Seasons of the Garden
As I write this, it’s late winter, mid-March. The garden is half green, half brown. The coneflowers and daylilies are up much sooner than is good. Already I’ve had to cover them from frost three times, and more times seem likely. Even the fern buds are up. Over the pastContinue Reading
Bingeing Minolta History: Really—This Should Be on Netflix
On learning that Minolta no longer existed, naturally, I wanted to find out what happened. After having read every website I could find about the history of Minolta, I reflected on what the company accomplished. What I found was a history of risk-taking, notable firsts, unfortunate missteps, and a fewContinue Reading
Of Gardening Books and Flower Daydreams
The idea of having a front-yard garden hit me around the time I realized that periwinkle would not likely work any better than ivy. Periwinkle had been my safety choice. When that fell through, desperation set in, and the idea of having a garden slowly took hold, despite the lackContinue Reading
The Shape of My Art
Looking through a viewfinder somehow changed my perspective. It’s difficult to explain how or why. In fact, I don’t think I can. What gives a situation or a scene or a thing significance? Why does a collection of objects or a location caught at a specific point in time haveContinue Reading
Vintage-Minolta Love: Here’s to the Dreamers
Like a lot of people, I usually root for the underdog. When I bought my first Minolta, an SR-T 101, in 1975 from a pawn shop, it was a purely economic decision. I wanted a “real’ camera and that 101 was the only thing I could afford at the time.Continue Reading
“Good for Everybody”
On a typical miserably hot July day, the third summer of the garden, I was pulling black-eyed Susans out of the coneflowers and pincushions. (Black-eyed Susans spread like a virus and will fill any available space, but that is a story for another day.) An older gentleman walked by andContinue Reading
Learning Photography: My Journey of 1000 Miles
Pick up a camera, shoot some film, and it will soon become apparent that reproducing on film what you imagine before firing the shutter is not a simple task. Two sets of concepts and principles have to be mastered to do photography well. First, one must learn the technical/mechanical aspects—camera,Continue Reading
Terraforming the Martian Landscape
So began my gardening journey. This is my front yard in March 2014 (iPhone 4s). It’s typical for a city lot–about thirty feet wide and eighteen feet deep. There had been decent ivy that lasted while four overgrown red-tipped photinia bushes kept the entire yard shaded most of the day.Continue Reading
Welcome to Earth, Sun, Film!
Earth, Sun, Film is the direct result of an eclipse and an ugly lawn. After many years of dealing with a front yard that wouldn’t grow grass or ivy, I signed a contract to have sod installed. The company had good references. After waiting for two weeks past the installContinue Reading
