I Shoot People Too ~ 4

This is my fourth set, of ten portraits. I started this photos series to help me get through my last days here in Florida. I will be going back to Costa Rica soon. I still have work ~ tying up loose ends, and then I will be CR bound. I can’t wait really. I try not to let myself feel the enthusiasm. I try to be here when I’m here, and not even think about there.

I went to a party last night at Tiger Point Marina on Amelia Island. What a scenic spot on the planet. The setting was perfect. The band and the people would have made great subjects. I took my camera, but wasn’t feeling it. I was reminded of just how much I don’t know about photography. There was a professional there and I got to ask questions. When I woke up this morning I knew I should have asked more.

I chit chatted ~ which in a previous post, I mentioned I have a hard time doing. But I was in my element there. I’ve been on the island for a long time. I know it’s history. I’m bound to the island.

 ~ Everybody let’s party party – Everybody let’s party party~

When I look at this series of photos, I know that it’s sharing a moment. I also know that each person has a story. I never go into great length about anything in my posts. I want to share photos more than words.

But I will tell you, that these last days here with my family, are not easy. Nothing is ever easy with my family.

In 1958, my family lived on Carder Street, in a nondescript brick home in nondescript neighborhood. I would stand in the front yard, screaming ((JANE)). Sometimes she came out and sometimes she didn’t. I have no idea what she looked like. I can’t remember her at all. I can only remember the screaming and her mother telling me to stop doing that.

I wish I had my camera back then. My life would have been different. I would have been better.


Beautiful people ~ I see.

I Shoot People Too ~ 3

I use to have a fear of people. It came from the early years of my life. Even though my parents had money;  they could provide a roof over our head and drove beautiful cars, inside our house, it was not safe. From the earliest years of my life that I can remember, which is two years old, I was always alone and always afraid. I was in the dark a lot.

All of that’s changed now. I’m not two anymore and I can take care of myself. I’m not scared of life or people. It took some work but that’s OK. To put it simplistically, ART was my healer.

Photography is art. It’s about light. It brings me out into the light. And it brings me around people. I remember when I took the photo above. It was one of my first, working for Que Magazine.

Some people don’t like the camera. It scares them and it shows in the photo. If people only knew how beautiful and valuable they are, they wouldn’t hide, they would pose, they would laugh and they would smile and jump and dance.

Art and People~A Winning Combination







I see~people~beautiful.


I Shoot People Too-2

I Shoot People Too~is a series of 100 photos that I pulled out of my library. I took them over the past two years, in three different countries, the U.S., Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. This picture was taken in the Oriental Market in Managua; one of the hardest and most dangerous places that I have ever visited. I had to get a picture of this plumbing vendor. She looks innocent enough, but I bet she has a knife hidden in that apron. I look at her and she looks at me, never ending.  These accumulated portraits are just another aspect of photography that I love and need.

Recently in WordPress, I stumbled onto a page titled I Shoot People, by a professional photographer. I aspire to, but have no real expectations of achieving that level of skill with my camera. But who knows? He also had some words of inspiration to those that wanted to be photographers and I agree with him. You don’t have to have the best camera, just do it! The results might surprise you.

So, I share with you more of My People

I count my lucky stars~~I see people beautiful.

I Shoot People Too-1

Since I began to blog, I have seen some off the charts, professional photography. I don’t know if I will ever achieve that kind of expertise, it’s possible, I suppose, if I live long enough. But I don’t let my inabilities stop me from photographing people.

My camera is my drug. This all began when I quit doing real drugs and found myself very uncomfortable around groups of people. Everywhere I went I took my camera and used it as a sheild between me and the world. That way I didn’t have to talk much and I could~kind of~entertain with my Polaroid. I still carry my camera everywhere, but I no longer have the fear of people. In the long run, the camera did what drugs couldn’t.

I use to create Polaroid books. My camera, eventually, was held together by a rubber band. It bit the dust, so, I bought a digital Kodak Easy Share. That camera became my mule. It broke about a year ago and I took a huge leap in the world of photography, by purchasing, a Cannon. Between my camera and my computer, I don’t think I will ever outgrow them.

Many people are very uncomfortable in front of the camera, and I have to interact with them to get a good picture. I always tell people if it’s bad, no one is going to see it. I would never want to display a bad photo of anyone. For one, you wouldn’t have a good reputation as a photographer and two it would be very bad karma. I’ve found that people enjoy good pictures of themselves. I do. It’s a captured moment in time, that will never be again.

Also, I know to put a picture aside if I don’t like it. It’s a guarantee that I will have a different perspective in ten years! And that viewpoint is going to increase the odds of me appreciating the photo. A friend once shared that with me, and I’ve found it to be true.

Here are some of the illuminous spirits, whom I have had the pleasure of photographing.

I can remember taking every one of these pictures. They were all meaningful experiences. Indians believed the camera would capture a person’s spirit and steal it away forever. I am convinced the camera captures the spirit and hands it back.

Thank you God for all the people in my life.

I’m drug free and camera ready.

I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Happy Daddy~Happy Hui

 

Rooster and I are back at home; our place in the woods, that we call Camp Tobacco. It’s a homestead, that I share with my family. I’ve tried to create a  hui. A hui, is a bond in a family, that benefits its financial interests. I’m side stepping here, but this post is about family. I learned about hui~from my mother. Also, from reading the Michener novel Hawaii. It is the best book I’ve ever read in my life.

On the last leg of our Southeast Roadtrip, we stopped in Canton, GA and visited friends from Costa Rica. They are the owners of the Mono Congo, my favorite place in the country. When I first met Justin and Kym, they must have been all of thirty. They had two beautiful boys. They have always been a special family to be around. I enjoy watching Justin caring for and playing with his boys, which are now four. They are his OATS;  Adrian, Oakley, Tristen and Shea. They didn’t plan that~

Sweet!

Two Years Old

 Little Boys Are Natural Daredevils

Oakley

Mom

This is Adrian

While waiting on dinner, we got to sit around and chat. Check out the toys.

The next morning we went hiking at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. I’ve wanted to be in this spot since I was seventeen. I guess that makes it bucket list.

There are 472 steps, climbing to the top of the falls.

Then the hike was over and we had to say good-bye to the Happy Daddy and his beautiful family.

I am so blessed in my life today. On our trip, we visited three very different families and then returned to ours. In my life, I have benefited from my mother’s concept of hui. I don’t take it for granted. I would like to pass that on. Family is important and at its best, can care for one another in a healthy way. I put my best foot forward and place my feet by those that have what I want; like those that I visited, Justin and Kym, Jimmy and Whitney, Connie and the Man.

I want to thank all of my friends for the great trip, and the friends who followed along, you know who you are. And I want to express my thanks, for the help from my family, that made it possible.

Long Live the Happy Daddy~Long Live the Family Hui

Sorry – it was an award winning trip ~ LOL

Touring Tennessee

Rooster thought that it was a bit nippy here in the Volunteer State of Tennessee.

This is Jimmy on a suspension bridge in the foothills of the Smokey Mnts.

An old church in the historical settlement of Cade Cove. The dogwoods are in bloom.

Rooster played for us.

Then he preached to us.

We passed this old home on the way out of the Cove. I’m wrapped in a blanket now inside a modern home. It’s hard to imagine settlers, surviving the cold winters here in the early pioneer days.

The River

Jimmy, enjoying the Smokies.

This is Miss Whitney, who had to evacuate Costa Rica because she ran out of make-up.

Me and the Roo, way out of our element, but enjoying ourselves.

Back to the Jimmy and Whitney’s version of the Beach.

At the moment we are huddled in blankets watching Medea, drinking coffee and laughing. Life is good and I am grateful.

Jimmy and Whitney

I opened my eyes this morning in Tennessee. I am visiting my friends Jimmy and Whitney. We met them in the jungle in Costa Rica.

To be correct that was the Upper Eastside of the jungle.

On the Road Again

I’m glad I had a day to surf ~ Following that day, I hit the road again. Last night I stayed with friends, Connie and The Man, in Charleston, South Carolina. Their home is a house in it’s own small forest, in the middle of a suburb. When I woke up to get my coffee, I heard what sounded like the rushing noise of fast, moving water. It was cars on the freeway. I couldn’t tell the difference. Continue reading On the Road Again