Alfreda and Reuben, two people from Mexico who love one another deeply, agreed to be the final portrait taken for my portrait show, scheduled for November at the Round House Cafe. A second gallery has expressed some interest in showing the portraits.

At first, I thought the portrait would only be of Alfreda, but then, when I saw how much they loved one another, I realized it had to be both or nothing. They happily agreed.

We are  friends with Alfreda, she and Reuben are two of the hundreds of migrant farm workers who help the farms in our country survive. They work unbelievably hard, and I was very pleased they agreed to come to the farm so I could take their portrait.

They mostly stay within the farms and their own communities, they are not often seen in Main Street. I am glad they are in the portrait show.

Alfreda was shy at first, but Reuben, who loves to be photographed, loosened her up. These are important faces in our community, they are not often seen, I am so happy to have them in my show, they were both pleased to come and pose. I love this portrait, it shows the very strong connection between two very good, hard-working and loving people.

In a sense, my portrait show is about seeing unseen faces, they are in some ways the glue of our community. And community is essential.

Alfred and Reuben contribute very much to our community, in many different ways. The monochrome camera is my favorite for portraits, especially with the Zeiss lens.

Maria and i are scrambling to find the cheapest frames and mats so we can charge as little as possible for the photographs. The show will go up in about a month, the final date has not been chosen. This portrait concludes the pictures for the show, they are being printed up by George Forss and I won’t be taking any more for the show. Looks like 25 portraits in the show, all approved by the eagle-eyed curator, Maria.

I can tell you it doesn’t help to be sleeping with the curator, if she doesn’t like it, it isn’t going in. I learned a lot I hope to continue to take portraits of the people in my life.