Vertical Ascension

Every artist/photographer's desire is to touch people 

and make them feel emotion through your work.

Living in a digital world, artists many times don't have a

personal connection to the people who view our work.

We put our art up on websites and watch our 

stat counters to see that yes, indeed, there are people viewing our work,

but there is no personal interaction between the artist and viewer.

Did they like my work?

Did it make them think or feel a particular way?

Did they connect with the vision I was trying to create?

These questions often times go unanswered

due to the impersonal way we display our art.

The phone call I received today was from a person who saw my website

and took the time to tell me he appreciated my photography skills and digital art creations.

He had a background in art and discussed in depth what he appreciated about

certain pieces of mine including the concert image of John Mayer

and also the guitar player in New York City.

He asked the background about each of the pictures and 

told me his feelings and opinions about them.

That is a gift I don't often get as a photographer/artist.

After hanging up with this person, I felt a bit weird.

While I know I put my work out there to be seen,

I don't really THINK about strangers viewing my work

and it having an impact on them. 

My work is very personal to me, so I don't necessarily think about

the stories strangers may conjure up in their minds as to the circumstances behind the images.

So while it was very flattering, it was also a bit strange and uncomfortable for me.

Sometimes the best things in life are uncomfortable, though,

so today I am grateful this person took the time to give me 

a viewer's insight into how he felt about my work.

It made me feel good about what I do.

Now if I could just kick this chronic illness and get back to it!

xo

The VHS Tape

The Day the Flags Flew: Taken in Port Deposit, MD

I've been absent for a few days because I was visiting my mother in Virginia.

It is always good to spend time with her

and I think she enjoys our company as a change of pace

to her usually quiet and still household.

As we were rooting through more of my father's belongings yesterday,

we discovered several VHS tapes labeled "Tyler."

I was intrigued and so we popped the tape into

a VHS player (yes, my parents STILL had one, thank goodness!)

After a few seconds of black and white fuzz scrolling across the screen,

all of the sudden there came into focus a squawking

baby boy all naked and new lying on the scale in the hospital.

My firstborn son.

WOW.

I didn't even know this tape existed.

And then, for the first time in two months,

I heard his voice...

my father came to life in front of me on the screen.

I felt like someone hit me in the chest and knocked all the air out of me.

My father's voice, the twinkle in his eye, his huge hands

all right there in front of me once again.

Still pictures are great, but to see him alive and smiling and talking and joking again

was simply a miracle to me in that moment.

 There he was, holding his first grandchild for the very first time...

in living, breathing action instead of a still shot.

What a gift.

These video tapes are a treasure to me now more than ever...

I was also able to see and hear my grandparents, who are now gone.

My horse, who just passed away, was on the same tape

winning first place in a horse show...

my beloved 19 year old cat that passed this spring

went running through the background of one scene.

Everything I love and miss dearly was there,

captured on VHS for me to discover again.

 

I am currently searching for a reliable way to get these 

preserved and transferred to DVD and digital format

so that I may always have them and my children will have them 

to treasure and to pull out when they need to.

Today I am thankful for my mother who did most of the taping

17 years ago (to the chagrin of all of us being taped at the time).

I could never have known back then just how treasured

it would become now.

 

*Note to self---Pull out the phone and video my family more often!

xo

Industrial

Glen Rock, Pennsylvania

While exiting the parking lot of a grocery store today,

my daughter and I saw a man with a sign

panhandling for money. 

His daughter and wife were sitting 

on the ground near him under the shade of a tree.

They were using the ASL sign for "eat"

(putting their hand to their mouth)

as each car drove by.

I was up next.

I had a just come from the grocery store and

the back of my suburban was full of food.

I certainly could share some food with a hungry family.

I pulled off the driving lane, jumped out of the truck

and asked the man if he needed food.

He nodded his head, so I opened the rear hatch of the Suburban

 and grabbed the first thing I could lay my hands on...

a bag of organic popcorn.

I offered it to the man.

He took the bag from me with his right hand

and held out his left hand while in heavily accented English stated, "Money."

I said, "No.  I will not give you money. 

You said you needed food.  I can give you food."

He replied, "Need money for gas and food."

I said, "No money.  I have food."

At this point it was clear he was not too thrilled 

with my offering of food

(I would have been willing to give him more food besides popcorn,

obviously, but he was so unimpressed with that,

that I was not going to offer anything else.

So, I closed the hatch to my truck and climbed back in the driver seat

while he still stood there repeating, "Money."

I will give him credit, though,

because he did say, "Thank you." as I was driving away.

As I sat at the red light waiting to go on my way,

I observed him in my rear view mirror.

He tossed the bag of popcorn to his wife,

who then threw it aside carelessly as if it were nothing. 

They clearly were not starving.

The mother, daughter, and father all started to laugh.

I admit, I have no idea what they were laughing about,

but it certainly didn't make me feel very good.

It felt like a kick in the stomach.

So, tonight I am thankful that my situation in life

offers me abundance in all of the basic needs of my family 

in such a way that we can also offer help to those who need it...

even if they are just scam artists.

xo