Paul Lester Photo

He flies through the air with the greatest of ease …

I know that you’re used to seeing pictures of Hobbs, but Hobbs has taken the day off to nap in the sun. Instead, I bring you Bagheera, the flying squirrel. I’ve never met a flying squirrel, but this is one cool little dude. Hobbs is mildly interested from time to time, but for the most part, he still likes to get his sleep.

So, where did Bagheera (Named after the black panther from Jungle Book) come from? Well, Pedro’s girlfriend is visiting for the Thanksgiving weekend and Bagheera came along for the visit. It was an interesting first meeting between Bagheera and I. She had Gee (Named after the president of Ohio State), as they call him, out and about. Suddenly, Ghi jumped off of her arm, on to the couch, up on my shirt and then down the collar! This all happened amazingly fast. That little critter can move fast!

His favorite place in the house seems to be a box on a shelf in Pedro’s room way at the back of the closet. As he is nocturnal, he sleeps all day and likes to hop around at night. They keep him confined in Pedro’s room because, although Hobbs doesn’t seem very interested, he is interested in chasing rodents. That’s what miniature Schnauzers like to do!

Now, I’m not one share my drinks with a pet, but it doesn’t seem to bother Pedro or Anna Kay, his girlfriend. I’ve seen Ghi scamper up Pedro’s arm, stick his head into Pedro’s orange juice and take a sip. No thanks! As much as I love Hobbs, he isn’t kissing me on the mouth or sharing my food or drinks! Ick!

Anyway, he’s a cool character and would make an ideal apartment pet. I’ve considered getting one but the next batch of babies will not be born until March and you can only get them from a breeder. However, at the same time, even though it would be cool to have a little buddy, I’m not sure that I want something to take care of at this time. We’ll see.

I’ll probably have some more pictures of him pretty soon. He’s not camera shy at all. I just have to keep him from jumping on my camera and running down my shirt!

The Hero of daily life

On yesterday’s post, Earl said:

Paul, as i read your post I wondered if being in Charleston on your own each week with evening time to develop and scan has made your usage of film easier or more enjoyable? If you were home in Charlotte would finding time for film be harder to come by?

I was going to answer him in the comments, but thought that his question deserved a bit more elaboration than I could give, or wanted to give in a comment, thus, this post. I’ll start with a short story from back in the day … but, first a sidebar: I remember working with a bunch of ‘old guys’ when I was in my mid-twenties. They always seem to have an anecdote ready for most any situation. I thought that it was funny and interesting that they had experienced so much, but alas, I’m the old guy now and seem to have experiences for most anything that comes along. So, on with the story from the old guy:

Back when I was doing software development for MCI, I was a pretty gung-ho developer. I wanted a name for myself. I wanted to be the highest paid, most sought after, well known software developer in Dallas, Texas. Now, when I look back at that, I cringe! *shudder* Anyway, I put in countless hours reading technical books, practicing my craft, etc. My wife and I were both driven and our weekends consisted of hanging out in Borders books absorbing and buying new technical books, she more than I, but we both had quite a few books.

As one would expect, I quickly rose to the top of the ranks amongst my peers as did my pay and my reputation. Certainly I did not have fame and fortune, but I was fairly well known and well paid. A fellow developer, Donna, once asked me how did I get so good in such a short time. I told her about my trips to the book store, my late nights spending 5 or 6 hours after work studying and experimenting, etc. She was somewhat appalled saying that she’d rather watch television in the evening and unwind from the day’s work. Certainly nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t where my head was at that time. I believe that she was wise and I was foolish.

Anyway, to finally get to Earl’s question. Yes, having my evenings free from the rigors of everyday family life does play a huge role in my ability to use film. I had considered it some years ago, but wasn’t quite ready. There is a place in our house that would be ideal for loading film and I had my own separate room with my printer, scanner, and assorted photo gear. However, I think that had the film bug bitten, it might not have bitten so hard. Still, I’ve made decisions here that support my photography. I don’t own a television, which helps a lot. No boob-tube distraction. I balance my free times in the evenings between reading fiction and doing photography things.

Were I to have never left Charlotte and come to Charleston, I do wonder if I would have been developing film at this point in my life. Who knows, but here I am and I’m making good use of my time, I think. It’s not like when I was trying to be the ‘best’ of this or that, it’s more comfortable than that. It’s fulfilling to be able to do something just for the sake of it without worrying about or wanting a reward.

Lastly, Earl, I would imagine that since you retired some time ago, your life has blossomed and turned in directions that you never would have expected nor have had time to do when you were working 5 days/week. No? I would expect that when I reach that point, I would do something else. Perhaps I’ll make my own emulsions and use glass plates! LOL!

A Hoboken street portrait.

Walking the streets, you never know who you are going to meet. On this particular day, my first day in NYC, I met a group of people from Better Photo. One of the happened to be a man named Ibarionex Parello. He told me his name, but on a busy New York street, I couldn’t quite understand what he said. I asked him to repeat it, but still, no dice. After seeing it in writing, I asked him how to pronounce it, so for all of you who have no idea how to pronounce it, here goes:

My name is pronounced Eeba – rio – nex

This is straight from the e-mail that he sent me. Now you know.

We struck up a conversation and I found him to be quite likable and very personable. Of course, this was another one of those cases where I didn’t have a business card; however, he didn’t have one either, but he did have his iPhone so I gave him my information and he said that he’d contact me. Well, true to his word, he contacted me. After his contact, I realized that I had heard of his podcast before, The Candid Frame.

If you’ve never heard his podcast, give it a listen; however, be warned, it is not something that you can sit and listen to in 3 or 5 minutes. These interviews with photographers are fairly long. I like Ibarionex’s style. He asks a question and actually lets the photographer answer at length without interruption. Further, he has that type of smooth, buttery voice that just works well for a podcast. Not all of the interviews are face to face, some are contacted on the telephone.

So, if you get a chance, dig through his archives and see if anything strikes your interest. I’m sure that you will.