kayla's dinner

When Hospice of the Western Reserve asked my son, Zach, and his wife, Alyssa, to help a young girl who wanted to learn to cook they jumped at the chance. Zach and Alyssa are both professional chefs in Cleveland, Ohio and love sharing their passion for food.

The experience was recorded by a local photographer named Eric Hanson who allowed Zach to send me hundreds of photographs and over an hour of video footage. From this I edited a 4-minute video attempting to tell the story.

After spending several days going through the images and video I was filled with admiration for the courage and optimistic spirit of Kayla, she is, as Alyssa says in the video, "such a sweet girl." I also found myself feeling quite proud of Zach and Alyssa for using their talents to spread kindness in the world.

first amendment rights

This is a local group of determined political activists that have gathered on the village green in my town every Saturday for the 14-years that I have lived here. They have protested wars and supported efforts to address climate change, but these days they are squarely focused on Donald Trump.

They're very pleasant people and they love interacting with the drivers that pass by. Most of the drivers give shouts of support. A very small number shout obscenities or give them the finger. When this happens they smile and wave back and laugh amongst themselves.

I took this photograph with an 8 mm fisheye lens on an Olympus EM1 MK2 camera.

Monte

reflections

I'm sure I've used the title "reflections" for a previous post, but I was so pleased with myself for capturing the reflection of this small boat and the two men, who appear to be having a good time, that I wanted to use it again.  To really "see" a scene is a talent that I have been slow to develop, and possibly I haven't developed it at all.  I have lots of photos in which I notice the reflection of the subject only after I have the image on my computer and discover it was there but I failed to capture it completely.

I did not see the reflection of these men when I spotted them coming across the harbor toward me, but I did see it while framing them through the viewfinder.  I was able to recompose the image to include the full reflection.  Hooray!  Happiness is largely in the small stuff of our lives.

Alas, what I didn't think of doing was to use my GoPro to capture video of the two men pulling up to the dock and unloading the contents of their dingy, which told more of the story of their day on the water.  When I saw the older of the two men using a rope to hoist the boat's motor up onto the dock I realized my mistake.

Making photographic stories of spontaneous events that are unfolding in real time is another talent I have not mastered.  Thinking fast and anticipating how an event will play out is tricky.  That's why, I think, it is useful to keep returning to the same places to take photographs.  It helps me gain familiarity with my subjects and predict what might happen next and be ready to capture the action with my camera.

Monte