And thanks again for creating this gathering place.

Next, I just need to figure out how and when I can get to NYC again and actually meet you!

i know this about you…and what greater tribute could you ever give to your father? good on you…and him….

cheers, david

Bill, yes with you it is pretty obvious and i am not surprised by your answer…i think i can help you with many things and will give it a real shot when we meet, except for one…and that is “finding time”…that is the biggie that i cannot figure out either…in my case, and i assume yours as well, life is a fast moving game…when i see a rear camera shot of a quarterback in a football game after the ball is snapped looking at his choices, and even after having a “play”or plan, still needing to make split second decisions with people running all over the place, i can relate….one must constantly prioritize…not yearly , but daily…one must decide not to do certain very attractive things…and yet be able to enjoy totally “wasting time” sitting with friends on the front porch..when to focus and when to let go is the name of the game i think….anyway, that is why we are all gathering here on Burn..to help each other learn how to spend our time wisely…

cheers, david

You might have noticed that the subtitle to my Wasilla by 300 and Then Some blog is “one photographers search for community, home and family.”

I gave it that subtitle because I realized that this is what my work was all about – my search to find the home and family that, as I grew up, was ever-present before me yet always eluding me.

When I started my blog, my intent was to constantly weave the past – including family, living and dead – in and out of the present. This remains my goal, but so far I have not been that successful at it, because when you try to produce an ongoing piece of work every day, I find that the present simply overwhelms the past.

At least on the surface – because the past is always there and the forces that shaped it still underlie all the work that I do.

My ancestors were polygamist Mormons, including some who sat in jail with Joseph Smith and who crossed the plains with Brigham Young and received a number of wives in services conducted by him. Even though I have stepped away from that faith, their influence projected through the generations upon me is what has pushed me to the edges of their sphere to establish all the connections that show up in my blog – from the Apache to the Iñupiat (the Real People, Akaky – and did you know that Nanuq (Nanook) means polar bear?) to my late Muse in India.

I won’t explain, but the connections are all there and I am practically dying to find the means and time to do a thorough exploration.

If I am to accomplish this, I think I have to add a magazine to my blog – but where do I find the time to do that?

So that’s my answer to your question, David.

enjoy,

f

You can’t even imagine the extent to which growing up with Bank Langmore as a father has influenced my photography, approach to life, things I want to avoid at all costs, etc. He was the classic brilliant and maniacal artist/photographer (I’ve told you some of that). On the one hand, I want to make prints as beautiful as his uncompromising approach to printing produced – on the other, I don’t want to burn out in my 40s (almost clear of that one). Mostly, I got my love of photography from him and for that I’m grateful.

J

WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AND DON’T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW
WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AND DON’T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW

Right about that time, people
A fur trapper, who was strictly from commercial
(Strictly commercial)
Had the unmitigated audacity to jump
up from behind my ig-a-loo
(Peek-a-boo -ooh -ooh oooh)
And he started in to whippin on my favorite baby seal
With a lead-filled snow shoe
That got me just about as evil as an eskimo boy can be
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/ezT ]
So I bent down and I reached down and I swooped down
And I gathered up a generous mitten full of the deadly
(Yellow Snow)
The deadly yellow snow, from right
there where the huskies go
Whereupon I proceeded to take that mitten full
of the deadly yellow snow crystals
and rub it all into his beady
little eyes
with a vigoruos circular motion
hitherto unknown to the people
of this area
But destined to take the place of the mudshark in your Mythology

Here it goes … the circular motion
Rub it
And then, in a fit of anger, I pounced
And I pounced again
Great Googly Moogly
And he was very upset as you can understand
And rightly so because the deadly yellow snow crystals
had deprived him of his sight
And he stood up, and he looked around and he said:
Oh (oh oh oh) No – - I can’t see ..

He took a dog doo snow cone and
stuffed it in my right eye
He took a dog doo snow cone and
stuffed it in my other eye
And the husky wee-wee I mean the
doggy wee-wee has blinded me
And I can’t see – temporarily
–Frank Zappa.

Truer words were never spoken.

yes, i find myself in upper Michigan , way way above the banana belt….my brother Gary and i are in a Best Western motel a few blocks from beautiful downtown Sault Ste. Marie…a high temperature of 8 degrees above zero F is expected…wind chill? who knows…it is just cold and beyond a certain point, what difference does it make?? flight canceled this morning and no planes here…they didn’t get in last night from Detroit snowstorm…we are here visiting family and i am shooting for American Family series of course…we are scheduled to leave tomorrow morning, but i am afraid to look at the weather map….what the hell were you doing up at 4am texting me anyway?? i doubt we will meet unless i am stuck here for days…many thanks for your offers of aid…that is if free beer is aid!!

cheers, david

you are sounding just a wee bit paranoid..and i think we may disagree on what a government “subsidy” is and in this case when it kicked in…all i know is that Cecil defended various farm subsidy, no tax payments, payment for not growing, etc., as long as i can remember….there are many forms of “subsidy”..when the farm actually was passed from father to son , i am not sure i ever knew, so how much subsidy was actually taken by Cecil and how much by son, i am not sure..i was making much more of a point about hard working Americans who might have benefited from government breaks…no sin……obviously i was not going into any great detail in this piece, mostly tongue in cheek humor and yes i was totally honoring Cecil a man of convictions…i do not have to agree with political points of view to honor someone…and since my grandparents were also Iowa farmers and my parents raised on a family farm , i am not going to blast them in any vitriolic way…however, i can and do disagree philosophically on some points, most of our values are most likely the same…it is however my right as a citizen and as a family member to question some positions…in this case, i was not questioning anything, i was just pointing out an irony between what you believe about government and how in fact government has given you a hand albeit not nearly enough..

all i am saying overall is that while i do think farmers in this country deserve all the help they can get, many also tend to ignore others in society who also deserve all the help they can get ……as a full blown U.S. taxpayer with zero government aid, i have a right to say this…i have been around farmers all over America and all over the world, and while American farmers grumble a lot, they have for the most part in Iowa led very good and secure lives as have you and your family…Cecil’s family farm is now as it always was…a 100% family owned farm…and while some family farms have indeed been lost, yours was not…and while Iowa farmers are indeed an important part of this country, there are other citizens as well who make worthwhile contributions and there are other citizens who are not farmers who have lost their jobs and have suffered…few citizens of this country can claim a straight sense of security as have you for your entire life..sure you work hard, but lots of people work hard and lose their incomes anyway……so, please look at the big picture, no pun intended….and know that i place great value on you and your fine family of upstanding Iowan/Americans..i said so, and i meant it…

cheers, david

Humansaibal – he is indeed – but he can be less subtle in person :) Great guy.