The Man And The Ketchup

Emotions as a messed up thing. They come, they go, they mess you up, they make you happy, they are intense and scary all at the same time. What is terrible about them is that you sometimes don’t always know where they come from. This is the story of one such time.

I was in college, maybe my sophomore year, but it doesn’t matter. There was a bit of depression in me and while I remember the feelings and I remember being unhappy I have no clue where it came from. Perhaps I forgot or perhaps I never knew, but again, it doesn’t matter. I was in a funk and on this particular day I went to visit a friend of mine. We were going to hang out as soon as she got out of work. At the time she was working at a local restaurant, the typical college fare, meaning it was nothing fancy. She had spoken highly of the garlic fries and being a garlic fan and being early led to me buying a plate. I sat near the entrance and proceeded to struggle with the ketchup bottle. It was one of those classic Heinz bottles, the glass ones, and my beloved red sauce just wasn’t cooperating. I remember being too down in the dumps to really care about this little event, but then this man starting talking to me. “If you turn the bottle at an angle and tap on the label, it’ll come out.” I did as he said and sure enough, it came out. “You know, I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but you’ll probably remember that for the rest of your life.” With those words he walked out the door.

I don’t know who he was and I never will. I wish I did, just so I could say thanks. His words, simple as they were, showed me how to get ketchup out of that glass bottle and at the same time cheered me up. At that moment I sat there and thought about how amazing what he said was. I didn’t know him but he taught me something useful and just walked away. A small act, sure, but a selfless one. He didn’t have to talk to me at all even though he saw me struggling. He didn’t have to say a word and his day would have gone on just fine. But he saw me having a slight difficulty and he knew the answer, so he shared. This small act on his part pulled me out of my sadness at that time in my life.

I think it says a lot that I don’t remember why I was in that mood but I remember how I got out of it. It taught me to smile more. Even now, I say hello to people on the street. I meet people’s eyes and smile at them. I even throw in a slight head nod. These are small symbols but to me, and hopefully to them, they say, “hi there, I don’t know you, but I hope you have a good day. There is still good in the world, so good luck.” The man taught me that when he stopped for just a second on his way out and was nice enough to talk to me. He didn’t know it then and he probably doesn’t know it now but it was just what I needed. It’s easy to be cynical. It’s much harder to be nice.

Good luck everyone.

The Road Gets Longer and Longer….

While my updates on this site may be sporadic and not always on the topic of photography there is always more going on in the background.  More reading, more studying, more list making, and more planning, all in the name of my future in photography.  There is also a lot of frustration, confusion, worry, and me generally wondering “WTF!?”

I previously wrote about a great book called the Photographer’s Market Guide to Building Your Photography Business. I liked the book the first time I wrote about it and I like it even more now.

What I most definitely do NOT like is how the more I learn the longer this path feels. This isn’t a yellow brick road I’m walking down, this sucker is lined with cash. Cash that I do not have. Whereas so many people my age spent all their credit buying random electronics and clothes while not worrying about the consequences I spent mine on camera gear, paper, film, and tuition. Sounds pretty reasonable doesn’t it? Well, it wasn’t. “What’s this? More film for one class and memory cards for another? SURE! WHY NOT!? I don’t really need to print all 300 of these photos but I’m going to do it anyways because I want to see how pretty they are! YAY ME!!!” Little by little my wasteful spending built up, hidden behind the thin veil of necessity.  And now here it is, biting me in the ass. To get this photo venture off the ground in a real way I need money. To get this money I need to be out of debt. A debt that I really dug myself into finishing the photo degree which I wanted so I could make money from my images. Hell of a circle isn’t it?

I’m not giving up; this post isn’t about that at all. I just want to look back on these words in the future and know that without a doubt this was when one of the big realities of what I’m trying to do hit me. Here, in debt, with the national economy falling apart, with everyone I know hurting for cash, I was spending hours researching, reading, planning for and working towards something which will never get where I want without funding. It sounds a bit stupid, I’ll admit. But where’s the joy in life if you don’t do something stupid every now and then?

Wrestle that Ape!

Imagine, if you will, an ape.  A big ol’ husky ape.  With powerful legs, defined arms, a vicious looking slobbery smile, and a crazy pee-in-his-pants laugh.  I know apes don’t wear pants, but just let that go.  This beast is laughing at me because he represents something I’ve had to fight with my whole life.  That’s right folks, tattooed across his chest in the old English style loved by many of my people is the word “Fitness”.  Whereas many people had a great time as kids when they could eat whatever they wanted and run around like insane jack rabbits and never give a thought to any given ounce on them I never experienced that.  I was a husky kid (which is just a nice way of saying fat) and I maintained an above average weight from the get go.

Over the last few years I’ve worked hard to get it down.  I did the Atkins diet to great success and have recently been able to maintain a weight that isn’t terribly fluffy.  Now now, before anyone writes anything, I’m not maintaining it by continuing the Atkins lifestyle.  I’ve heard all the talk about why it’s “bad” and this isn’t the time or place for THAT debate.  Anyways, perhaps you’re wondering if there is a point to all this.  Well yes, true believers, there is.  I discovered when I shot my very first solo wedding that photography can, and in my case, will, be a very physical thing.  Besides the fact that I’m on my feet for hours at a time I don’t hold back when I see a hurdle between me and getting the shot I want.  Photography is my own little war.  The twist of the lens to my camera body gives a satisfying “click!” which is not entirely different from the cocking of a gun.  I’ve had to run from one location ( or trench, if you will) to another.  I sweat, I move, I jump up on sturdy items and I’ve dropped flat to the ground on more than one occasion.  My camera is my weapon.  A perfect image is my spoil of war.  It’s a damn workout doing what I do and I’m happy with that.  I’m sure other photographers might read this and think I’m crazy or that I’m lying but anyone who has seen me shoot and seen the sweat on my brow knows that I’ve worked for my shots.

So, with all this in mind, I need to run.  Run more, that is.  I’ve been running for a while and I’ve found that it’s the only exercise that I can do regularly and enjoy.  The issue with this is that this great ape called Fitness is hiding behind a wall I’ve aptly named “Lazy Ass.”  As important, for myself and for my work, as being fit is I’ve always had a lazy streak that is hard to overcome.  But I’ve gotten pretty far towards this goal and I will reach it eventually.  This is my newest promise to myself that I WILL do better, I WILL run more, I will be more flexible a year from now then I have ever been in years past.  So laugh all you want ape.  You smelly beacon of my better future.  You…wait…beacon.  Sounds like…bacon.  Mmmm….bacon.  Oh this is going to be difficult…

Cat, She’s a Kitty Cat, and She Dance Dance Dance…

I’m an animal lover.  To my core I love animals.  I love the young puppies and kittens, the old dogs on porches, the old cats who sleep 23 hours a day.  I love them all.  I’m still waiting with bated breath for the day that I get to shoot a wedding with some hardcore animal lovers who somehow incorporate their pets into the proceedings.  I just can’t get enough of our four-legged friends.  With that in mind, today was a little bittersweet.

I told Kellie that this year I would get her a new cat for her birthday/Christmas present.  Granted, both of those are in December, but I knew that if I got the okay on this from Rayleen (who owns this house and all the furniture which may or may not be damaged by a cat) that she wouldn’t want to wait.  So today we went to the Sacramento SPCA to look at cats. They were ALL cute. All of them. But, being a dog man myself, I was able to resist the urge to take them all home a lot more than Kellie was. Since it was her gift I wanted her to pick one up I knew I had to be there to keep her from taking them all.

We walked through both cat areas for a good long while looking for a cat that meet all of our criteria. Eventually, we were able to narrow it down to a few candidates and while Kellie was looking at the last few to decide between them I took a walk across the hall to the dog area. It may be a little…emotional, but by the time I walked out of the dog area I was almost tearing up. I couldn’t take much more of seeing such wonderful animals in these scary places just waiting for someone who would take them home and love them. I wanted them all, but alas, I was there for just one cat, not a dog.  If you were waiting to read why today was bittersweet, that was it.  I wish I could help them all but it’s just not realistic.  I do what I can, when I can.  Today, I know I made a difference in the life of one cat.

We decided to spend some time with a cat named Patches. They took her from her private room and put her with us in a much bigger room where she could roam and crawl around on some cat posts.  She was four years old and had been at the shelter for just under a month. Right away she was loud, she was cuddly, she loved to be held, and she was very friendly.  Once Kellie picked Patches up and I saw how big her smile was I knew our search was over.

So, tonight, we welcomed a new baby into our home. Welcome, Patches England.  We’ve been waiting for you.

Lastly, if you’re wondering what my title is about, check out this video.  I must warn you though, it’s damn cute, and damn funny. 

The Lasting Influence of the Bridge

It really started during a class trip to Old Sacramento. The fact that I don’t remember the name of the class or the professor is in no way a reflection on how much I liked the course, which was a lot, but more an example of how bad my memory is. Anyways, it was on this night that I started something personal that is still going on to this day. I was interested in really getting a unique perspective for my my assignment and I knew it wouldn’t be easy with a whole class full of eager students running around the same block. I wanted to shoot something common in a way that was really unique and broke down the subject into basic elements of color and shape. I was in a hurry since my friends were moving on, but I had one slight spark of inspiration. I had one idea that I ran with almost on a whim. I wasn’t sure what would come of it but I’m so very glad I listened to myself. That night, I came up with this:

Do you recognize it? No? It’s the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. For those of you who might read this and aren’t from Sacramento do a quick Google search and you’ll see what I was working with.

I never realized when I shot this image that it would become a series for me. So you can imagine my surprise when I was thinking of what images to throw on here today and I started to notice a connection between some of my wedding work and this series. I could easily picture a lot of my favorite shots from friend’s weddings and it dawned on me that I had been adapting my art ideas and doing wedding work with the same eye. Change the angle, control the focus, concentrate primarily on the colors above all else, all of these things are ideas that I started using years ago with the bridge. Interestingly enough, I hate driving on that damn bridge. I always seem to get all turned around and annoyed when I’m in the area, so I avoid it like the plague. Anyways, don’t take my word for it, take a look at these!