Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Picturing Things

A photographer has pictures of everything and everyone but himself, and I’m no exception. My image in newspapers or online is usually a school picture, and people often comment that I look too serious. I don’t like posing and I guess it shows. For decades it’s been the same scenario: The photographer from Life Touch, or wherever, has to say something genuinely funny or a smile won’t rise. Most often, they send a young woman who asks me to take the pen out of my pocket and remove the glasses hanging around my neck. “I like to leave them there,” I say.

“Okay,” she’ll say, perplexed. “Now smile!”

“You have to say something funny,” I’ll respond, and she usually can’t come up with anything. Last month, the woman closed her eyes and seemed to be trying hard to think of something funny. That amused me and I grinned. As a student or teacher, I’ve had my picture taken this way about forty-five times. My first-grade school picture was on our refrigerator for a while last summer with those of my children and grandchildren after my wife dug it out for comparison.

Group shots are worst. Leaning in close and holding a fake smile makes my cheek muscles cramp. I feel foolish trying to keep a goofy smile on my face while somebody fumbles with a camera, so I just don’t do it anymore. I never ask others to pose either because I don’t want to put them through the ordeal. Besides, candid shots are much better. With an 18-270 mm zoom on my Nikon D-60, good portraits are possible when people don’t know I’m capturing their image. I get them as they are, not as they may wish to appear.
My camera is always with me, but I forgot it recently while rushing out to church. We visited my new granddaughter on the way home and it bothered me awfully that I couldn’t take pictures of her. Then at Fryeburg Fair last week, the auto-focus on my zoom lens stopped functioning while I was shooting faces in the crowd. I had to send it out for repair and I miss it every day it’s not available to me. I’ve enjoyed photography for almost forty years, but I’m liking it more lately than I ever have. That’s good because it’s an indication of my attitude toward my world these days: I’m noticing what is around me and savoring it.

If I see something while driving, I’ll pull over and even back up to get a picture. When she’s with me my wife tries to be patient, but she gets annoyed if we’re running late and that can diminish the creative mood. As a columnist, I like to write about whatever I want any given week. As a photographer, I’m the same way. Whatever catches my eye is what I shoot. When writing, I feel like I’m putting out. While shooting pictures, I feel like I’m taking in.

We have thousands of shots with children, grandchildren, other people and much else over the past thirty-eight years since my wife gave me a 35mm Minolta SRT-101 for Christmas. I still have that camera, but seldom use it since I bought myself a good digital SLR last year. Now I’m taking a thousand shots a month and they’re clogging my computer and I have to invest in a second portable hard drive to store them. Every day I see beauty in nature and in people, and try to capture it. What I get is never as good as what my eye sees, but sometimes I can carry a little sunshine home in my jar, so to speak. It might be a scene, a flower, a tree, a face, a shadow, a bog, a rock formation, an old building, an integration of color - it could be most anything. Others may not see what I see and that’s fine. I’ll show them if they ask, or give away images upon request, but my pictures are for me.

That’s what I came to this month after a friend suggested I enter some in a contest. I considered it, and even pondered which shots might be suitable, but couldn’t decide because I like them all. Then I asked myself why I should submit and I couldn’t come up with a good enough answer. It’s immaterial whether others think my pictures are good. That’s not why I take them.

My pictures are for me.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

You ought to get into macro photography. Fairly early in my Navy career, when I was in Okinawa on my way to Vietnam, I bought a Canon FT QL and a macro bellows attachment along with a bunch of lenses. I took some fascinating pictures of things. I could put the lens less than an inch from a subject and take really magnified close-ups. It is fascinating!

Harvey in North Baldwin

Anonymous said...

My daughter Allison (who was 27 yrs old at the time) and I took a photography class together several years ago at the local craft center. The experience of taking such a class with one of your adult children results in unanticipated bonding. I too, however, was reluctant to show my photographs, which was a key portion of each class session. I came to realize that receiving supportive criticizm of one's art also results in unanticipated learning. It may be painful at times, but it is also confirming. Remember the old adage about hiding a lit candle under a basket. Take off the basket and the light not only shines on things around you but also on you.

Paul in Raleigh

Anonymous said...

Your peaceful photographs should have been considered for the Nobel Peace Prize. They would have been far more worthy of the award than the current recipient.

Anonymous said...

Very nice photos, Tom! Perhaps you should limit your columns to subjects like this that you know something about!

Dawn said...

now that was just plain ugly...not your pictures Tom, but that last comment!

Anonymous said...

Dawn, you obviously haven't read his columns....or else you drink the same Kool-Aid as Tom.

Just check out the constant rebuttals in the letters to the editor of the Daily Sun that are filled with facts as oppossed to his blind partisan propaganda.

DAWN said...

I've been reading Tom's columns on and off for about 12 years since my kids were in his class.

As far as the Daily Sun, I've watched that get pretty loosy goosy liberal over the years. The liberals don't know or care about the facts. I guess that's because it gets in the way of their agenda.

As far as Kool-Aid? Don't touch the stuff. Want to be alert and sober for the lies of the left.

You just might want to check what you're drinking tho. Sounds like somebody is sneaking something into your drink.

Anonymous said...

Dawn, please join the health care debate then. I would love to see what exactly you think are lies.I and others pointed out several coming from Tom - with absolutely no rebuttal. Tom has passion and lots of opinions but he shys away from facts and reality. Perhaps you can help him?

Garnet said...

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing them. Like you, I get more pleasure out of merely viewing & sharing my photography (via my fav art/literature community website deviantART) than I would winning any contests.

Keep snapping!

Anonymous said...

Very nice photos and column. I too carry a camera most places I go, to enjoy the photo for that moment in time and usually for nothing more than my own enjoyment.

Andy in CT.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures Tom, my favorite is the one of the castle on the hill.

Yes, pictures are personal, and I for one am glad you freely share them with me/us.

- tomax7

Anonymous said...

Anon, considering the health care 'debate', why not ask a Canadian about it? Because that is where the US is heading - 2nd rate care.

4-6 hour wait times in EMERGENCY for gall stone operation

3-4 month wait for various scans.

1-2 year wait for knee or hip operations

So, how many doctors are moving to Canada vs moving to the US?

But I suggest you get your own blog where you can spew your garbage.

-tomax7

Anonymous said...

Hey tomax7, where did you get your information? I suggest you get more well-rounded info and not just listen to right wing propaganda. Perhaps you should watch the movie "Sicko". Let me guess, you will claim it is full of lies. In that case it may be your lucky day. Did you know that Michael Moore is offering $10,000 to anybody that can find a lie in ANY of his movies? So far no one has been able to claim the money. Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

Yes, a source would be nice for those silly comments about the Canadian system. I guess Canadians don't know about these "facts" - Check out polls done in Canada - over 70% of Canadians say their health care system is doing well or very well.

Anonymous said...

...and 91% prefer their system to the one in the USA!

http://blogs.e-rockford.com/sweenyreport/category/canada-poll/

Anonymous said...

Anon. As this isn't your blog, I suggest you take your crusade somewhere else possibly?

Regarding Mr. Moore, if you swallow everything he says, that explains a lot.

Sure maybe I should take him up on his $10K offer.

Reality is, there are long waiting times and lack of top skilled doctors in Canada.

They move to the States at one point.

As you say, hmmm.

-tomax7

Tom McLaughlin said...

Hey Anonymous wuss:

Tomax7 lives in Alberta. That makes him a primary source for information on the Canadian health care system you insist is so wonderful.

Anonymous said...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Calgary+family+wants+answers+after+pregnant+woman+dies/2121512/story.html

Sad.

-tomax7

Anonymous said...

above link does not work

Anonymous said...

Let me state first off that I am not against capitalism. However, when it comes to the health and survival of my loved ones I do NOT want them to be in the hands of a system in which the prime goal is PROFIT. How can anybody feel comfortable with health car providers that will cut corners and do everything they can to make an extra dime? Sure it is good BUSINESS sense to do things such as not covering people with pre-existing conditions, but I don't want some business man deciding that his bottom line is more important than the health of my loved ones.

Anonymous said...

You have to highlight the whole link and paste it into the address bar.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Calgary+family+wants+answers+after+pregnant+woman+dies/2121512/story.html

But here's a simpler way.

http://tiny.cc/sIb4t

-tomax7

Anonymous said...

Anon: "I do NOT want them to be in the hands of a system in which the prime goal is PROFIT. How can anybody feel comfortable with health car providers that will cut corners and do everything they can to make an extra dime?"

- You got to be living in a dream world if you think that isn't the prime goal.

The reason things DO NOT get done up here get done is the bottom line. Where do you think hospital budgets come from? Or the money for it? Thin air?

No offense, but the US has it better than Canada. You still have to pay a monthly $20-100 Provincial Health Premium. Although Alberta doesn't, other provinces do.

Oh, remember who runs the hospitals, not the Nuns, but administrators with ties to the government.

Or in simple English, politicians.

-tomax7

Anonymous said...

Here's a couple of articles.

http://tiny.cc/YEOKs
- read the comments from people below the article if you think it is a slanted article.

http://tiny.cc/sIb4t
- Alberta's medical system spent $22.5 million on severance costs last year after firing several regional health bosses when the province moved to a single superboard for the entire province.

Audited financial statements for Alberta Health Services, released Tuesday at the organization's public board meeting, show taxpayers footed a$6.6 million bill related to the severance payments to former Calgary Health Region executives.

That includes almost $1.7 million for former Calgary Health Region chief executive Jack Davis.

The payouts come after nine health bosses and several other executives were fired last summer when Health Minister Ron Liepert dissolved regional medical authorities to move to a single superboard.

The documents confirm Alberta Health Services received$80 million from the province to cover expenses associated with the transition such as severance and consulting costs.

The financial statements also suggest former deputy minister Paddy Meade, who moved to the superboard for less than one year before losing her job as an executive operating officer, received a $1.3 million severance.

Anonymous said...

Anon: "I do NOT want them to be in the hands of a system in which the prime goal is PROFIT. How can anybody feel comfortable with health car providers that will cut corners and do everything they can to make an extra dime?"

- You got to be living in a dream world if you think that isn't the prime goal.

EXACTLY, tomax! The prime goal of health care providers is profit. That should not be the case when dealing with people's health. Therefore, a non-profit health system would be better.

Anonymous said...

Anon, ok I'll bite. Where can we find this?

"Therefore, a non-profit health system would be better."

-tomax7

Anonymous said...

A 5-6 hour wait! I don't know what our health board boses are thinking, and I sure will be mad(der) if they get bonuses for this botched planning job

No wonder the USA makes a mockery of any attempt to have a public system. Four outlets for a population of over 1 million, and people wonder why we are upset about our health care system. Get with it people, and start demanding a choice. We are not sheep to be herded into a pen.

Anonymous said...

Anon, ok I'll bite. Where can we find this?

"Therefore, a non-profit health system would be better."


A Public option.

Are you really that confused?

Anonymous said...

Anon, stop teasing me!

Your Statement: "Therefore, a non-profit health system would be better"

My Question: Where can we find this?

Your Answer: "A Public option."

---------------------

*blink*

(I didn't think I asked that hard of a question...note to self, maybe I should try rephrasing it a bit simpler.)

---------------------

Anon, "WHERE" can I find this non-profit health system functioning today?

("WHERE" infers a locale, a location, a country, a tangible and definitive place.)

-tomax7

PS - Oh yes, please infer that you have actually lived under this type of system to give it somewhat of an authoritative reply.

Anonymous said...

I refer to the public option that should be passed in the health care reform bill.

Sorry this is so confusing for you - you DID know about this, right?

Anonymous said...

Anon, I'm still confused. Why don't you answer my question? I'm not a mean fellow you know. You might even like me once you get to know me.

But I ask AGAIN, where can we find this?

"I refer to the public option that should be passed in the health care reform bill."

That's not an answer. I am public among others in here and don't think it should be passed, so I am missing something to your reference.

Where? Physical location. Please. Public opinion is just that, opinion, not proven or fact.

Anonymous said...

You want public opinion? Read the opinions of the public of a public health care society just north of the US.

http://tinyurl.com/yflbohb

"This is beyond gross incompetence. I've never witnessed such poor planning for delivering a high demand service to Albertans. AHS has been quite vocal regarding the need for people to receive this vaccination and the dangers associated with this pandemic, yet mindlessly throw together 4 clinics in a city of over a million people. There appeared to be no thought into these 4 locations, whether people would be out in the cold, where people could sit, and how grossly understaffed they were---even though they have had to pull nurses from other areas to staff these clinics (but there is no nursing shortage, right Mr. Leipert?). I think the bottom line comes down to MONEY. This is a disgrace to all Albertans. Mr. Stelmach, Mr. Leipert and Mr. Duckett have cut millions and millions of dollars from our health care system, and this is the kind of service you can now expect. If this is all the money AHS is willing to pay out for pandemic clinics (these gentlemen don't wan't to lose their bonuses!!), just imagine what horror lies ahead in acute care hospitals once this pandemic spreads (they have already closed hundreds of acute care hospital beds and deferred hiring nurses into hundreds of empty positions). Be afraid people. This government and all of these men need to be fired."

Anonymous said...

In Alberta, the chickens are coming to roost.

One prays that there isn't a pandemic, and secondly that heads will roll after this has passed.

But you see, it is illegal to have private health insurance here.

Anonymous said...

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Canadians+face+week+wait+surgery+Report/2158443/story.html

Canadians looking to undergo surgery can expect to wait a total of 113 days in 2009, a slight improvement over last year, a national health-care survey has found.