The Sounds of Christmas

Christmas is the celebration that I most associate with sounds.  July 4th is a visual show spilling the neon colors of fireworks across the night sky. Thanksgiving provides a full day filled with the smell of turkey roasting, oven roast buns warming to a golden brown color, and pumpkin and pecan pies seeping their sweet aroma thoughout the house.  However, what I think about at Christmas is its sounds ranging from the silence after a freshly fallen snow to the sounds of children singing, or a Christmas concert performed by a symphony or chorale.  You can't escape the sound of Christmas music on the car radio, in the stores, clinics, and throughout our favorite Christmas movies.

I have been fortunate enough to enjoy a range of sounds of this season from my attendance at children's school performances,  to the Peter Mayer Christmas concert at a local high school, and culminating with the Rockford Symphony and chorale performance staged within a large, historic, downtown theater.  

My photo this week was taken with my cell phone during the Peter Mayer concert at a local high school.  What I liked about the photo was that it was an unintentional display of the music occurring at that moment.  If I had my camera, I would have been able set a shutter speed fast enough to capture the drum sticks tapping the cymbals.  The photos washed colors added mystery to these ghost like shapes that were being projected on the the adjacent walls away from the main performance occurring at center stage. 

The power of holiday music and sounds remains a mystery to me. I long to hold on to them for just a bit longer, just like those ghost like shapes dancing across the wall.

Merry Christmas All!

 

Winter's Dramatic Entrance

Our winter season began this past weekend with a snowstorm bringing ten inches of snow and elevating the stores' Christmas sales projections and bringing excitement for snowmobile fans and kids who see enormous delight in a blanket of fresh new snow. I enjoy a beautiful new snow as a photographer and as a Midwestern guy. However, I am also a realist, and I know snow will make me long for the return of spring color and seed catalogs inb about ten days. 

I created this photograph a day after the snowstorm when the temperatures plunged to -5. This charcoal like sketch scene depicts the reality of upper Midwestern winter with its void of color and starkness in the landscape. I like the way that the gray overcast winter days make the sky and horizon become one. The telephone poles in the photo remind me of how important connections are for enduring the winter season. My distance from the scene serves to set the tone for the solitude that winter brings. 

The three buildings in the photo captured my attention because the Quonset hut seems nearly besieged by the snow, as the gusting winds blew snow over its sides, nearly covering the top in some places. The farmhouse seems to stand as a fortress resisting the snow and chilling winter winds. My favorite is the barn in the background. It adds some color to a scene where whites and metallic surfaces predominate. I confess to adding just a touch of red to the barn. My motivation was to recognize its role on the farm, suggesting a return to thoughts of plowing, planting, and harvest returning again. For that reason, I added just a touch of red to it, as if this small act of resistance would speed the return of spring.

"Those who sing through the summer must learn to dance in the winter."

Italian Proverb

 That Friday After Thanksgiving

No, I am not the tall green guy!

It is amusing how traditions are born and evolve.  The Friday after Thanksgiving has become understood as "Exterior Illumination Day" for my sons and their families.  The term is borrowed from the movie "Christmas Vacation," featuring the Griswold family, who attempt to navigate their expectations for Christmas with the realities of their family relationships.  The phrase, "You taught me everything I know about exterior illumination", inspired our tradition for this special day after Thanksgiving.

Some thirty years ago, my wife went shopping before Thanksgiving and purchased several boxes of the newest holiday trend, icicle lights, declaring that she would like to see them twinkling on our house for the Christmas season.  Formerly, our exterior holiday decorations consisted of a single wreath hung near the door, which was lit tastefully by a single spotlight.  It took me less than twenty minutes to create the entire holiday display.  I used to feel pretty smug about looking like we had holiday spirit without all that excessive effort others invested in the creation of their elaborate light displays.

Those multiple boxes of icicle lights were a message to me that things were about to change.  Metaphorically, the icicle lights were my Christmas star, although I didn't know it at the time.  I plodded forward by removing the lights from their boxes and attempting to untangle them, then stretching each kinked icicle strand.  My epiphany then was that I should not suffer alone.  Therefore, I mandated my two sons join me as "co-sufferers" in this onerous task on that Friday after Thanksgiving some thirty years ago.

We began our morning with a hot breakfast at the local diner to numb our suspicions that today would be a total waste of our time and hopefully would trend away as a one-and-done affair.  As we hung those icicle lights, we learned about the intricacies of installing cup hooks or gutter clips in subfreezing temps.  We discovered that these tasks require removal of gloves.  No pain, no gain!  We also learned that exterior illumination requires planning for the direction of installing strings of lights so they end near an electrical outlet.  Nothing sucks away the Hallmark moment more than realizing that you must reinstall the lights because they are strung away from the only outdoor outlet.  Together, we learned that Christmas lights carry restrictions regarding how many strings may fit together, and in the process of gaining this knowledge, we also learned it is never wise to craft an extension cord with two male connectors.  Oh, the things we learned during those first years.  In spite of these setbacks, we were encouraged by the way the lights sparkled at night and illuminated our achievements.

Today, we are experts at exterior illumination because it says so on the sweatshirts we wear on that Friday--- Griswold & Sons, Exterior Illumination Experts.  As the years passed, our tradition didn't fade even as our lives changed.  When college took each son away from home, the boys would call before returning home to see what Mom was cooking that Thanksgiving and to check whether we would be putting up the Christmas lights together again.  Their calls helped me understand that this task had transitioned from being just another chore to being something more significant.

I am pleased to report that our "family business" has grown as each of my sons has invited their daughters or sons to join us on this one special Friday after Thanksgiving.  Many more company shirts were ordered, and we now require the diner's largest table for our pre-decorating breakfast.  We still freeze our hands and butts, still laugh about the decorating mistakes we continue to make, and still freely quote lines from the "Christmas Vacation" movie while seeing ourselves embracing the approaching Christmas and one another.

As I reflect on this silly and simple tradition, I stand amazed that what was once a bothersome task evolved to become a celebrated holiday tradition.  It gives me deep pride to see that each of them has embraced the practice of decorating one another's homes, and they continue including me in the process.  I no longer climb the ladder, but I do my best to try not to get my feet entangled in the light cords or step on the bulbs.  The grandkids who joined us over the years remained with us through their high school and into their college years.  They even shunned the lure of Black Friday sales to kick off their holiday season by untangling balls of Christmas lights and hanging those lights in chilling weather as if we knew what we were doing. Like me, they have discovered that the joy and love we crave for the holidays can still be found in a simple and silly holiday tradition that takes place every year on that very special Friday following Thanksgiving. 

 Happy Thanksgiving

This scene can be found on the pulpit in the front of our church.  I photographed it last week while I was there on an errand.  I liked the colors and the classical nature of the subject matter.  I am envious of the people who can arrange objects into a beautiful display.  The scene reminds me of Thanksgiving from another era.

While attending Sunday service, we sang hymns that beckoned back to fall harvest time when our society was mainly agricultural and life was remembered as pastoral.  My mind wandered to a scene where the sounds of the singing were flowing from a rural church where most of the community gathered to sing and be reminded of their gratitude for the seasons and the harvest.  It seemed a bit odd to be singing these hymns, as our lives and circumstances are so very different from the lives of those who sat in this church in 1858.

Our world is complex and unforgiving in ways that our ancestors in the 1850s could never imagine.  In return, we wax nostalgic about their carefree life grounded in the peace of living simply off the land and surrounded by people who are like us and close to us.  We forget that life expectancy was about 40 years and medical assistance was primitive or nonexistent in this area.  An agricultural livelihood was even more risky due to lack of weather science, seed development, pest control, and backbreaking and dangerous farming practices.

What we hold in common, though nearly one hundred fifty years apart, is our gratitude for life, family, and sufficient resources to share with family and those we love.

A Very Happy Thanksgiving!     My favorite holiday of the year.

Full Heart And Full Shelves

I have not written a blog for a couple of weeks due to an attack by the technology dogs.  The initial was a problem with my computer, followed by an update which fouled up my photo processing software.  To me, working with technology is somewhat like walking through an alley surrounded by a pack of hungry, stray dogs.  You can sense their threat and try to conceal your fears because you know that the dogs can sense that fear and will respond with an attack.  With assistance, I have walked that gauntlet and am moving forward.

My photo this week concerns the loss of SNAP benefits due to the government shutdown.  I am fortunate to be able to work weekly at an area food pantry that receives absolutely no government assistance.  We are a small community Food pantry committed to serving a small region within the county. All pantry staff are volunteers.  Most of the people we serve receive SNAP and our pantry supplements those benefits.  Without SNAP benefits our clients are totally dependent upon the local food pantry. Most of our clients fall into one of three classes: 1. elderly poor with fixed income, 2. mentally or physically handicapped who have collapsed under the burden of crushing medical bills, and 3. families in transition where a young mother has been deserted by a husband or the head of the family has lost their job or has been injured and is in need of temporary assistance.  Before the loss of SNAP, we were serving about sixty families weekly. 

I used the word "fortunate" in describing my relationship with the food pantry -- its clients and the volunteers. This week's photo is one among others which have been used as notecards to thank our donors. What brings me joy in volunteering is what I learn about real life from people in my community.  The national news I read brings division, disaster, and dread to my life daily, if I allow it. My pantry experiences are not filtered through a government talking head spewing statistics and political spin about the needs of hungry people.  Being part of the food pantry keeps me in touch with how ordinary people work across their differences to deliver help when needed.  From our clients I see their joy in being able to receive the most basic grocery items that we take for granted.  At least four times this week, I heard our neediest clients tell a volunteer that they could take less if they knew others wouldn't be served.  (I admit this made me feel guilty for wishing I had more when I should be feel grateful for having everything I really need.)  

When I see ordinary people in my community organizing neighborhood food drives and increasing their individual giving I know I have one more reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving ---and to think this joy comes to me weekly just for showing up!

 Why Not Meatloaf?

This photo was taken within the past two weeks.  I like it because placid water makes for great reflections. The bridge introduces a contrasting shape and some deeper tones into the image while the graffiti on the far bridge wall injects a pop of color and an element of unpredictability into a sedate and structured scene.

I took this photo largely because my camera was on the car seat beside me, beckoning me to make it go click.  My urge to push the shutter was like an addict craving a high.  To me, the photo is technically correct, visually pleasing, and unmemorable.  Upon reviewing it, the photo is pleasing to look at but not for very long because it doesn't connect with me on any intellectual or emotional level. It has nothing to say—but I like it, and I confess to also liking plain white bread.

I have come to the conclusion that every photo I shoot does not have to be gallery-worthy, nor does it have to communicate an emotion or message that great photos always do.  Photography is my hobby, not my livelihood.  My photo is representative of what happens between the photographic droughts and the discovery of magical rainbows.  I like this photo for what it is. It represents a comfortable place in my existence as a photographer where I can enjoy using different gear and experience joy while nonchalantly searching for a photo.  Capturing this scene brings me contentment, knowing every photo doesn't need to wow me or solicit others' approval.  

I would have made a hearty meatloaf rather than a fancy Beef Wellington if this were a food blog.

The Hmmm of Street Photography

My photo for this week's blog concerns street photography. The photo was taken at a local farmer's market. I noticed a group of women approaching me carrying fresh flowers while laughing with eachother.  As they grew closer, I hesitated to get a clear shot due to a passerby suddenly crossing in front of the group. This hesitation caused me to be noticed, so I struck up a conversation with them, remarking that they looked like a wedding procession on Main St. They quickly replied that they were on a girl's trip to celebrate the wedding of one of their group next weekend. I asked to take their photo, but the group quickly pushed the bride-to-be to the front where she became my subject for street portrait.

My experience with this soon-to-be wedding party along with my viewing of photographs that others have labeled as street photography, causes me to say, "Hmmm!" My current view is that street photography is a real thing, but I am afraid that much of what is being labeled as street photography is random shooting in search of a meaning.  How many more photos are needed showing a person walking down a street with a nondescript background? Very few of the photos posted on social media under the heading of street photography feature a "critical moment". Few contain any preconceived thought/question from the photographer for the viewer. The concept of street photography is baffling to me because it reminds me of a sleazy politician who proclaims to be all things to all voters. In my mind, it is either something or nothing.

  

This week's photo is an example of that confusion. While many would consider it an example of street photography, I do not. My first attempt to photograph this group of women prior to our conversation may have been an example of street photography. It would have captured the authentic, unscripted joy they were experiencing in the moment against a background of vendors hawking their products. (Kind of a play on the "can't buy me love" concept). Instead, our short conversation changed my photo from an unscripted photo to a posed portrait even though I offered no posing instructions. The presence of my camera tacitly conveyed a message to pose. Consequently, I came away with a nice street portrait of an attractive young woman and her bouquet.

Another concern I hold regarding the practice of street photography relates to the process of photographing people (and especially minors) in public places. One part of my concern deals with ethics regarding the protection of children.  The other part deals with privacy concerns as presented within our current culture which is rife with  distrust of others. Courtesy and transparency help reduce suspicion.  Understanding the current  environment is vital as it relates to our future access to photograph within various venues.

I wish I could tell you what street photography is instead of describing what I believe it is not. In some ways, my thoughts about it may be similar to what former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said about pornography, "I cannot describe it, but I know it when I see it." Presently, I view street photography as a huge ball of tangled Christmas lights that need to be untangled before they become components within a meaningful scene.

I will close with a list of characteristics that I believe are present in my definition of street photography. My list is not offered in order of importance nor is it comprehensive. It's emerging.

-Conveys a decisive moment experience (thought/concept) to the viewer

-Treatment  favors realistic rather than idealistic 

-Taken within a public area preferably a street or plaza

-Can be black and white or color reflecting photographer's intent

-Contains people or animals (to me an empty street or Buckingham Fountain is urban landscape) It is the presence of human response within that setting that is key

-Background, setting, and life blend to create a relationship allowing any of those three elements to play the lead role

-Viewers of street photography may need to be more attentive to relationships with the photo to appreciate it's artistry