Some time ago, I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Dori Varga, the beauty behind Tribe de Mama. I have been meaning to interview her here every since. Sometimes I get bored with the monotony that seems to have claimed much of social media and the blog world today; but there’s always a silver…
Journal entry by William Gedney, 1969…
There are two ways of looking at a thing.
Either you feel that a thing must be perfect before you present it to the public, or you are willing to let it go out even knowing that it is not perfect, because you are striving for something even beyond what you have achieved, but in struggling too hard for perfection you know that you may lose the very glimmer of life, the very spirit of the thing that you also know exists at a particular point in what you have done; and that to interfere with it would be to destroy that very living quality.
I am myself in favor of practising in public. There are, of course, those people who say, ‘But the public is not interested in watching people practice. It wants the finished thing or nothing.’ My answer is that if one does not practice in public in reality, then in nine cases out of ten the world will never see the finished product of one’s work. Some people go on the assumption that if a thing is not a hundred percent perfect it should not be given to the world, but I have seen too many things that were a hundred percent perfect that were spiritually dead, and then things that have been seemingly incomplete that have life and vitality, which I prefer by far to the other so-called perfect thing.
It is one thing to think about a piece of work as a scientific or objective entity that will stand up a hundred years hence, and another to think of a living quality of the person doing the thing and of his development. Is the thing felt – doesn’t it come out of an inner need – an inner must? Is one ready to die for it?… that is the only test…”
Alfred Stieglitz
Quoted by Dorothy Norman from America and Alfred Stieglitz, page 136-137, Doubleday, Doran + Company, 1934.
I had the privilege of shooting at a great venue (The Fullerton Arboretum), with a beautiful couple, and with my dear friend, Marin with Marin Rosche Photography. Everything about this wedding was easy; with a plethora of places to shoot, a vendor staff that was a pleasure to work with, and guests that filled the venue…
I’m not completely sold on all the things people say about pregnancy. I mean take cravings for instance… can’t say I don’t ever not crave sweets. Pregnancy just gives me the extra push to indulge. I’m speaking for myself here, per usual, because I know some pregnant women crave weird things like rust and dirt, though I think that has some connection to an iron deficiency. Point being, I’m not sold on all the crazy things that people seem to only associate with pregnancy. Except… except when it comes to nesting. ‘Cuz, for me, that shit be real.
I’ve been hounding Willy to clear some space in the garage so I can get to sorting. I’m pretty sure he wants to kill me. I’m also pretty sure that every honey-do list I write is only read by me but somehow I can’t bring myself to stop writing those little weekly lists of tasks I so hope get completed; as if writing them allows for some degree of hope that they might get done… or even considered.
Over the past weekend, we finally made a dent in the pile of things that need to be done and I feel so much better… so-much-so that suddenly this whole pregnancy bit has come to a screeching halt; almost as if the more that gets done, the less I have to do, and the more time I have to just, well, wait.
Up until this point, time had been flying and I was feeling more than patient because with all that was needing to be done, the time I had left felt like a gift of the-more-the-merrier variety.
Looking at myself in the mirror hasn’t helped matters. Not that I don’t embrace what my body is doing, I do, but it seems like all of the sudden I’m full-blown-pregnant… as in someone soon will be asking me if I’m due tomorrow and I’ll have to go home and cry after I confess that my due date is in March… This baby is going to be big, I can tell already. I’m not quite sure how there’s even room for three more months (and then some, given my track record for blowing well past my due date) of expansion.
And so, for the first time during this pregnancy, I’m getting anxious to get to the end. The periodic jabs serving as a reminder of the life growing inside of me; the will to meet this little human growing with the strength of each kick, punch, and roll.
It feels much like Cuba, so near… yet so far.
Photos taken by Tish Carlson, who so generously came to spend some time with us in Arizona over the Thanksgiving holiday. For these images… and all the others she took which are sure to filter their way into this space… I’m beyond grateful.
I knew instantly that the Foley family and I would be a good fit. Stacey has been a long time follower of my blog and I feel like she really gets me as a photographer. And though it may seem inconsequential, going into a shoot where you know the people you are shooting have a…