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On a recent Saturday, I spent my morning with Violet, the adorable daughter of Sam and Wendy.  Violet definitely knows what she likes.  On this particular day, we practiced getting Thomas the Train to shoot bubbles from his smokestack and perfecting the sand-to-water ratio for her castles.  She barely even noticed the camera.  It was perfect.  But Violet definitely knew just how to turn on the charm for the lens when she wanted to.  Thanks to Wendy and Sam for inviting me into their home and introducing me to their beautiful daughter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • Trevin

    Dana,
    These are amazing shots. Congratulations!

    btw, we have to get together and catch up!

    *T*

In moments of self-awareness, I can acknowledge that one of the reasons why I gravitated so strongly to photography is that I love to remember.   In moments of self-honesty, however, I can also admit that not all of my remembering is good for me.  I can’t remember (har har) what set this train of thought into motion last fall, but I have been thinking about this in the context of lots of things going on in my life since then.  Lots of questions come up.  When do I transition from fondly reminiscing about the past to mentally setting up house in it?   When does trying to reference a lesson learned transition into reliving and wallowing in a negative experience?  How often is history rewritten in my head?    Does it all keep me from moving forward?   And, of course…why?  I made a list of what comes up for me when I think about the past.  Ideas about myself, my childhood, my relationships.  There are plenty of dark spaces in those thoughts.  However, this series is meant to depict associations that are mostly joyful for me, although I have both positive and negative associations with them all.  I’m hopeful that this exercise might provide a segue into examining the shadowy corners.

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

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  • Karen from Chookooloonks

    LOVE this series. LOVE.

  • steph

    love love love the mouthpiece. i have, to this day, never heard you play. but i love that you love to remember, as i do too. and i’ve asked myself similar questions. it’s hard for me to know where that line is between remembering and regressing, and i find that on any given day, the same memory might affect me completely differently. sometimes that memory is easy, just factual history, while other days it’s heavy with emotion. i think my emotional response to a memory, especially one that isn’t consistently light and fun, largely reflects what else is going on in my life, and the danger for me is when i let my current thoughts/situation influence my perception of the so-called reality of the memory. suddenly i fail to see all the shadows, and focus only on that tiny glint of sun that at the time didn’t offer any light, warmth, or life. but in my altered perception, i’ve glorified it.

    without our memory, our lives lose meaning. so even though remembering can sometimes keep us in a rut, i’d rather wallow in a memory than have nothing in my memory at all. and one thing is certain – everything changes, so the wallowing simply cannot be interminable.

    i think you’re very self-aware. and very vunderwool.

Maryland isn’t exactly a big state.  But when I went home to visit my parents last weekend, my mom and I ended up somewhere that I hadn’t even heard of.  Annmarie Sculpture Gardens in Dowell, MD was our first stop.   Dowell?  Anyone?  Anyone?  The grounds were beautiful and dotted with some REALLY cool pieces.  Somehow I managed to thread the needle between blizzards this weekend, so the weather turned out great, even if it was a little cold for a soft Californian.   Afterward, we kept going south to Solomons, MD, a town so narrow that I could see water within a stone’s throw on each side.  Solomons offered up some great light and a couple of really cool shots (including the seagull, one of my favorite serendipitous shots in a while).

This sculpture is one of the most amazing pieces I’ve ever seen.  These three cubes rotate in the wind.  Each side of each cube is actually flat, gray metal that has been polished with an abrasive to give it a texture.  At the right time of day, as the sun sets it hits a red building that is over my right shoulder.  The streaks of light come from the sun reflecting off of the building’s second story windows.  The red hue comes from the sun’s reflection off of the red wall.  But it only happens when the cube has rotated into the right position.  Amazing.

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  • Anita Pomerantz

    Gilman posted a link to your blog, and I found my way over here . . .just had to comment on how GORGEOUS your photos are. I love the last one on this post so so much, but they are all breathtaking. Wow!!!!

    I’m a new parent at Gilman (we just moved here) with two boys enrolled so I also enjoyed the post on that topic ;). But your photos – – just breathtaking.

I was able to go home for the Thanksgiving holiday and had a chance to see a bunch of family.   My niece Jordan, who I thought was actually shy…is NOT!  She never got tired of posing for the camera, losing to me at thumb wrestling, or being the only clue-giver in charades.  It was great to see my uncle Kenneth, who is 60 but looks all of 45.  And my grandparents reminded me that they met when they were just weeks old (they were neighbors).   I think they can count the time that they’ve been apart in their entire lives in months.  I also finally built in some extra time during the drive to my mom’s house to photograph some of the great scenery along the way.  As sleepy as the town of Deale, MD is, it can also be absolutely beautiful.

Mom’s

Uncle Kenneth & Jordan

Jordan struggled to keep the camera/grip/flash steady and got a pretty nice shot in the process.

Granddad, still as sharp as a tack.  We can always count on him to stay out on the porch until we turn the corner onto Gwynns Falls.  I love that he has all the signs of a grandfather: belt + suspenders, zip-up sweater, eyeglasses in the shirt pocket (and a cell phone).

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  • Big Rob

    I love this man….

  • Georgette Varner-Haynes

    Awesome, Dana. Love this!

Last weekend, during a trip to Boston, we got a chance to drive out to Reading, MA to spend an afternoon with Caren and her family.  Caren is a good friend from business school, and I had never met her husband, Evan, or her children.   They were as fantastic as Caren, and I documented the good times with a few images.  Naturally.

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