planned as a relaxing gathering for friends and family, guests tossed eggs great distances to each other, raced, hopping at blinding speeds in coffee sacks, smacked piniatas and feasted on shellfish. The ceremony was elegant and simple, under a great tree in the center of a stone labyrinth. Beret and Paul were delightful hosts (and fabulous dancers). La Chaim!

All the old stuff

So here is the challenge. To transfer all of the old photos to this cyber place, I have to flip through boxes of negatives, pull the hibernating creatures from their plastic encased, dust free slumber, drive them over and under bridges to the Scanner. There I will place them in the hands of persons unknown who will scry the substance of their little souls for meaning and etch on a shiny disc the some total of the years I dutifully recorded on Fuji Reala. Once I have convinced myself that this is a worthy task I’ll have pictures on this site. but not before.

Camera, not so bad after all

So I have it now, the new camera. Like an arranged marriage I have paid my dowry and am traveling with my new companion at my side waiting for love to strike. It is a nice fellow. Solid.

No, the buttons do not feel like the cold metal shutter release of my first Canon. There is not the satisfying ka clunk of the Pentax 6×7 that taught me to love the act of cutting the world into glorious golem  rectangles infused with the lives of others.

Instead this new companion offers the promise of learning. I am inspired to venture across the desert separating the analog and the digital by the great river and traffic plagued bridge separating me from the nearest color darkroom.

I carry stacks of books on topics I had never thought to explore and pile them around me like a snow fort, a study carol, sand bags in a flood. My progeny builds towers beside me as I study the panels in Bridge. I did not underestimate the impact of introducing digital photography to my life. I have avoided it for so long, played dumb, pretended that it would go away. Opening the door to it now feels a bit like letting in the storm.

Yesterday however, I had a small revelation that makes it just a bit exciting. I photographed my little son wrapping string around nails hammered into an old log and the images, digital or no made my breath catch in the way it used to as I stood over the tray or switched on the light in the tiny room with the giant Colenta processor. It was a real photograph. A real impression of his little soul hard at work. 

A new tool for story telling, pretty interesting.

First Foray

 

So I am relaunching a part of my life that has sat accumulating dust for a few years. After devoting uncountable months and years to any and all things other than my own photography I am making an earnest effort to pick up where I left off. A beautiful new camera is sitting snugly bundled in my backpack, a new to me lens bounces around in a cardboard box beside her. It is not insignificant that I am picking up a camera again as the spring begins to tease us with hours of sunlight at a time. The idea of real sunshine on a human face is tempting. This little window of cyberspace will be home to photos new and older. Thanks for following along.