I thought the portrait show reception was wonderful, almost all of the photo subjects and their families showed up, the Round House was jammed, I was delighted that Kelly Nolan, who inspired the show, could come by, she was greeted like a rock star. People came from lots of different places, and the Carrinos put out a classy food spread.
I was in bed all day with a cold, but was not about to miss the reception. I had trouble speaking and getting through coughing fits, but it was a wonderful celebration of community for me, and I hope, for some others. George Forss talked about his printing techniques, Treasure Wilkinson came by and talked about her alcoholic goat. I had to take another shot of Kelly, she inspired the idea of the portrait show, and I’d love to do a Kelly show all of its own. She is a class act.
The show ran from 2 to 4, and there was a great feeling in the room. Sold two of the portraits already.
Fate is a curious and sociable dog, she wants to be a part of everything we are doing, and wants to join in on everything happening. It is quite common, when I am taking a photo, talking to Maria, or looking out at the pasture, for Fate to pop her head in between my knees to get the best possible view of what’s going on.
Maria and I are both used to this, but it is one of the many things about Fate that makes us smile. She isn’t just living with us, she is a part of us.
My portrait show got a neat spread by Rhonda Triller in our regional paper, the Post-Star, this weekend. It is great fun for me to be interviewed by a good reporter who captures the spirit of something, as Ms. Triller did in her article.
I have a soft spot for good reporters, maybe because I was one, or so I hope. She completely grasped what I was trying to do. The portrait show is a new chapter for me, as I move towards getting older. I started taking photos six or seven years ago, around the time I met Maria, and the two things are not unrelated.
Maria and I have always encouraged the creative spark in one another. Many people, including my editors at the time, sneered at the photography, they said my photos looked like Hallmark cards and that I was a writer, not a photographer. People close to me were also indifferent, they thought my new passion was a passing fad.
Whenever I posted a photograph, Maria, who was not living with me then, would call me and tell me what she liked about it Those calls were so important to me. Encouragement can change the world.
This year, a waitress and bartender named Kelly Nolan inspired me to start thinking about portraits. She has an amazing smile and presence, and I admired the way she looked the camera right in the eye and dared me to hit the shutter. She is a strong woman, she will hopefully be at the reception for my portrait show this afternoon at the Round House Cafe, (1 Washington Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.)
Maria curated the show. She encouraged me, helped me lug lights and equipment around, framed and matted the photos, hung the show. You can’t get much more support than that.
For me, this portrait experiment was a change to try, as Rhonda Triller suggested, to capture the spirit of my town, which I have come to love. It is a small town in upstate New York with a rich mix of creative people, farmers, big men in trucks, carpenters and health care workers.
All across America, rural communities have struggled for years to keep their sense of community and local institutions intact in the face of the new global economy, which has largely left heartland America behind. I wanted to honor the people who stayed behind, who work hard and who keep community alive.
I also just wanted to capture the faces and images of people who might otherwise never made the newspapers, never be on TV. The reception to the portrait show has been exciting for me, I am a bit nonplussed by it, but also happy about it. I am proud of me too, for proving to myself, and hopefully to others, that we can be creative and grow and change and experiment at any point in life, not only when we are young.
I’m not a big fan of receptions, for me, or for anyone else, but it is a great kick to go to the Round House and see people looking at the photos, recognizing people they see and know, but also themselves. Taking portraits was a very new experience for me, you can’t just point and shoot, you must have a relationship with the subjects, they must know and trust you or it falls flat. Mounting these shows is, alas, expensive, and I will have to save up a bit to try it again. But I will, for sure.
