Yesterday I came home to run some errands. I really enjoy coming home, especially on nice days because it is beautiful year round: small, cozy, home, nestled in the woods; It is the perfect escape. Well after relaxing I went up town to take care of my new business, selling prints in a shop downtown. I delivered my first sale, (quite a proud moment for me), and then headed off to tie up a loose end that had been on my mind for years.
About 2 years ago I took my first set of senior photos, a friend of mine who had asked me to. That was a great experience, she is beautiful and cooperative and it made it pretty hard to fail. 
We ended up driving around looking for good locations and towards the evening, a bit before golden hour, we drove past a house with a old white fence and barn. Both of us decided that it was a perfect place to get some shots but neither of us knew who lived there. So I walked up to the door, gave a knock, and we were greeted by an old guy who with some feigned reluctance said it was alright.
We walked around and set up some photos, he soon joined us and chatted the entire time. Well after we finished I promised that I would give him prints of the photos I had taken.
Now its been two years and I finally set off to find this place and deliver on my promise. I arrive, knock, and am greeted with a stare as he just points at me. “You’re dead meat” In my fashion I smile all goofy and then show him the photo and get invited inside. I end up staying to chat for a couple hours and am told that he has been asking around and making threats if he didn’t get a photo. This makes me like the guy, I love personality and it seems to becoming harder and harder to find. So I stayed and heard his stories, got to know him, and received some well intended threats; I got to thinking.
Hearing his life, his stories, I realized that I wanted to photograph that. Him, and with him his stories; I wanted to preserve that for some reason. And that is what photography is about, preserving something; Whether it is as simple as beauty or complex as the past of a person you preserve and share it. This goes along too with last weekend; A friend and I went to Cooper’s landing where I met another spirited older couple who shared their stories and talked of preserving. I don’t know what purpose it serves, if anything it will make my photography deeper, but I am drawn to the idea.
Along with that I began to think more of how the world removes us from our lives and creates this unsatisfying pseudo life. We create relationships that only matter in the context of making money, and spend most of our lives competing, in academics, sports, work, relationships. I don’t have time for the details of that here but simply, I am glad that my photography offers a connection back into my real life of community, real people, and memories.
