Friday Favorite Photo: Ben at the park

It's been a long time since I've posted a "Friday Favorite Photo," but I just had to put this one up. I think it's one of the nicest photos I've ever taken.

I was spending quality time with Ben a week ago in Kalamazoo and so we went to Milham Park to see the ducks. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, and Ben was happy when I told him he could go wherever he wanted and do whatever he wanted in the park.

I trailed behind as he led the way and ran around. We ended up going over a bridge and onto this tiny island in the middle of the flowing stream. The light was just right as he sat down on the bank to study the stream close up.

It turned into a day of discovery for Ben as I let him remove his shoes and socks and wade around. He found a big stick, got to stand on rocks, and was engrossed for quite a while watching leaves and twigs float away and under the bridge.

Friday Favorite Photo: Marie 1940s

I love this portrait of my mom, Marie, but I don't know when it was taken, or why. She was married in 1942, at the age of 19. So maybe this is an engagement photo?

Marie grew up during the depression in a blue collar neighborhood south of Detroit. There aren't any photos of her as a girl. I don't think her family owned a camera, so this portrait must have been a big deal. That's a very nice hat she has on, and quite the hairdo. But I notice she isn't wearing any jewelery.

It's fascinating to see my mom looking so glamorous. She worked in factories all her life and only got "dressed up" on rare occasions. She became my mom in 1955 when my mother was killed in an auto accident. I was only seven months old when this happened, so Marie was the only mother I knew. She died in 1994 and I still miss her.

Friday Favorite Photo: Halloween 1988

This photo was taken when my twin sons were seven years old. That's Justin in the mask and big bowtie - he was a "funny professor." Jerry was Dracula.

The girls are neighbors, also twins, a year younger than the boys. We lived in an apartment at the time and the girls lived next door. For five years the four of them were constantly together, in one apartment or another, or running around outside. (I think that's Courtney with the red fairy wings, and Brittany as the wizard, but I'm not sure. )

I thought the boys and the girls would always be friends, but that didn't turn out to be so. We moved away when the boys were ten, and though we tried to stay in touch with the girls, it just didn't work out. They grew up and grew apart, the way people tend to do. But I'm sure they have fond memories of their childhood days together.

Friday Favorite Photo: Garage door

This photo was taken in the fall of 1999. This was the door to the garage of the house I grew up in. I took a lot of photos - with my film camera - of the house that fall. It was just before the city bought it and tore it down.

Friday Favorite Photo: Girl in green tutu

I took this photo at the Michigan Womyns Music Festival in 2004. I was walking down the path past the porta-potties when this nice young woman asked if I would hold her tutu, being that it would not fit comfortably into the porta-potty and she didn't want to put it on the ground. "Sure," I said, thinking it was not everyday that one was asked to hold someone's tutu, much less a big green one, for a girl with pink hair.

And that's the thing about the festival... it's filled will lots of strange and wonderful little moments like this one. Moments that make you glad to be there in spite of the lack of flush toilets, electricity, or indoor showers.

For one week, each August, women from all over the world come to this place they call "Michigan." And since it's right here, not far from my neck of the woods, how could I not be there too?

The festival land is a place like none other in the world, a happy place of celebration and peace. It's a place where you can wear whatever wacky thing you want - or nothing at all. Sure, you have to stand in line under the blazing sun (or pouring rain) in order to be served food on a paper plate, but the food is great. And everywhere you go there are women smiling, women laughing, dancing, and of-course lots of music.

I love the fest but haven't attended in a couple of years, and I'm having a hard time getting myself in the mood for it this year. There are SO many other things I would rather be doing, not to mention how much I'll miss my own bed. But we've bought our tickets, so that's where we'll be for four days next week.

Friday Favorite Photo: Mary Dreaper 1919

This photograph of my grandmother was taken when she was 12 years old in 1919. She's wearing her school uniform and standing at the gate of her home in London, but I don't know where in London her home was - another of those questions I wish I'd asked.

This is the only photo I know to exist of my grandmother as a girl, and it makes me wonder why this is the only photo from that time that remained in her possession? There must have been others, maybe passed down to her siblings, and then to their kin. Or was this photo a fluke? A one-of-a-kind thing?

I'll never know. But I sure am glad to have this captured moment of 12-year-old Mary Dreaper's life, now a treasured family heirloom, to pass on to my children, grandchildren, and beyond.

Friday Favorite Photo: Junior prom

This photo was taken in May 1998 on the day of my sons' Junior prom. (Twelve years ago!) I think it's a nice photo of the three of us, a rare thing to have captured during those busy, complicated years, and definitely one of my favorites.

That's Justin in the shades. And me with poofy dyed hair. I thought I was getting old then, but damn, I was in my prime.

Friday Favorite Photo: Spring 1949

This photo of my mother was taken in Cambridge, England when she was 18 years old. It's one of a series of three photos that were taken the same day. On the back of this one she's written: "Me with horse. Cambridge, Spring 1949."

I never knew my mother because she was killed in an auto accident when I was an infant. Taken in by a childless couple who never told me I wasn't biologically their daughter, I discovered the truth when I was twelve.

Over the years I've had to piece together what I know about my mother's life from photographs, letters, documents, and the few family stories I've heard.

I especially love the three little photographs taken in Cambridge because they depict what I assume was a happy day in my mother's young life, and because she's written on the back of them:


"This was taken the day Pauline and I went to Cambridge. The horse nearly got my primroses!"

"Pauline's and my day in Cambridge. We have just been picking primroses in a wood. The country side was pretty and fresh after London."



Born in England, my mother spent most of her girlhood, the years of WWII, apart from her family. She and her siblings were sent to the safety of the country for "the duration." When she was 19 she traveled to the United States with a military family as their nanny - which is how I came to be born here.

This picture makes me wonder what led my mother and her friend, Pauline, to travel to Cambridge that Sping day in 1949. Did they have some business to attend to, were they visiting someone, or was it just a lark? I'll never know & I'm sure it's not important, but I'm glad she was photographed that day.

Friday Favorite Photo: Easter 1960

Here I am at the age of five, all dressed up for Easter. My dress is flipped up behind me because that was my idea of being really fancy. There are a couple of photos of me as a little girl with my dress flipped up like this. I felt very princess-like with my finery displayed about me.

Just look at that satisfied expression on my face. I'm wearing a pretty new dress, my hair has been cut and curled, and I've been given a giant basket of candy.

I don't celebrate Easter now, but sure loved it when I was a kid. It was all about me!

Friday Favorite: GR garden

This is a part of a garden that was mine when we lived in Grand Rapids. During the five years we owned this house I spent a lot of time working in the garden and was very proud of it - we were twice on the local garden tour. It was hard to leave it behind when we sold the house and I still occasionally wonder about how it's doing now.

Gardening was a big part of my life when we lived in that house & I got a lot of pleasure from it. But we don't have much of a garden at our new house and not much hope of one either. There are some nice established plants here and there, and those that I've transplanted seem to have survived the winter, but the soil is heavy clay and the main garden space is in shade.

I'm not as passionate as I once was about gardening, and I was thinking about giving it up all together - Who needs the trouble? But I'm sure I'll end up spending a lot of time in the yard here doing what I can with what I've got.

Friday Favorite Photo: A Pair of Pears

I took this photo with my beloved Canon film camera on the kitchen table of my house in Kalamazoo in 2001.

I liked the way the light was coming in through the window and posed these pears to take advantage of it. I took several shots, but this was the best and turned out to be one of my all time favorite photos. I love the way the pears are delicately touching each other with their stems - as if they're a loving couple.

This is one of my favorite photos because it's so sensual and sweet, but also because it reminds of my old house, my kitchen, and that time in my life. It seems like so long ago... but seems like yesterday, too.

Friday Favorite Photo: BB's toes

I took this photo of BB's feet in the surf of Lake Michigan at Saugatuck in July of 2005. I think it was just before sunset. I like the way her feet are sunk into the sand, the abstract action of the water, the quality of the light, and her red toenails.

This photo reminds me how much I love and miss The Lake. And how pleasurable it can be just to stand at its edge. BIG SIGH.

Friday Favorite Photo: Happy accident

I took this photo of my friend, Tamara, in New York City in March of 2001. It was Tamara's fist time in the city. She was sent to New York for a meeting and I went along to keep her company.

This photo was taken with my old 35mm film camera. I lifted the camera up to my eye and shot quick as Tamara walked toward me. My idea was to get a good candid shot of her. But I worked so quickly that some of the photo is blurred by the camera movement, and it's also slightly tilted.

If I shot this today with a digital camera I'd probably delete it immediately in the camera. And I remember being disappointed with this photo when I got it back from the developer. But then it grew on me, and has turned into one of my favorite photos.

I like the blur and the crookedness. It seems to say something about the pace of the city, as well as something about Tamara - a bit overwhelmed by it all.

Friday Favorite Photo: me at 15

This picture was taken by my high-school boyfriend in his backyard. It was September 1970, so I was almost 16. I remember it being one of a series of photos, but this is the only one I have, and it's definitely one of my favorites - such a silly pose, but a happy time.

Friday Favorite photo: Blue Heaven

I took this photo in May, 2004 at one of my favorite places on Earth: Blue Heaven, a Key West restaurant. BB and I have been there twice and both experiences were memorable. I especially remember the carrot & curry soup - so delicious.

The food at Blue Heaven is outstanding and the ambiance, an outdoor courtyard paved with slate pool table tops from the property's days as a billiard hall, is quintessentially old Key West. The courtyard features a tropical almond tree and there are cats and chickens wandering about.

I'd sure rather be there than here on a cold, grey December day like today. Though I'm grateful we haven't had any snow - yet.

Friday Favorite Photo: Groove

This is one of my all time favorite macro abstract photos. I call it groove and I think it's pretty groovy. Taken at the junkyard in my hometown, it's part of some discarded, rusting machinery. I think the colors are really beautiful and I love that curving groove.

I sometimes get funny looks when I'm crouched down in front of some piece of junk with my little point and shoot. It can take a long time to get just the right shot. I tend to approach dumpsters, alleys, and rusty objects slowly and study them carefully; it's necessary to really look in order to find these kinds of abstracts. But they are everywhere!

Friday Favorite: First Flickr photo

Today is the anniversary of my first Flickr. It's been three years since I posted this photo of some blue jars and their reflection on a windowsill.

I wouldn't necessarily call this photo one of my favorites now, but it's interesting to note that my first Flickr pic was blue and had an abstract quality to it.

The existence of Flickr has done a lot to help me grow as a photographer. And it's nice to be part of a creative community. I feel like I know many of my Flickr contacts even though we've never met.

Today is also the anniversary of my son's wedding - five years ago. I was going to post a photo of the wedding as a Friday Favorite today, but when I went to look for one I realized the wedding took place in my pre-digital days!

My son's wedding is one of the last events I shot on film. It was only five years ago, but already seems like the old days! It took me a long time to give up my film camera, but now I can't imagine life without digital, just like I can't imagine Justin without Maria.

Friday Favorite Photo: NYC 2001

It's been eight years since 9-11-01 and it seems like a long time ago to me. So much has changed since then, in the world, as well as my life. That afternoon I was in Kalamazoo at work at the theater and it felt like a silly thing to be doing. All my concerns about the upcoming season of plays, fundraising, marketing, and recruiting volunteers suddenly seemed so inconsequential.

The following months were intense, and personally significant for me too: that's when I began my relationship with BB, my son met his future wife, and a beloved dog came into our lives.

In November of 2001 BB and I took a trip to New York. We called it our "Fuck You Bin Laden" trip. During this trip we went downtown and the air was still full of the smell of smoke, the sidewalks still gritty. We saw the makeshift memorials and stood behind a barricade to look at the rubble. It was hard to make the decision to go down there, on the one hand it seemed disrespectful, but on the other it was an historic moment we wanted to witness. (We felt better about our decision to gawk when, a few months later, a viewing platform was built.) While we were in NYC that fall I took this picture of a flag displayed on a fire escape:

Friday Favorite Photo: Ephemeral memory

This is one of my favorite macro abstracts. I took it a year ago. Can you guess what it is?

Not much time for posting more than Friday Favorites these days. In addition to getting settled in the new house we've had a lot of company (including three great days with my grandson Ben - a joy) and today we're heading to West Michigan for an event in BB's family. Busy, busy.

Friday Favorite Photo: Fest collage

We usually go to the Michigan Womyns Music Festival every August, but this is the second year in a row we weren't able to make it. I created this photo collage a few years ago from pictures I took of the annual festival quilt.