31 March

Letter From St. Paul: New Camera, Seeing The World Anew

by Jon Katz
Making Images
Making Images

I received the most beautiful letter today in my post office box (P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816), it was from Paula Foreman, writing me from St. Paul, Minn. Paula bought a camera recently. She wrote me to tell me how I factored into her decision about which camera to buy, and how photography has changed her life, in much the same way it changed mine.

Paula spent some time with a salesperson explaining the difference between a Nikon and a Panasonic, he said the Nikon offered telephoto power, the Panasonic was good if she wanted to go for the light. “We chose the light,” she wrote. Paula said she has never thought of herself as a visually creative person; her running line is that she can successfully pair a white T-shirt with blue jeans, and that’s about it.

Her message is about creativity, the way so many of us think of creativity as beyond being us until we try it and realize that it has always been a part of us, waiting to come out. Paula’s letter is really about the power of the creative spark. The camera, she says, has changed her notions of herself, “I’ve never loved an inanimate object like this. I’m stunned by what I see through the lens, by what I don’t see, and by how I see. (Paula I hope you will consider joining the Open Group At Bedlam Farm). I didn’t know before how my eye is drawn to line and structure, giving me one more reason to love winter. My photos of our border collie capture both his image and his essence, and when I look at him now, I am aware of his essence.”

Amen.

Paula says her husband told her she would now be able to take good photos, but, she says, “I don’t want to take pictures. I want to make images and doing so brings me joy. Your writing about light named some thing that’s true for me, visually and emotionally, but that I didn’t have words for. A good reason to take care with words; you never know how far they’ll reach.”

What a touching  letter Paula has written me, what a jewel to find in my post office box. This is how I feel about photography, it is not about settings or exposures or photos for me, it is about capturing the images of the world, and capturing the color and light of the world in a way that helps me – and others – see the world anew, in a fresh and very powerful way. I had not really seen it before. I am a warrior for light now; I seek it out and it finds me wherever I go. Thanks Paula, for reminding me why I love photography so much, and for telling me that I shaped your love of it in some small way.

You are a light unto the world, another creative person who came out and freed your inner spirit. Wonderful to get a letter like that.

(You can write me or Maria c/o Bedlam Farm, Post Office Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

31 March

Waiting For Me: The Other Side Of Red

by Jon Katz
Waiting For Me: The Other Side Of Life
Waiting For Me: The Other Side Of Life

I turned to Maria last night and I said, “you know, Red is just the perfect dog for me, he is my pal, I’ve been waiting for a dog like that my entire life.” Why, I wondered? Because, she said, he is crazy in just the same way you are. This is true, Red is not like the other children, and neither was I. I put up a lot of photos showing Red at his focused, even ferocious best, but the truth about Red is that he is just as sweet a dog as Lenore, I rarely get to take a photo of his vulnerable side.

Whenever Red is not working, he is waiting for me, watching me. When I go out, Red comes in the car with me, when I opened the door to get my camera bag, he was lying on the seat, waiting for instructions. This is the other side of Red, his incredibly sweet and loving soul.

31 March

From Maria’s Warped Mind: “My Brain Is Bad” Potholder.

by Jon Katz
My Brain Is Bad
My Brain Is Bad

My wife is wonderful, but she is definitely a little strange, and her brain ought to be saved and studied one day, it is definitely not a normal brain (like the one Frankenstein wanted but never got to use). This morning, she came storming into my study and announce,d “My brain is bad!,” Doesn’t everyone say this every morning?

it keeps going to a bad place, she said. Hmmm, I said, really? She wasn’t sure what to do about it. I suggested she stop complaining about her brain – which is, I said, quite obviously damaged and warped, and put it to good use. So she stormed out of the house in a huff, went to her studio and disappeared there for awhile. A few minutes ago, she returned with a design for a potholder, which is think is both accurate and quite wonderful.

Lots of us have bad brains, I think. Most of us don’t go admitting it.

Two things always make Maria happy. Making something and selling it. Here, I thought, is the chance for her to do both. She’ll finish this right after lunch, I suspect, unless her brain deteriorates further and she goes rushing naked off into the woods with Lenore. I imagine this piece will be for sale this afternoon on her website.

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