Model, Dominique Jan 2011

With Matching Bandage

One of the reasons I went camping the other week was because I knew I’d be somewhat limited this week. Last Wednesday I had surgery on my left hand to remove a small metallic ball that was lodged in my palm from my service time in Korea back around ’95. At the time, I didn’t notice a whole lot of pain in my palm, per se. My middle finger and wrist is another story, but I just never made the connection. Last year it began to get pretty bad. There were several times the pain almost brought me to tears. It got to a point where I absolutely could not stand it, but it took a very long process to get me to this point today.

Test after test, the waiting game continued. I often hated being around friends because I knew my pain could make them uncomfortable and it was definitely a feat for me to keep a smile on my face and act like nothing was wrong. I remember visiting my kids in TN when I got to see my grandchild for the first time. My mother and I got a hotel room for the week. The pain was unbearable and I had to take special care when holding my then one-month old grandkid. I didn’t want to take away from everybody’s moment of welcoming a new addition to the family for worrying over me, especially when nothing could be done at he time. I had a similar moment like that at my friend Felix’s house. Hopefully, this will be an improvement.

Model, Dominique Jan 2011

The day after my camping trip, I got to photograph Dominique, the model exhibited in this post. As challenging as this shoot was, we got several great shot while she visited Vegas. The main challenge was the cold. It was in the low 40’s when we started, but she really wanted to do it…that is, til the wind started howling on her naked butt! She was a real trooper, though and I did my best to keep her reasonably protected. The car was left running nearby and she kept a blanket on til right before I released the shutter. We’re already making plans for her next visit.

Model, Dominique Jan 2011

Model, Dominique Jan 2011

I thought this was sort of interesting. I came across this news article by Liz Goodwin for The Lookout, a Yahoo news blog: “New Yorker searches for owner of remarkable blizzard photos“. Sometimes its sort of odd to see the different crusades or causes that motivate people to act. In this case, New Yorker Todd Bieber spots a roll of undeveloped film in the snow. He develops it and is fancied by the snow and blizzard scenes of his own city. Then he’s struck with this idea for a mission-quest thing to find the original owners of the film. The guy makes a video that he posts on YouTube and it goes viral. He gets very introspective as he narrates a story about his life and how his search for meaning leads him to the roll of film, critiques the images, and relates them to the owners. Its not a bad video, really. People from all over are trying to help. Even Time Magazine got in on the coverage. Personally, I like the idea. But subjectively, I have to wonder… Was this guy simply primed for a new cause in his life? Homelessness, politics, environmental save-the-planet stuff just never quite moved him, but a lost roll of film became his call to action? And I wonder how many marketing gurus have researched what concepts have the highest propensity to go viral. What’s the quantitative figure that defines virality anyway? I guess the most surprising thing about the whole affair is that tourists are still using film.