2009: *Poof*

Setting sail for the new year!

So, this is it folks. The last day of the year. Perhaps for you folks down under, it’s already 2010 as your little part of the world has already left everyone else behind. I had written a much longer post, some 1,000 words, but decided against it. Perhaps I’ll save it for another day. Instead, I’ll post something of lighter fare.

At this time of year, before starting on my next batch of photos, I generally take time to clean up the file structure in Lightroom, promise myself to do more keywording, and be a little more organized. We’ll see how that goes! Just the action of arranging and organizing photos dredged up a lot of memories. This year was quite memorable, especially with all the people that I met in person, whether on the street or visiting. Thinking about them:

• Tom (The Photo Father) heads the list. He’s quite a guy! I really miss him and will have to visit him again soon.
• Dave (It’s about respect!) the street vendor.
• Coco (Who loves hushpuppies).
• Justin, who realized that it was expensive to live on your own.
• Ibarionex Perello whom I met in New York. The author of The Candid Frame
• Gave 35 hours of volunteer time to hospice work. Goal for next year, about 100+
• and the various folks that I had the opportunity to meet on the beach here in Charleston and on the streets and in the small cafe that I visited in downtown Charleston.

Next year I hope to integrate my digital recorder in more of these encounters and to also get more names. Names are important because they add the important bit of a personal touch.

I had my first visit to the big time city of Manhattan! Thanks again for that, Tom. Earl introduced me to Bull Hole in Coolomee, NC. I shot goo-gobs of film, some 700+ frames and loved every minute of it. I got a Leica (Thanks, Tom!) and a Mamiya (Thanks, Chris). I attended my first poetry reading. I went to Harlem, NY. Lots of cool stuff.

There was also lots of growth, painful growth, that is still happening, but that’s a topic for other days. Not today. I started taking guitar lessons and remembered a whole lot more about music than I thought that I had remembered. Heck! I even can still read music a bit, but I’m a lot slower at it.

Overall, I took just over 6,000 shots this year, but in doing a quick review, it was some of the most meaningful photography that I’ve taken in recent memory. There were very few ‘pretty pictures’, many of them, based on my own context, had meaning. Regarding context, I’ve just finished reading an excellent post, An occasion for doubt, by Cedric. He doesn’t post frequently, but when he does, they are usually quite profound. One part in particular gave me pause. Cedric says:

What people do with their art, with their creativity will always make sense when taken in the context of their own story. Within the context of my story, photography gives me a framed window through which I can explore my world beyond arguments, beyond points of view, beyond context and into the very realm of doubt.

Very deep, indeed. Were someone to look at my photography of 2009, forensically, what would they see? Were I to look back 5 years from now at this period of my life, without these words to help understand, what would I see? What I would see would be colored by my own experiences up that point.

This year has been an interesting ride and it is also the end of a decade. 2010 marks the start of another. Who knows what the future will bring! For one, I hope to be able to arrange a trip with some of you. I’ve just got to figure out how to do it.