May 07, 2012
May 06, 2012
Big turnout for "Island in Amber"
Nearly 150 people visited the reception Saturday at the Great Falls Library.
It was gratifying to see folks I hadn't for 5, 10 and even 30 years. They'd heard about the show and came by to check it out. There were also a number of people who'd lived in Cuba when they were younger, and told interesting tales about the island when it was in its heyday in the '50s.
Part of the reason for the great interest also has to go to the kind people who helped promote the reception: Brian Trompeter wrote a marvelous article for the Sun Gazette Newspapers , Brandon Weigel listed it in the Washington Post Weekend, and Alice Ross, editor of northern Virginia's sumptuous arts magazine Elan Magazine, published a number of additional images and asked me to contribute a two-page essay.
Cuba: Island in Amber, a free exhibition of photography from Cuba, is on display at the Great Falls Library until May 30.
May 01, 2012
Showtime for Cuba!
An exhibition of my photos from Cuba opened today at the Great Falls Library. Here's a news release about the show.
It was tough putting this one together because I came back with 3,200 images. While my Canon 60D SLR does continuous shooting (six frames a second), that doesn't account for all the pictures.
Heavy editing - even painful - was the only way to get the portfolio on display down to the 18 selections hung this afternoon.
Also in the room are marvelous paintings by a neighbor, Naz Akbar. She style is evolving through using vibrant colors and exotic, textured fabrics, adding different shapes to get the effects she captures.
The Library is at 9830 Georgetown Pike. We're in the big conference room.
Feb 08, 2012
Cuba - Frozen in the '50s
HAVANA, Cuba -- This Caribbean island is a country in amber.
Fidel's forces wrested power from the dictator Batista in the '50s. Much of the island looks the same today.
The gorgeous, yet deteriorating, Spanish-influenced architecture is home to government workers, residents, state-owned restaurants and hotels. You walk the streets and hear music from the bars (many sounding like the Buena Vista Social Club). Children play in the streets. The best GM cars of the '50s ply the roads, albeit with a lot of belching smoke and homemade parts.
But while it looks the same, it's not the same. The communists took away private property and put people to work. Now they earn an average of $18 a month. Despite free housing in deteriorating buildings, free medical care, free education (What do you do with a Master's degree?), and subsistence food rations from the state, life is tough.
Early in January, I joined a tour to Cuba, led by world class photojournalist Peter Turnley. We traveled under an educational/cultural expedition license. The intent was that we would meet Cubans, and experience their culture, and their country.
For me, and I suspect and the other half dozen fantastic photographers on the trip, the primary attraction was to be able to take photos of this dramatic, colorful, vibrant, sensuous place.
But for all of us, the focus of the memories of the trip are the warm and welcoming - and incredibly positive - people we met.
Dec 20, 2011
Diners of Maine: Moody's
P.B. Moody opened for business in 1927. He started with three cabins, figuring that the new US Route 1 was likely to have some traffic from vacationers who might need a place to stay.
Seven years later, he bought additional land, built more cabins, and figuring all those sleepy people might want something to eat. And so was born Moody's Diner, a landmark in the midcoast of Maine.
Moody's has always been a family affair. Even today, as many as half the 70 employees are related, one way or another.
The formula is still the same. Comfort food, reasonable prices, and pleasant people behind the counter, at the tables, and back in the kitchen.
Ask anyone about Moody's and they remember the pie. Terri, the pie maker, whips up 39 different kinds each week - in addition to all those donuts, too.
Click on each thumbnail to see a larger image.
Nov 27, 2011
Diners of Maine: A1
I renewed my interest in photography after taking classes over three summers at the Maine Media Workshop. Artists Frank Lavalle, Christine Collins and Jan Rosenbaum encouraged, guided, and prodded. Then last winter I told myself, "Enough learning - time for doing!" Get out there and just shoot.
To focus myself, I pursued a theme: Maine Diners. I considered almost a dozen and settled on three within an hour of our summer home in Wiscasset.
The first one, the A1 Diner in Gardiner, is an authentic gem of the golden days of diners. It's been featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Mike Giberson, son of a previous owner, has co-owned and run the operation for more than 15 years. He arrives at 5am each day.
The menu is traditional diner comfort food, to which contemporary offerings such as a curried chicken wrap, grilled pesto chicken and roast beef/red onion w blue cheese. Patrons start lining up at 7 a.m. most mornings and Mike has a killer Sunday brunch.
Click on each thumbnail image to see a larger version
The diner was built by the Worcester Lunch Car Co. of Worcester, Massachusetts, of the major diner manufactuers of the era and retains its original character. The A1 opened for business in 1948 and has not been renovated, modernized, or 'improved'.
Nov 16, 2011
More Venice: Walking in the rain
During our ten days in Venice, we had rain.
St. Mark's Square and its immediate area flooded, water six to eight inches deep. It's the lowest part of Venice, and it is the first area to flood. Sure it was inconvenient but, heck, if you were there, you'd feel you missed something if it wasn't wet and they didn't put up those walkways.
