Natural Condition

It’s 19° In Chicago.  Another beautiful day in our never-ending winter and, seeing the last couple of images by Bob & Russ, I was struck by the disparity in our situations.  Both of them… or should I say, all of my DPG colleagues… enjoy consistently warmer climes than I do. What’s that got to do with anything?  Moving away from skeletal remains and pickled brains, Jay posted a cabbage which led to Bob and his Field of Dreams, then Russ and his Side Trip. The cabbage, the field of cabbages with diminishing perspective, the stand of poplars with both perspective and repetitive verticals… oh, “and I’ll just be a minute…” I’m longing for warmer weather, the warmth of summer, which is typically signaled by the return, the re-opening, of farm stands lush with produce fresh from the field.  Every time I see one I’m compelled to stop (and shop) and make photographs.  And every time, my companion, whether a long-suffering child or significant other, has told me: “that was longer than a minute!”  As if this son of a watchmaker doesn’t know how to tell time. Of course, if I told the truth, if I’d said, “hang on an hour, will ya, while I stop and (shop and) make pictures,” I’d have been murdered years ago.  Of course, then we’d be right back to pictures of decomposing skeletal remains. It’s the circle of life, or, as Russ would say, “a career in photography has been one continual side trip.”