Poet

My wife, the poet.
Every piece of art she does, the poet speaks.
Every photo she takes, the poet sings.
Every time she holds my hand, there is poetry in her touch.

Old School

This is old school. 2003 film-camera old school, taken downtown during a poetry reading my wife was a part of. I was just learning photography and how to push film beyond ISO 400 (if I remember right, I pushed it to 1600 for this roll).

Photography was so different. You had to learn the hard way - by waiting till the film was developed. I remember spending hours shooting and then developing my film, only to see that I had screwed up the temperature or something stupid, effectively wasting all that time. I remember the smell of the chemicals and washing my hands over-and-over again, knowing the smell would be there no matter what.

Yet... there was still something magical about it. When a photo turned out, it was truly an experience that mattered. There was a bit more "substance" to it - as you carried it around with you like a gift, showing it to those important to you.

Too often now all my photos stay hidden on my hard drive, or uploaded to some website. Although I would never go back to film, there is no denying the magical quality of the final print, after hours in the darkroom.

Confidence

First - read this:

http://poemfish.typepad.com/poemfish/2008/10/channeling-the-inner-rock-star.html


My wife is, absolutely, a rockstar. She's a natural artist in a way I could only dream of being. The post above was her first. HER FIRST try at off-camera lighting with two externally-fired lights.

Take a look around the internet for a minute, and search some photos for "off-camera lighting." Most don't look as good as my wife's, on her first attempt.

She often talks like I'm the guru - like I'm the guy who knows his stuff and can make a difference when we go off on a photoshoot. Yet what she always doesn't realize is that SHE is better than me. She's more talented than me. She can do everything I can, and better. She doesn't believe it, she probably would never admit it. But I admit it, and I'm proud to have her by my side at any photoshoot. She IS a rock-star, and I love her more than anything.

Casey - you are my inspiration in life, and I owe everything to you. Thank you for always being there and inspiring me to do better - and to always be "more" than I am right now (a reference to Batman Begins, of course).

Stress Relief

I have been busier than I can remember in a long time. School is grinding this year - and it's very hard to keep my head above water. I'm learning all-new stuff for our school's news website, and we're still working on photography quite a bit.

What's sad is that my "fun" photoshoots - where I just grab a camera and go out for photos rarely happens anymore. It seems like I don't have time for the fun stuff when I still have thousands of photos to edit and shape up.

But I took some time yesterday to get out into the country and take some photos. It felt fantastic to pull to the side of the road and just listen to the wind run through the fields, and to see the deep blue sky scattered with clouds. I sat on the ground at one point and just took it all in. Here are some shots.