all good things must come to an end….i hate writing those words….but, those words are one of life’s little truisms….and i suppose the richness of any experience is actually enhanced by the very fact that it is temporary…so all of us, when smack in the middle of the buzz of camaraderie, just try to soak it all up as best we can, knowing full well the moment will soon be stored on the hard drives of our memory and the "reality" will be gone..
such are my musings on a clear monday morning after an often not so clear recollection of all that went on last week…"intense" is, i suppose, a reasonably good way to describe the gathering last week in my loft….i cannot recall a more dynamic, often frustrating, and ultimately rewarding workshop class…and segued into a gathering of our online forum tribe the likes of which have not quite happened before and will not likely happen again….or will it??
my apartment looked like a war zone hospital ward (sleeping guests everywhere) the night after the night after the celebration ,following the friday evening student slide show, lasting up until just a few hours ago…no joke…all of us knew something really "special" was happening with our community here, and nobody wanted to "let go"…
many of you have read all of the comments leading up to this gathering and the reports are still coming in, but i can assure you that we all felt the "surge" of a new era…the feeling that so many things are possible for us…and the promise of good things to come…
most of you, of course, were not here in my loft….and we talked about that….there is nothing worse than reading about somebody else having a good time….but, i hope the spirit of the work that was produced by the students (soon to be posted) and the general good vibes of your colleagues here will be somehow transmitted into your psyche….the beauty of the whole thing was this: our online relationship has manifested itelf into reality..both in the work many of you have done and in the personal friendships which have been built…i expect this to be carried forward into more good work by you and in personal meetings in the future…
now we must all get back to work…the party is over…..those who were here must get back to their "normal lives" and i must get out on the road on my family project in a couple of days…but, we have all changed…a little bit of last week and the weekend will stay with us forever…treasured….thought about over and over and over again…play back the tape….this story will last….
perhaps the appropriate "truism" is that all really good things end up with a life of their own….
It better happen again because there are guys like me who never pass up a good party, and shouldn’t have missed this!!
AKAKY: And how did you enjoy your weekend?
AKAKY IRL: Just fine, thanks.
AKAKY: You know, I’m really starting to loathe you.
AKAKY IRL: I know, but you’ll get over it. I’m the one with the credit cards.
AKAKY: You really are a first class jerk, arent you?
AKAKY IRL: It does seem to be the general consensus of opinion.
yes yes… yet again a testimony that things turn ‘real’ around here…
“Round here we always stand up straight…
Round here something radiates”
i do believe too that we are all setting things in motion… big things… little things… and we all are part of it… the energy that radiates…
the stories and reports of everyone being there softened my pain of not being able to be there… thank you all for that.
and i am sure more will happen. much more. oh yes.
anton
AKAKY…
i heard rumors that you were going to show up…or did you???
ok over here in europe where it’s dark and stormy and cloudy my comment sounded more ‘in place’ :))))))
sorry for that, suffering from a case of post-posting-regret :)))
peace
anton
Sounds like a good time, David. Good for you and the students and hanger-ons and everybody else. I wish you’d define “normal lives” sometime. I’m not sure what it is and I doubt there are many photographers who have normal lives. LOL. ‘Looking forward to dropping by your place during PhotoPlusExpo.
the first picture shows me, that it looks like a book heaven…
the second shows a celebration is going on…
the third shows a family…
not war hospital…
regards
suryo
SURYO….
well, i should have taken the “war hospital” picture…just joking of course, but it was a pretty funny site to see how many people were sleeping on my floor..
never say never again David … never the same, of course, but never never :)) truly sorry I wasn’t there and I have to ask, did you and the group have time to brainstorm on next collective steps, if any?
yassus, tom
ERICA
So much to thank you for, dear woman. The marvelous blog pre-slideshow/fiesta gathering for dinner at Mura where I had the best spider rolls of my life in addition to meeting some of the world’s most wonderful people. And your written account of what was seen and heard at the Slideshow took my breath away! I was there but reading your words took me more deeply into the experience than I had been able to go on my own. You are a MARVEL!!!
BOB B
My only regret is missing you, Marina & the showing of “Bones” at David’s on Saturday night. But I had already been in his loft for 7 hours that day (on 4 hours sleep the night before) and quite literally ran out of steam. Lee and I left after our Brazilian lunch/dinner and got back to the hotel about 6 p.m. Good thing too, as I had to pack and then Lee brought her portfolio down to our room for me to review (such an honor!), so I was in bed by 10 p.m. We were on the road to Detroit by 9 a.m. the next morning.
In our brief time together on Friday I fell in love with you and Marina even more deeply than I had before we met in person, and anticipate our getting together on our own up here. Detroit & Toronto are practically next-door neighbors, after all. You, dear one, are an authentic Buddha man. Your deep love and compassion radiate from your being like rays from the sun. And Marina’s beauty comes from her soul and shines through her eyes. You two are gifts to our world.
PANOS
I love you, man!!! Bob and David were right: we are soul-connected. Our heart-to-heart at lunch on Saturday will always be one of my most treasured moments of the entire weekend. Your openness, love and vulnerability took my breath away. What a dear soul you are!!! I know we’ll meet again…
GINA
What a joy it was to be with you at dinner on Friday and even on our crazy mixed up drive to David’s for the slideshow/fiesta! You are such a marvelous blend of creative, intelligent, funny and caring. I love how you move through the world creating patterns of beauty and life wherever you go. I look forward to seeing you at LOOK3 in June.
KIM REIERSON
It was a delight to meet you and I hope you’ll now become an active member of our blog family. You will add so much. My special thanks for your hard work getting us to DAH’s loft on Friday night. You really kept your cool under pressure and I am so grateful to you for that.
KYUNGHEE
One of the most precious gifts of the entire weekend was meeting and spending time with you. I will always see your shining smile when I think of you. You have such a deep, joyful, loving spirit…and that shows in your work.
The work you did in NYC is extraordinary! You saw the city through eyes that looked beyond the surface and penetrated its soul. You found the music of the streets. I want to pre-order this book right now! Another book I want to pre-order is your Aquarium series. Those mystical images are still floating behind my eyes.
We must meet again, my soul sister.
ALL WHO CARRIED ME & MY SCOOTER UP & DOWN STEPS
How can I ever thank you folks enough??? Without your help I would never have been able to enter into an experience that has transformed my life. Preston Merchant, Andrew Sullivan, DAH, some women who were behind me so I never even saw their faces, Eric Valli, Mike Courvoisier and other workshop participants whose names I never even knew. Each of you offered me such compassionate assistance and I send my loving gratitude in return.
DAVID
You are the man of the hour, my friend. Because of your vision and undying commitment to Photography and the persons who give their lives to its pursuit, our world is being changed image-by-image, heart-by-heart. What you are bringing to this place and time is monumental, not the least of which is your big heart and hospitable spirit. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me be part of your world. I have much to learn from you and value every nugget you share. Please let me know how I can help move us forward…
ALL
The community that has sprung up around David Alan Harvey is one that is going to go down in the history of Photography as an essential piece of what happened during these times. Each of us is adding our voices, vision, hearts and minds to the creative mix, whether we meet here on Road Trips, at workshops & photo festivals around the world, as subjects of one of DAH’s essays, on in his loft at a slideshow, fiesta, small gathering, or one-on-one edit of our work. We are a privileged bunch of people to be part of this ever-evolving community of persons who care deeply about photography and our world. I am grateful to what each one of you brings. And I love you.
Patricia
Want to be sure Preston sees this…
PRESTON
My apologies, friend! After all you did for me–carrying me up & down the stairs & taking fabulous pics with my camera–and I STILL misnamed you in last night’s exhausted posting of pics. I know your name and can’t understand where “Prescott” came from! Please forgive.
hugs & kisses
Petunia (you can now misname ME)
P.S. Thanks, Erica, for setting the record straight!
Patricia, you say things so well, I hope one day we will meet, i am sorry it wasn’t this past weekend … but I look forward to your book, i will be the first in line for a signed copy! :))
And Erica, wow, amazing work relating so much great insight, we are all greatly in your debt! It is appreciated more than you will ever know, across the globe … and you can call me whatever you like :)))
I was the mysterious man in the corner drinking Diet Pepsi
DAVID B.
Congratulations!!! Such a happy new!!!
ERICA
thanks for the online report!
PATRICIA
thanks for the photos, waiting for the next ones ;-)
ANNA MARIA
thanks for your answers; conclusion : nothing is impossible ;-)
ANTON
good luck with Birgit project! Yes, turn it into something ‘real’!!! (book?)
For thoses using my blog-reader, this new subject is available:
http://jnss.x10hosting.com/dah_reader/
(Bob go there, if you like smileys ;-)
peace / love
Patricia,
Did you know that KIM ,
already has an amazing book???
GINA, thank you for introducing
me to KIM
:-)
BOWEN JUNIOR
welcome!
Super special thank you
to ANDREW S…
and of course my favorite
New Yorker..
ANNA MARY B-JESTER…
( thank you for last night…and
for support.. Checking on me..
Making sure I’m fine.. You are
such a sweet sweet soul..!)
.. Ok.. Going to San Francisco in 20
minutes.. I have lots of photos to
show you, but I will reunite with my
laptop in couple days .. Missed freida…
.. Tonight… Freida…
Is there anyway to leave your door
Unlocked tonight?????
(I’ll be there right after midnight)
;-)))))
Erica, Patricia, Panos, David
Your words and pictures make me feel thas i was part of it so let me tell you thank you.
David you are the best i hope to see you soon
adios
PATRICIA (PETUNIA)
No problem! I certainly enjoyed hanging out with you. I’m glad the pictures came out. Thanks for posting!
ALL
It’s 2:15 p.m. here in Detroit & I’m still in my jammies working on pics from the weekend. In the midst of a lots of snapshots–many of them pretty poor–this amazing photograph appeared. It’s of Paul Fusco showing his slides of the Chernobl Legacy. I wanted to share it right away, but, don’t worry, more pics will be appearing as the day goes on…
http://www.pbase.com/image/104174478
It is best seen in the original size. Look beneath the image to where it says “other sizes” and click on “original.”
Patricia
Correction: Chernobyl Legacy
Panos
Safe journey, dear one.
love
Patricia
“Hi”… It was a great pleasure to meet some of you, including David, at Look 3 & the Festival of the Photograph.
It was recommended to me by David that I start to look at what other photographers are doing so I decided to start here…. I have looked at almost all portfolios posted in student work and several links posted in the day to day. I am inspired by MANY great images I have seen in your portfolios, the words of encouragement and the camaraderie that flows back and forth. Through the blog smog, what I find here is a generous group of individuals coming together for the common good of all to experience. Something truly special is here bringing peeps from around the world together to discuss photography, their work, their hopes, fears and even dreams…. a refuge in the vast regions of cyberspace ……what I find here is truly, a community….
I am grateful for the links and suggestions to follow for further knowledge… my nature is communal and I am so happy that each and every one of you could share in the collective experience with old and new friends these last few weeks.
What I am touched by most is the generosity and good nature of David to selflessly give advice and a nudge (or shove) of encouragement. Never have I met someone with such tenacity, commitment and love for the continuation and sharing of passion and knowledge. You are a catalyst for others to become inspired and have created a forum for everyone to share their love for photography and for each other. It is with deep sincerity that I say thank you to D.
Your conversations have prompted me to question my basic assumptions about life, about photography and my particular path ahead. I’m trying to allow myself to feel comfortable without knowing exactly what i’m doing next. So, I’m pushing myself out of my comfort zone, photographing people instead of nature and taken on a personal project and with it a soul search for something deeper.
I have much admiration for the people participating in this forum and I humbly offer my photographs and new website to anyone who cares to look and yes, brutally critique…. If you want to, please look at recent imagery and especially the project I just started on Hot Springs.
http://HillaryAtiyeh.com/
Thanx D and to this community for inspiration to be better and go deeper than I’ve tried to go before.
PEACE,
Hillary
Patricia,
Keep the photos coming…
Please… We all need to see more,
more , more… Photos..
I promise I will do the same..
Later…
A Boeing 747 is waiting for me..
Mike C & Diego…and sweet Paola…
What can say… I don’t know how much
help I was , but I tried hard to work
as a team..
You guys are the best..
Ok…
Flying..
Panos
Erica,
Sorry for my obnoxious, drunken
posts..
Sometimes I forget that 997000
readers are lurking daily…
Anyways..
I thought you were only using
large format.. But you can definitely
work a rangefinder… with eyes closed..
;-)
Hilary…
Nice meeting you in C/Ville
GOING ON A FAMILY (HARD) DRIVE
Well, i was supposed to be there…but…i don’t know any of you except for Gina, Andrew Sullivan and of course, David…but i thank Erica and all of you for sharing your time with me …I was thinking about the ‘power of david’ today and why he generates the excitement all around him…first, the personality, but then it’s backed up by his respect for photography in such a passionate way.
..and when you study with him, he shakes the cockles loose so the essence of you emerges. perhaps it’s that ‘ something’ a friend of mine just related to me when we were talking about feeling safe and loved…he said it may have something to do with genes we inherited from our ancestors who lived in caves…being inside, surrounded by people of our own tribe, people we trust, while the rains are pouring outside, the fire at the mouth of the cave keeps the animals away…the responsibility of hunting and gathering is taken away by the weather, and we can just relax and enjoy each other, stress free. Since i have become a photographer, that’s the way i feel when i’m with the tribes. it’s like the group where there’s someone who is the photojournalist you always wanted to be…there’s the actor…you used to think you wanted to be one…there’s the quiet one, the poet, the scientist, the risk-taker..on and on…thanks to all of you who share your work here and i can’t wait to see the latest workshop projects…patricia, what a girl you are..i look forward to meeting you and more of the tribe at look in june…gina. cool. david, you will go down…in history books…with respect and love, anne
oh, and david bowen…congratulations on the birth of your son.
HILLARY
Welcome to the family! I can tell by your words and the spirit that shines through them that you will be a real gift to us here. I long to look at your work but must continue my feverish attempt to prepare & post my photos from the past weekend. As soon as that is done I’ll come visiting.
Patricia
Hey y’all – I have to use the Southern charm you know…
Post-workshop, My job is killing me all the more. :(
I’ll write more later after work.
I miss everyone.
THANKS THANKS THANKS TO ALL..
Tor rocks like bamboo.. gurgling little beauty that he is..
i will read all reports and comments..
just celebrating my sons 12th birth-hour with a strawberry milkshake for me and some milky bubbles for him..
wiull reply to all more fuller later..
x
hillary!
glad to see you turning up here… welcome :-)))
hugs
anton
patricia..
your photos of the weekend are superb.. captioned is even better.
love ya.
Love ya too, Daddy David! All day long I’ve been seeing this beautiful baby boy in my mind’s eye. Can’t wait for the first pic!!! Give Tor and Beate big kisses from their extended family.
xxxoooo
Patricia
DAVID B.
Congrats. It’s gonna be a wild ride!
Glad to see you still have time (and enough sleep) to be here. :))
damned, Browzed myself short again, I got stuck in the other thread again, the one before, when all of you were “here”, already.
Panos, San Francisco? Is that a transit? You wouldn’t drop by in Fog city without telling me…. Yes?
Do you ever answer your phone, BTW? It’s not like I call everyday, but…..
David B, if you missed it, lots and lots of happening with this new little soul, and gift to the world.
PS: AFTERMATH…Best ever album from the Stones, David! ;-)
ERICA,
Thanks for the report! Very well made.
Had a look at your website yesterday and there really is some amazing work.
DAVID BOWEN,
Congrats! sure you’re going to do a very good job!
ALL
I’m a little brain-dead after plugging away at the Brooklyn photo project all day, so please tell me of any mistakes I’ve made in naming people. And if you can identify folks whom I did not, please let me know.
I’ve now created sub-galleries within the overarching “Weekend in Brooklyn” gallery, but ONLY my restaurant & slideshow/fiesta galleries are complete. I still have Preston’s fiesta photos & my photos of Day 8 at the loft workshop to prepare & post. In time I’ll also add my Brooklyn street shots from Friday afternoon.
Let me emphasize that, with very few exceptions, these are SNAPSHOTS just intended to bring you into the circle. Art they are not!
Enjoy…
http://www.pbase.com/windchimewalker/brooklyn1
Patricia
ALL
Thank you for the amazing feedback that you benefited from my report..I am very happy to have been able to share..
PANOS
I appreciate the apology, but I think it doesn’t matter how many readers are or aren’t lurking, this still isn’t the place for drunken, obnoxious, sexually charged posts, especially about me..
herve – thanks very much.. i read just now in the last post.. very kind.. good man..
patricia..
yes.. 150 photos or so.. i’m down to 36 or 37.. want to show maybe 15 here.. labour day :o)
martin – erica.. everyone.. this is just a wonderful place to share good news..
5 hours after tor was born i was editing.. now 15 hours since birth and i’m down to the final edit..
will present tomorrow i hope.
working for magazines on tight deadline has it’s benifits..
cuddling Tor now..
DAH
please have another loft workshop or similar..
:o)
OK, Buddies, fiesta is over, back to work…Honest critiques….. Not addressed to any new father, needless say!
Hillary, I think many of us grapple with that “problem”, taking any light for granted, it’s a tough nut to crack to own that too in a shot and make it ours. It does not have to matter always, but that is what struck me looking at your shots. The wonderful duo of the 2 boys in cowboy hats is a case in point:
http://hillaryatiyeh.com/Image.cfm?nK=6102&i=69235
Light is indifferent (or put another way, you are indifferent to the light), and I am not sure you meant the sharpest focus on the second kid behind. But I think it’s a very photographic image (its merit coming from being a photograph, not a mere subject or capture), and a good choice of. I am sure you can bounce and contrast it a bit with PS. Try mono too.
Not telling you to do anything, really, Hillary, just my way to convey my thoughts.
DAVID B – congratulations on fatherhood!!! way to go!!! enjoy these first few days!!!
HILLARY – welcome! i am glad you are here!!
ERICA – i can NOT believe you took written notes. you are crazy. i could barely juggle my two bottles of red wine let alone take notes too. i miss you my friend!!
PATRICIA – thank you for the pictures – i will treasure them from this weekend.
i was describing the weekend to a friend today and just said it was a BIG LOVE FEST… and it was!
PANOS! what can i say that no one else has yet. Panos – you are the BOMB! i love your accent, your voice, your honesty, your flirty self… all of it. I felt like we had known one another forever! my favorite was when erica said when she was at LOOK3 and was standing behind you but was not “ready” to meet you yet, so she softly touched your back and said hello (without you knowing). LOVE it! yes, you have to be in the right frame of mind and “ready” for the P-MAN – HA HA! i know i said this about david earlier…. but they also broke the mold with you my friend! i look forward till we see each other again!! xo
My first time blogging. I promise to be more succinct after this one!
Home again after the experience that was DAH ‘At Home’. My body is more weary than I can ever remember and yet I’m filled with a feeling of being so damned ALIVE it’s ridiculous. David was right in saying ‘something special’ happened this past week – although I suspect that ‘something special’ happens most everywhere DAH and his electric traveling circus pitch their tents.
DAH, thank you for your spirit and generosity. You are a man among men and your open-hearted approach to sharing with others is rare. Not only do you share your vision, your experience, your advice, your connections and your home with all who care to connect and learn from you, but you share yourself too – and that is something special indeed. What you are creating here will go down in the history books and if there is any way I can help you take this thing to the next level I would love to do that. I’ll send an email separately with some thoughts as soon as I’m able.
MIKE, DIEGO, PAOLA & MARIE – thank you all for your incredible hard work in making the workshop happen so smoothly. You’re like the little energizer bunnies – going non-stop behind the scenes yet always there to help or answer our questions and always with a smile. It’s been great to get to know you even a little bit (and apologies again for the pitiful pool playing). Thank you too for returning my couch!
MY WORKSHOP BUDDIES – I will write to each of you separately but will say now that I am already looking forward to our reunion in Perpignon – 09. You made the workshop experience so rich for me – I look forward to visiting you in your countries and hosting you in mine when you make it down under. (Kristen, can we start NYC apartment hunting now?)
ERIC V – thank you for sharing your work and your vision with us, and most of all for your encouragement on all matters related to following one’s passion in life. I’m about to get back in the river and it’s so exciting I feel lit up from the inside out! I do hope our paths cross again.
THE DAH BLOGGING CREW – I was so happy to meet so many of you! Lance, Panos, Patricia, Lee, Bob, Erica, Marina and everyone else I met but *may* have been too beer-impaired to connect with the blog — it’s been lovely to put faces and personalities to the names! And what better way to see in a birthday than sitting around David’s loft, weary but happy, sharing stories and anecdotes with the likes of this group? PRICELESS!
Now as I prepare to return to some form of my ‘normal’ life, I can only encourage the ‘lurkers’ and regular bloggers who have not yet done a workshop with DAH to do it now! It is but a tiny investment that will repay itself a thousand times over in an experience you will carry with you for a lifetime.
PANOS – oh yeah – i am glad you met Kim. And yes, she has published a beautiful book called ‘EIGHTEEN” by Kim Reierson – please check it out.
and for those who did not know the history of Kim and I….. I was on this blog last month and saw Kim Reierson’s name on the right side links. i knew i knew that name… so i face booked her and asked if she went to Washington High School. Sure enough it was the same Kim who graduated with my brother, 2 years ahead of me. we were not really friends – but both knew of each other. we have been emailing a bit. i then emailed and invited her to join us for dinner and to the fiesta. friday night was the FIRST time we saw one another in 24 years… and had a great time together. See this blogs creates friendships and finds old ones….
AKAKY – were you really there? should we quiz about the night to know if you were really standing in the corner watching???
ANNE HENNING – I am sorry we missed you!! i look forward to seeing you at LOOK – June 11-13, 2009!!! xox
ALL:
In honor of Sister Erica’s reportage, i shall follow suit her own style….
Part 1:
This morning, it is cool and my bones are filled with a tender, autumnal crick, an ache that is born of both exhaustion of the body and a small, tickling exhaustion of the hum of my heart. I awake this morning at 5:00 am. and find myself unable to sleep, post-NYC/Harvey trip. I lay in my bed for 45 minutes listening to the deep and satisfied breathing of my dreaming wife and as i follow, like my daily meditation, her inhalations and exhalations, i begin to replay the previous 2 1/2 days and i feel divested, as if pulled lightly from the womb of god. Happy to be home, happy to have extended our home to New York and all those who i genuinely now hold, tooth embedded in jaw, inside my body like family and flame. I am sweetly exhausted from the trip, and satisfied that we’d done all we could do and met all we could have met and yet there is a lingering sadness inside me. I call this the ache of love.
It would be impossible for me to recount how intense and wonderful our trip was for all of you because it was indeed, as it was for many of the workshop students, bloggers, guests, a remarkably emotional trip and encounter. For me, there was much at stage, for my trip was just not about getting together for the Harvey Fiesta and Harvey blog, for this trip also meant the future of my family, the future and direction of our art and the very real and practical things Marina and I had to do in order to pull up and away from the difficulty that we’ve had to endure the last year and a half. this trip was as much about my family life as it was about the life of my relationship with my “online” family. Many people, including David, Panos, Lance and Sister Erica (the 4 of whom I spent the most time with), had no idea at what was at stake. You see, Marina and I had not had a real trip together in more than a year. We’d broke off our relationship with the gallery that showed our work, we stopped my photo projection project (which nearly ended my life as a photographer), and changed our life in the most profound way. On top of this, I felt real pressure to make this trip worthwhile for Marina. To help her talk to galleries, to get others to see her beautiful work. In truth, i tried not to think of my own work, or Bones, for my goal was to focus on simpler issues than photography
I had very little expectations about the fiesta, about David, about the bloggers. You see, as I told Erica, I seldom “judge” people and i seldom rely or put too much emphasis on “impressions” or my own “thoughts” about people. I am too old, at 40, to worry about much of that. I had heard a lot of stories about David Alan Harvey, on the blog, from friends, from people i’d met in Toronto and in truth I didnt really listen or countenance any of them. Many people here have seen our “friendship” grow on the blog. What many people did not know is that David and I have written many letters to one another, had spoken on the phone, and I felt safe and happy and already comfortable with David. David once told me on the phone, “bob, do you think we’ll like each other in person.”….i told him,…well, i think so, because i already loved david for everthing he was, his greatness and his failings, just as I felt that David had accepted me and marina for our greatness and our failings (no, i aint great, that would be Marina). So, when David and i met and got that first, deep, rich chest to chest loving hug and I heard david’s baritone laughter, which for a moment also sounded like a burst of sobs and release, i knew then that I was home, that I was fine with David and that even if he and I didnt talk that first night, it would matter, and i wouldnt give a fuck. I knew, since both David and I are pretty emotional guys, and pretty fucked-in the head-in-love with life and also imperfect surfers, i knew that here no matter what was a man that understood marina and I had come to be with him, and everyone else because of life, and not because of photography or bones or epf or the blog, but to make real what had been happening over 2 years….
in new york, marina and i felt at home…long in the waiting…
PART II
Marina and i left for New York on thursday evening, 9 pm. only to discover we’d book the Dante-express. both of us were ecstatic, but nervous too. I was worried that we would get sidetracked, that i would hate trying to meet so many people (i have always preferred small groups of friends, talking drinking smoking late into the night instead of showmanship circus parties), especially trying to meet so many people who had some kind of “impression” of us from the blog or Lightstalkers or my photography. I also had so much to do in ny with marina that I secretly wondered if we’d overbook our plans….the bus was pimped out, double-decker, 80′s rock stars yellow cruiser and man, that motherfucker could fly….and fly she said….until 11:00, outside of buffalo, the driver put on the first of what would be 9 hours of loud, explosive action-dramas that made it impossible for us to sleep at night: hancock, then batman and then wanted….will smith, explosion, scream, batman, joker, explosion, screen, angelina jolie, explosion, scream, dramatic pause, explosion…no sleep…at 7:00 am., we arrived outside of madison square garden in pain, especially marina, going on 2 hrs of sleep and fighting with the loud buzzing…and then we were off and running….
breakfast, and then the elation and the energy of ny came back to us like a shot of amphetemeine straight to our pulpy hearts, pulp fiction style. from breakfast we walked down to chelsea and hit the galleries. saw a great show at Andrea Meislin, then when marina tried to drop of her cd/pin, they politely said they dont accept applications/portfolios (too important for that ;) )…more galleries, a success at one gallery and then off to MOMA to meet Mike Westfall and Spencer. So, we walked (by this time i was already exhausted and had been to the bathroom 2 times with stomach problems) up to Time Life building and there I gave Mike a big hug (he was tentative at first, probably scared to death of this weird guy with frilly scarf and arms stretched out for a hug)…we walked to the MOMA and sat in the sculpture gardent and talked for an hour. all i get thinking was that I love this man, he is so gentle and so intelligence and receptive and open and i wondered why i hadn’t met him long ago. Ditto with Spencer, although Spencer seemed preoccupied or maybe tired too (i was like non-stop talking). but, spencer comes from PHilly (where my mom lives) and we new each other’s towns (my own town being nyc and bucks country, same with him)…and we had a brilliant time together. As soon as they left, both Marina and I said: god, I hope both Mike and Spencer will come to David’s they are wonderful, sensitive cool men. We walked around the MOMA for 2 1/2 hrs (marina had never been there)…..and of course, again revelations. My hero Moriyama had 6 magnificent prints on the wall…2 of which i’d never seen before…astonishing and heart-piercing. for those prints alone the trip was worth the $400. I was also happy to think too that well maybe some folks are gonna be able to put up with bones too then. later, one of the inspirations for bones, was sitting in the gallery on post-wwii art: giacometti’s sculpture “dog in the rain”…so so happy and i thought: fuck it, dont need anything more than this….later, sat and watched the entire nan goldin “ballad of sexual dependency” and got sad and broken and teary and weak in the heart and limbs…after goldin, i didnt feel much like talking, just wanted to swallow and sleep and drink…so, we walked up to look at some matisse and called Erica and headed to Brooklyn….
PART III
on the train to brookly, total exhaustion set in. we’d walked for 8 hrs on 2 hrs of sleep and now were sitting on the M train stopped in the middle of a tunnel, and it’s friday afternoon and the train is packed like a cave of chatting and anxious bats, the teens next to us are screaming “what the fuck”…and there is a beautiful blind man across from us who, in a turtz-like frenzy, keeps asking “what’s going on, what’s going on, i want to get home”….someone had pulled the emergency brake…and go almighty, i thought, no way am i gonna have words or strength to talk to people tonight, and marina looked at me exhausted and said “boba, we cant meet people for dinner tonight, im just too exhausted and i need some quiet…”…..we showed up on Erica’s doorstep 1 1/2 hrs late: 6:20 pm…..we quickly hugged and kissed and i felt as if i’d already knew Erica and need no intros….i felt immediately at home and took of my shoes and my feet were ghastly smelling. i’d worn wool socks and forgot that i’d be walking for so many hours….i think marina was shocked too and so i politely washed my feet, as if entering a mosque, within 5 minutes of meeting erica: she must of thought, who the fuck are these people…..she made us tea and i gave her a gift and she rushed off to meet the guys after we’d walked to the store to buy wine for Michael and the party….at home, marina and i just sat in quiet and showered….at 7:15, we walked to the restaurant to meet the 1st batch of bloggers….
As soon as I saw Patricia in her pink sweater, my heart raced and i was so happy. She had her back to us at the window, but as i walked in and I caught Gina’s eye and i saw her mouth “oh my god, that’s bob”…i immediately walked over and gave Patricia a big hug and kiss as she was still not sure exactly what was happening. then the quick intros: Lee, who looked and radiated strength and kick-ass beauty as I imagined, Ed L (who’ve i loved for 3 years), Preston, Andrew, Patricia’s friend, Erica’s friend from the NYTimes (forget her name now), Gina Martin and another friend of ERica’s. I gave Preston a hug and Ed a hug and quickly told them i had to run and get wine. While we were walking to the store, marina looked worried, struggling. I knew what was going on. She was hungry and also getting overwhelmed by all the people who we’d have to meet. So, i asked if she was ok, and we bought the wine and had a quick meal in a deli and talk. I told her not to worry that it didnt matter what people thought about us, that people would have to understand that we were tired but that these were good people and we’d see through the night…
we drove to David’s in 3 separate cars (4?) and 2 of the cars somehow made it toward Coney Island….and had fucked up and were trying to make it to the QBK Expressway (with shit friday night traffic) and we were all in a panic because david had wanted patricia at the Kibbutz by 7:15 and it was already 8:20 and they were somewhere lost in brooklyn….erica’s friend from the times (who was funny, brilliant and an amazing person, of whom i regret i didnt get to talk to enough) heroically helped erica navigate the lost cars….eventually, we took the elevator into the room without the others….
PART WHATEVER:
As soon as i walked in, i saw Panos and my heart leaped. He saw me but I dont think he recognized me at first either and then i saw David, tall as a Sequoia and ring-leading the party, although at this point there were already like 200 people (more?). I caught David’s eye and marched over too him and then that hug: big, lush, warm, real. I knew the last 2 years meant nothing then, and that we’d be friends no matter what would happen that night. but i was immediately stung by the beauty and honesty of his laughter when we were hugging. It was if he couldnt believe after so much time we’d finally made it and made the relationship finally real. It is that gorgeous baritone laugh when we were in one another’s arms that I shall always remember and cherish: david’s laughter and love at the point we finally met. Then people around taking pictures. then marina’s turn and then i chased after panos and ditto: a hug and a drink and the beginning of a chat. i also felt as if i’d known panos for years and years, as he and I had shared so much privately off the blog that when we finally met i was at peace and all seemed totally natural. then i found kyung-hee and grabbed her and we hugged and she and marina and panos and i and others just talked and then it seemed like people kept pouring over and toward us….anna barry-jester and her friend (both of whom i really loved talking with trying to convince both of them to come Toronto to live)…and then like a line of people who “knew” me from the blog and Lightstalkers, the parade began. AT some point, i didnt know what to say…so many people, so much i wanted to say, especially to Panos and DAvid both of whom i’ve waited to long to talk and hug and just “keep it real” with….then Michael C popped out and i gave him a bottle of wine as a gift and David, Marina, Panos and i shared the beloved cornpipe….and all was right with the world….the beginning, the middle, the ending, it was all all good….everything david had prepared and promised me was on target…and my life was as if on a wave…and it had been 7 years since i was on a surfboard and that surfboard was the smoothest, sweetest, toe-goofy curl ride i’d had in a long long wine….and then, i think, “i wonder if lance will come”….and i see him…..and i run and hug him too….i tell him that the night before, when we received our phone bill, marina asked me “what’s this, 3 calls to Austin…” who were you talking with in Austin?…like for 3 hrs….and when i said Lance Rosenfield, she was like “who’s lance?”….talking to a guy for 3 hrs?, yea right ;))…but, it was true, and when i saw him walk in, i thought, “jeezus christ, god damned, this is going to be a beautiful night…”….after some quick talk with Lance and all kinds of people, Patricia finally arrived with Andrew and Preston and the rest and it was Showtime….
PART NEXT:
I wont recapture the slideshow, ’cause ERica has it down pat. Fusco’s throaty bone-rattle voice and soft-limber timbre immediately put everyone in a state of approach…when the images from chernobyl came, it was very very difficult to continue. I’d seen Paul’s book a number of times, but Marina was unprepared and she almost fainted and was very upset. It was a time also difficult ’cause people were talking and dropping bottles but there was a solemnity to the moment that made it very difficult to talk for us for a long time afterward….paul’s work was followed by alessandra, who is a genius, pure and simple. besides the great photographs, alessandra showed some videos. I said to marina: “fuck magnum, she needs to be a film maker!” her videos were brilliant, funny, wise, insightful and absolutely spot on. I dont know if they’re available at Magnum but they should be. This was followed by David’s brilliant teaser about A Family Road Trip. David showed some of his early family album shots and his first book Tell it Like it Is (a masterpiece of a book) and then proceeded to show clips from the current work in progress. As i told David, both stoned and sober (me), the work is beautiful and absolutely antithetical to most work about US or USA Road trips that i’ve ever seen. It’s irreverent, funny, infectious, beautiful and absolutely like “snaps” in a family album, only with medium format camera. it’s nearly impossible to use the square format with any kind of Looseness (that’s why i use holga and diana to try to keep the med format stuff loose) and yet David has achieved this, a remarkable feat in itself. full of humour and gorgeous light and celebration, it already alludes to the thing that seems to be disappearing in the states, in the world, which is a simple sense of pleausre, of the richness of family joy and community, of the spontaneity of the moment of light and laughter…and i am sure when david finishes this book it will one big achievement for him…
this was followed by the Workshop shop. It was also terrific and i was really happy to see strong work and at times interesting and atypical. there was a story about one of the photographers coming out of the closet which was brave and furious and heart-breaking. there was a story about light and subways, about women and heritage, about ny…and of course, kyung-hee’s magisterial and miraculous dreams closed the show….
after the show (fuck this post is getting long), marina and i talked to lots of people. We had a long a great conversation with Jason Eskenazi whose remarkable book Wonderland i’d bought the week before as a gift for Marina. I’d written him out of the blue (he is at LS) and invited him to the fiesta and had a remarkable conversation and hope to see him soon in ny. then, out of the blue, Vu photographer Kosuke Okahara walked up to me and introduced himself. I spent the next 30 minutes talking to him about his work and publishing in japan and i was so stunned to see him at the party….later, finally caught up with David and Panos and Lance and the cornpipe for some more mediation. From there Marina and I spent the next hour or so with David and Lance and Anna and Russel (David’s friend from the s.bronx who is also a photographer) talking and sharing stories and looking out over manhattan. it was a glorious time and i loved talking to “give them some meat” Russell, who is smart, funny and incredibly kind. He and i talked and talked and i couldnt stop laughing and i just thought: fuck, i miss being here. I wonder what if Marina would move back…Later, marina and david were talking and then we all went downstairs to talk some more. Lance gave us a magnificent print (one of my favorites of his) and i gave him a dvd copy of Bones (including images that i didnt put on flickr)….the night continued and continued and by the time erica, marina and i left, it was 3 am….and i was exhausted…i’d spoken to more than 50 people and felt as if i hadnt talked to anyone. I left a bit sad as I didnt get to talk to Patricia or Lee or Panos as much as I’d wanted to. I helped carry Patricia out the stairs when she left and got a big kiss for the reward, though Preston and Andrew were the real heros. Later, Erica, Marina and I shared a taxi with Davin E ( a nice and very talented photographer) and then the 3 of us stayed up chatting some more until, who knows….sleep breaking like chattering icecycles…
PART SATURDAY:
on 3 hours of sleep, i woke up and couldnt get to sleep. David had invited us to his loft to have breakfast and to talk about photography with his workshop students, with lance and Patricia and Panos but we couldnt. Marina and I had to go to more galleries and we wanted to spend the day in Central park too (she’d never been there). So, we left Erica’s had 10, went to breakfast and then starting in soho, went to jen beckman and then remington arms, after that to some russian gallery at 53rd street, where to our shock the work of someone we know, the great photographer from st. petersubrg, evgenia mokhorev (i posted his work here before), was showing. we immediately talked to the gallery owner and bought a book of titarenko and then were again shocked to learn that Mokhorev would be in NY in 2 weeks…so we left him a note and marina was very very happy. it’s a great gallery featuring russian photographers and who knows, my hope is that they’ll also be interested in her work. then spent the rest of the day walking in central park and then dinner and when we returned to eRica’s at 7″00 pm. both of us were flat out dead. Marina was happy and strong after the great day, but i was feeling very very sad. When i am tired and overwhelmed i tend to get depressed because it’s not easy for me to disconnect from people. I personalize their words and their emotions and i had met so many people the night before and so many people, including lots of strangers who “know” me from the blog and from LS, kept saying hi and talking that i didnt know what to do or say. Also, i had so much wanted to talk to Panos and Patricia and Gina and Lance that i just felt exhausted. I almost didnt want to leave erica’s house and i told her that…fearing that she would think i was some pompous prick, but i was so tired…thankfully, we’d all decided to have a quiet night at Davids….so we left for the loft…
Saturday night was brilliant. I finally had some one-to-one time with panos and we talked about life and living. ….
when marina, erica and i first walked into the loft (8:30 and we were late) there were only a few people: david, panos, paolo and some of david’s students from the workshop and a few others (forgive me, i’ve forgotten everyone’s names). I was saddened to see that Patricia wasn’t there as I had really wanted to talk to her one-to-one. I was also hoping to talk with Gina too, though she was there when we first arrived. David and Panos wanted to chat and so after 10 minutes of “waking up” to being there again, the three of us sat down, dipped into that magnificent cornpipe and started to talk. David started to talk a bit about what happened that morning and during the day with the workshop students and their great conversation, their great lunch at a brazilian restaurant and the conversation with Patricia and her work. I told david that we were sorry we couldnt make it but that we had to go to the galleries and to central park. I also felt uneasy and reluctant to jump in, because i felt it wasnt my place to talk to David about my work or bones yet, i felt all his love and attention should be for the workshop students, so i didnt press the issue, and let others their time and attention. after some lovely puffs, david started to briefly offer his opinion about “finishing bones.” I started to tell him that i would should 1 last section (when my mom comes in november) but that I felt it was finished, or could be finished as soon as i finished the essay (this week) and shoot 2 rolls when my mom comes. Then david got up to talk to someone and Panos and i started to have a real conversation, first time. i felt comfortable and in love with the moment, he wanted to know the deal about me, my life. he kept pressuring me to talk to David about Bones or to “get your time with him, you deserve it” but i resisted and wasnt interested, i just wanted to get past all the bullshit of a first meeting. and we broke and started to talk about lots of stuff. advice for him from patricia, my own point of view, my love and trust for him, etc. then gina and lance walked in and i was overjoyed. got a big big hug from both and gave kisses to gina and gina and i started to talk a bit. she lives in an area of DC i know well and spent much of my time with. we talked about her job and Look, about her life and DC. I loved talking with her and only regret that the pipe had made my thoughts so scattered. then ERica jumped in and stole Gina away ;)), and lance and i jumped in and started to talk, for a long long time…he told me about having a great day with gina and purchasing Jason’s book “wonderland” at Strand. when i told him that Jason had been there the night before, that i’d invited him and would introduce him in the future, it was all too surreal….after more drunkenness and cool vibe , Lance asked me to show him bones….so i did…
i showed lance, gina, panos, erica, and some other people the work, i’d taken to david. the cd i brought and gave to david and lance (and i have one for patricia) contains work that i did not put on Flickr)….1/2 through the show, Eric from france wanted to show his new story on Tibet. Earlier in the night Jim Nachtwey had walked in as well. I had a moment to talk to Jim after Marina had been talking with him for a few minutes. I congratulated him on the TB project and told him that what i respected the most about him was that he lived his life lyrically and eloquently, that while i respected his work profoundly, it was the nature of how someone lived that meant the most to me. then i dashed to watched the Eric’s slideshow…..a great great and original story about a catepillar that is transformed by a mushroom and all the attendant madness that surrounds it…i later had an opportunity to talk with him about picture choice and editorial decisions, which was nice. Afterward, i returned to Bones and showed Lance the 2nd half…..you’ll will have to wait to get the reports from him or panos or erica or gina to get impressions….
afterward, lance and i spoke some more, as well as with gina and panos. then a photo shoot broke out and david started shooting pics of people and panos and i continued to chat….
the rest is pretty much a blur…but i remember getting incredibly tired and everyone else was tired too, so marina and i gave out hugs and kisses to david and gina and lance and panos and all the rest….and we left….
we stayed up a bit more talking and then poured ourselves to bed….
on sunday, after 3 hrs of sleep, we awoke and made it to the bus by 9am, and fell asleep the moment we got out of the Lincoln tunnel….
i awoke 3 hrs in upstate new york……and started to talk to david and lance and erica and panos and gina and mike w and all the people in my head….i was exhausted…..happy because marina and i had had a great talk….
i hadn’t showed david bones, not one picture, not one moment, and i was fine with that….
i was full and exhausted and sweetly sad….
and now i miss them terribly…….
PART LAST: THE PEOPLE:
Marina and i met so many people to count, and i’ll just stick to the general folk so it makes sense, but here goes:
MIKE WESTFALL: an angel. A man who once wrote me to apologize for saying something obnoxious and mean to me, which i never fucking remembered him ever doing (Mike, are you sure you sad something bad, ever to anyone?), and i can tell you that he is one of the most kind, most gentle, most loving and genuinely caring people i’ve met. There isn’t an ounce of bullshit in his body and if i were a woman, my heart would be a puddle of flesh: he’s so caring and as if a giant bear, but beneath that warm and shy exterior is an incredibly sharp and agile mind, a smart thinker and even though he’s a bit of a photo conservative (i mean, he never mentioned the moriyama at the moma instead referring to winogrand ;))) ), he’s a great and humane person and a terrific and thoughtful photographer. my wife and i had 2 great conversations with him (at lunch and at the fiesta) and we both were knocked out…for him, i would consider moving….
SPENCER: another terrific fellow. A man that was quiet efficient in marriage ;) who has been pulled aside by other passions at the moment, for whom i felt immediately bound (the philly/nyc thing) and he was a pleasure to talk to (and has a beautiful face i’d like to snap). he and mike made our afternoon on the first day
PATRICIA: she is the most luminous, most energetic woman i have ever met. She is a miracle not only of energy (and david and erica and panos have a shit load as well) but she is unstoppable. I have never met a person so genuinely unselfish and genuinely optimistic. she was undeterred in her skooter and i never once heard her complain, bitch, moan or even fraun. she is the most alive, most kind, most giving person (in her positivity) that i have ever met. I was simply stunned by the nature of her beautiful, midwestern charm and tenderness and genuine love and affection for me and marina. i dont know what i did to deserve such affection, but i felt so happy to be with her and to talk to her. The biggest disappointment of my trip was that Patricia wasnt there saturday night as I had hoped to have time to talk one to one and to tell her how much i cared about her and was inspired by her. but, that shall wait for another day and place. But, above all, she is an unstoppable wave of joy and celebration and now about of cynicism can deter this. She is a meteor of blazing light and i recommend everyone bath in her luminosity…..i am a better person from the friendship…..
PRESTON, ANDREW, ED: all three really terrific and intelligent men. I didnt really get to talk to any of them untill the very end of friday night when i gave Preston a big hug and bathe in his smile. he and andrew were incredibly helpful and open and i cant wait to talk with them more intimately. the same is true with Ed L, though i did get a few drunken words down at the end of the night. i respect all of them as photographers and hope the next time there is more time.
LEE: as smart and strong a woman as i’ve met. again, i think i had all of 45 seconds to look eye-to-eye and say hello but it’s there, no doubt. one thing is sure, she’s a strong person and even if she reflects doubt here, i can tell, it’s carved all over her face and the way she holds herself that she is a no-bullshit, call-it-like-it-is or piss off kind of person…a southerner, not in the belle shit way, but in the you gotta call it like it is way…and we share that, and i wish i’d have had more time….
JASON E: a gem. a gentle, humble quiet man whose head is worlds richer than most of the folk i ever listen to talk about photography, but again it is his humility and sensitivity that i take with me. someone this extraordinary has ever right to cry out to the world his genius and yet he’s humble and bashful and makes those fucking photographs sing alight…..his work is for the ages, and so is his soul…bolshoiya dusha…
KoSUKE: a quiet and gentle guy whose work is so poignant and brilliant and yet his work on girls who cut themselves has never been published in Japan…and yet he laughs alot and smiles and thinks hard…..he’s the kind of photographer most of the world overlooks, but the world is better for his work….
ANNA BARRY-JESTER/FRIEND: i loved talking to Anna, again, filled with so much positivity and celebration and was completely unpretentious. I could have spent the entire night convincing her and her friend to come to toronto to help build another photo world….she’s a beam of joy and a damn good photographer to boot….
PANOS: i sing this man electric. he, like patricia, is one of the most kind, most heart-vulnerable person i know. i’ve talked to panos often in private off the blog and i tell you i often worry about him, his difficulties, his suffering, his madness, his sadness. but there are few people in this world as loving and as giving and as mother-fucker hard working as panos. In a just world, Panos would have a job, would publish his work, wouldnt have to worry about money or women or drugs or sadness. He is a beautiful man, inside andout, and none of y’all who’ve met him have a right to think he’s a shit or clown. he’s a deeply sensitive and thoughtful man and i am proud and honored to call him a friend. i wish we had had even more time, but the time i spent with him just reminded me of what drew me to him in the first place. my hope is that he will stay in nyc and take some of the “advice” i offered….he deserves to be happy because he tries so so hard to help others and to make others happy. you are in my heart brother…and too late, you owe your nephew a hat, sick and all dog :)))))))
russell/ruckus: those boys are the tag. i loved both of them, hugged both their asses and loved laughing with russell. in a world that is defined too much by rich, white men, kids whose parents by them expensive equipment and cameras, educate them at elite schools, and talk shit all the way to their fame, these 2 are MY ny, my childhood, my hope of what makes life important: the real dealing and loving with the real….straight up, the 2 are meant to be alive and powerful and funny and down-straight up. i loed both….and hope to bark again with russell soon…..
GINA MARTIN: :)))))…my wife and i both totally in love with Gina. Gina, i’ll do anything for you for Look. If you need work, you got it sister! both marina and I thought she was one of the nicest, funniest, no bullshit folk we’ve met. She has ever right in the world to be a prick, given her job and her experience and the people she deals with and we both found her a magnificent human being. god damn, her hugs are strong, and i always though i was a strong hugger. but what i loved about her (not including carrying wine always with a smile) was that she doesnt have an ego, not one fucking pretentious bone in her body. i’ve met so many pretentious people (im probably one too when im tired) and she aint it, she just gives and gives and gives and carries, like patricia, positivity in her bones like a lantern. I cant wait to drink with her in Virginia in the spring! :)))))))
LANCE: ladies, this is one gorgeous guy. well, ok, make that 2: he and Panos both. I told him at the party that when i first met him i thougth: fuck, this boy could be a supermodel, fuck the photography! but, he’s as kind and straightforward a shooter as i’ve met. he and i share lots of things: both lived in california, both ex-swimmers, both surfers, both crazy about ladies, photography and whiskey…though, i think it was tequilla he fed me well with on friday. i loved our chats on both friday and saturday, but i knew from the moment he and i first talked on the phone this summer (yea, for 3 hrs), i knew we’d be bros. he really is like my younger brother and i am so happy to have in our life now. i’ve been worried about him too, but after this week, i felt comfortable to kick the worries away. he is all there, in mind and body and soul. he’s a cowboy is aint afraid to show you that his trigger finger’s been cut a few times and that though he’s been stitched up a few too, he’s not one angrier for it. i love this boy and his gentleness and enthusiasm and generosity. he gave us an extraordinary and beautiful picture and it’sl like on the wall already…but he didnt have to do that to make me sing his praises. the best thing i can say about this guy is that he’s gonna be like my daddy and what i hope to be as well: a find father for some son or daughter: his heart is that big and i am very proud to call him my friend.
ERICA:….i’ve already written erica along thank yu letter this morning and i know she doesnt want to hear lots or praise. but she is a fountain of metta, a real special human being. i feel, marina and i both feel, that we’ve known her our whole lives…maybe we have, but i feel like she really has been part of our life forever. tirelessly, she took care of me and marina. she listened to our late night rants and she stood positive when marina and i were exhausted and breaking on saturday. she gave somuch love that i hope that she felt the same in return. she’s energy and love in one and i never heard, not once anything come out of her moth but the most positive and nourishing things and she fucking cares about people and would do anything for anyone, from DAvid down to the taki driver. she is pulled at in all directions and never, not once, looked angry or frustrated or sad. she is the definition of the 8-fold path and i will send her metta for the rest of my life. she sang our life electric and without her generosity and love and her home, it wouldn not have been possible for us to come, because we only had enough money for a bus and food. Erica made it possible for us to be with y’all and for that i am incredibly thankful. she is a radiant sui generis jewell….surely she’s been beneath the bodhi tree already…..our love big big for you sister and our thanks….
and the man himself:
DAVID ALAN HARVEY
David is everything people say he is and a lot more. he is warm and gentle and lick-quick intelligent, he’s got a ferocious eye for ideas and for beautiful women. he can navigate and be aware (i think he’s a lighthouse) of a room of 300 people like nobody’s fool. i’ve never met a person before who can keep so much information and so many conversations and so many people in his ahead alive and running. he can, like a texas jackrabbit, bound from one person to another, from one subject to another, without losing his stride. he has more energy, real energy, not the fake bullshit you see so often, than any human was supposed to have been aloted. He gives and gives and gives and i saw him speak so generously to so many people of the course of the 2 days i was amazed. it takes alot of heart, outer-sized heart, to give so much of yourself so unselfishly to others without killing you. I worry sometimes that david is killing himself and then i see that he hasn’t been bent by pessimism or cynicism or jaded adultation. he could easily rest upon his photographic laurels or the lived lived achievement but to the contrary he challenges life, he threads his as if it were the bare-thread plains. I realized too that all the “negative” things that i’d heard about david were just projections that others have upon him. Like all people, he is imperfect, but because he is so incredibly giving and generous, i think people mistake his human behavior as failure. for me, it is quiet the opposite, it makes him more real and i love him the more for it. David cares about photography, good photography, good stories, hard fucking work. He doesnt’ suffer fools easily and he doesnt suffer quitters, that’s obvious, because he himself is a tireless worker. But what david cares the most about is living, being alive and allowing people, helping people BE ALIVE, become alive to the world around them and the richness inside them. I respect david immensely for his talents as a photographer and his talents as a teacher, but these are not enough for me to Love him. I love David because he has shared his life with me and he is unapologetically concerned with making this life as rich as possible for himself and for others: to alleviate suffering, to have compassion, to challenge, to sacrifice, to love others as if you were filled with love. That is david. those of you who think im trying to kiss his ass, may not know that david and i have shared personal stories, joy and tragic ones, in private, in phone calls and in emails. When i met david in person, i wasn’t the least disappointed. He was exactly as i expected….only better. The david on friday was the incredibly celebrant, loving, intense, happy person leading this parade of joy and madness, proud of his frriends Paul and Alessandra, of his students and blog friends. On saturday, i saw the gentle and quiet and playful and tired David. I saw the pain that still is there and i saw the depth of his love for those he cared about. He has done so much for his friends, for his students, for his blog friends, that for those who think of him as only a photographer have soarly missed his importance.
He is a rare human filled with all things that simply wishes to fill others with the same joy. As a surfer, i always want to share my love of life with others, in fact, i see it my obligation. I see david the same. I think those who seek his attention all the time, get disappointed because they do not realize alos the toll this kind of life can take: all the adulation, all the students, all the hope-to-be’s , all the crazy madness. It wearies. but David has an uncanny nack for keeping his word, for respecting people, for calling it as he sees it, for being the brilliant and loving man he is, failings and strengths all out in the front for anyone to see. He aint a poser, he aint a wanna be, he is a living and loving man.
I decided not to both him with bones because i knew that our friendship would last longer than the 2 days of the party and that i would wait until he had real time, time for himself, time for his project, time when both of us could talk one to one, friend to friend, and share and celebrate. I will turn bones into a book, a book that i will dedicate to 3 of the finest guys i know: my father, my son and david, which in truth are the 3 people (and my life) that this story is about….boys all, filled with light and shadow who’ve not given up on the fact that we must live in order to love and that this is the only thing that matters
I love david for who he is not for what i may aspire to be.
and now, im drop-dead exhausted….i wont comment for a while….
work must be done…
love
bob
p.s….
i know i forgot people (i am so fucking tired)…
KYUNG-HEE: I LOVED HER SO MUCH :))))…so filloed with light and joy “my head is spinning when i saw marina” she said :)))…and i was so happy to finally talk to her and see her magnificent work….a true joy and a beam of light and energy and intuitiion….one of the reasons i still love making work, is because there are people in this world like Kyung-hee…..
and all the rest of the folks i met….
ok, SHUT THE FUCK UP BOB….
b
DAVID BOWEN! :))))))
CONGRATULATIONS CONGRATULATIONS CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
I AM SO SO HAPPY FOR YOU DAD!…I WAS THINKING ABOUT YOU ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY THINKING: IS HE A DAD YET???
SO SO PROUD…CANT WAIT TO SEE YOUR BEAUTY…
ok, running
hugs
b