Inspired Photo Blog

Recently, my father asked me to archive a bit of family history. He presented me with a large 16×20 image of my great-great grandfather, Sylvester. He’s had this picture hanging on his wall for years. It’s close to 100 years old and is showing signs of aging. There are watermarks on the image and a large crack that runs completely across the picture. I decided this was a great project for my digital retouching skills. Preserving a bit of family history before it was lost forever.

The first surprise came when I actually took the image out of the handmade wooden frame. We’ve always assumed it was a photograph, but upon closer inspection, discovered it’s actually a drawing! This picture is quite large, at least 16×20, which is very unusual given the timeframe it was made. No one knows the story of this picture, when it was made, who commissioned the drawing…all we know is that it’s approximately 100 years old.

My aunt and others in my family swear that I’m the “spitting image” of my great-great grandfather. Uncanny is a word you will often hear them use. By the way, where did the phrase spitting image come from? I decided to set up a small studio on my living room over the weekend to take some family portraits for our annual Christmas card. Yes, I had to sit and endure a photo session at the hands of my wife. Trust me, I have a new found empathy for my clients. This was an outtake that I thought I’d share to show the resemblance.

I’m not sure how 3 generations have changed the resemblance. I think people see a similarity in our hairline and the salt and pepper gray in our hair. It’s strange to me that there are no pictures of his wife or children. There is a story here and it will always be a mystery. I like to imagine that I’m a lot like him. He looks strong and proud. A man of reputation. I’d like to think that somewhere either in appearance or personality traits, there is a family resemblance.

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I thought I’d share a special gift I received from my father, who just returned from a trip to South Africa. This is the second trip he’s made to South Africa. He offers his lifetime experience of running a business to small business owners, focusing on a township called Graff-Reinet. The items he brought back from his last trip have inspired an idea to import these items, as I’m sure others would enjoy these specialties as much as my family.

Rooibos Tea. I’ve always enjoyed tea and drink a lot of green tea. My father brought back some of this interesting tea on his last trip. It’s called Rooibos and makes a red tea. Technically, it’s an herbal tea, but it doesn’t taste weak like many herbal teas. It has a smooth, robust flavor with a hint of sweetness. Since there are no tannins in Rooibos tea, you can let it steep longer than you would black or green tea and it never gets bitter. I fell in love with this tea and quickly went through my stash. It’s quite common in Africa and I’ve seen it beginning to show up in blends at local caféand tea sites on the internet. It’s supposed to have medicinal powers and lots of antioxidants and minerals. All I know is that it tastes wonderful and I never get tired of drinking it.

This is a brand called Eleven O.clock. I’ve seen this brand of coffee at Trader Joe’s, but I had no idea they distributed tea. I love this packaging.

Another brand of Rooibos tea. You can never have too much Rooibos in the house. This brand, in individual tea bags, When you know what’s good for you.

Honey Bush tea is also a red tea, very similar to Rooibos, but with a slightly sweeter, almost honey-esque taste.

Boot Grip. I’ve saved the best secret for last. My father picked one of these up on his last trip and put it in the trunk of his car. It’s amazing, simply put. No matter what you put on this mat, groceries in plastic bags, tools, they will not move! I kid you not! I can’t tell you how many times my plastic bags spill their contents all over my trunk by the time I get home from the grocery store. I looked all over for my very own mat and found out that no one sells them here. This is definitely an item that has a market that doesn’t know it exists. So, my father bought two of them for me. My wife went to the grocery store this evening and tested it out. Not one bag moved from the time she left the store to the time she pulled in our driveway. Even she was amazed!

The funniest thing to me, is the difference in cultures and terminology. What we call a trunk on our cars is called a boot in South Africa. The insert states: “BootGrip. The anti-slip mat that grips! The answer for things that go bump in the boot!” I couldn’t have said it better myself!

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There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about posting to my blog. I want to start shooting more personal images, start working on personal projects. Follow my passion. I keep telling myself that I’ll give myself permission once I get caught up with work that’s paying the bills.

Christmas time is a crazy time for wedding photographers. Pictures from a summer wedding make the perfect Christmas gift and it all happens in the span of two weeks. Wedding albums, parent albums, wall prints, Christmas cards…it’s rain or pour. So while I work to keep the doors open, bear with me. I have great plans for 2006!

As I was rushing to FedEx this afternoon, I was sitting at an intersection and looking around at the people waiting with me. Wondering where they were going, if they had jobs, what their lives were all about. It’s amazing what you see at an intersection. It was at that point that I thought of a personal project, “Life Happens at an Intersection”. Just think of the possibilities! What things have you seen at an intersection?

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