Loss

I don't like being negative, especially here. I don't get angry very often or very easily but there are a few things that are very near and dear to me that, if threatened, will trigger my fury. My pictures are one of them.

I am staying with family in Maryland while looking for a new place to live in Pennsylvania. I was in Pennsylvania yesterday when the movers delivered my things.

I came back tonight to discover that many boxes have been smashed and badly water damaged. One such box was labeled "Fragile! Frames!". In it were lots of my most prized pictures. The soggy box practically crumbled in my hands. The cardboard just peeled off. I unwrapped several of my pictures to discover that they had been soaked through. The prints were already wrinkling and discoloring.

Of course I keep my images on file and kept my hard drives on me during the move. I can replace the pictures I took digitally. And I can always buy new frames. I can't, however, replace the pictures I shot on film and developed myself in the dark room during photography school. Three pictures in particular were shot on black and white film in Bannack, a Montana ghost town. These pictures were my final project and a true labor of love as I spent hours in the darkroom carefully dodging and burning to perfection. It hurts that they've been ruined by careless movers.

Most painful is the loss of a picture of an iris. It was an incredibly special picture to me. Also a black and white print from school, it was my first finished print. I had spent so much time agonizing which picture I wanted to use first when learning how to develop my own prints. It was important because it was to be a gift and I wanted to give something as special as my very first print. I learned how to develop pictures with this print.

I was so happy with the result. I framed it and gave it to my dad for his birthday. It really wouldn't have mattered what it looked like, but he was proud of me and loved the picture.

He died about 2 weeks later.

The iris print is wrinkled and has a big splotchy pink water stain. Sad doesn't even begin to describe it. I'll go through the rest of my crumpled boxes tomorrow.

“A man's real possession is his memory. In nothing else is he rich, in nothing else is he poor.”
Alexander Smith

Eastward Bound

I've mentioned that I'll be moving back to Pennsylvania.  Well, the movers have taken all of my belongings and now the time has come for me to get on a plane early tomorrow morning so I can get to the east coast.

I'll be spending some time in Ocean City, Maryland where my mom lives while I hunt for a place around the Philadelphia area.

I'm nervous and excited to make this move.  I love the San Francisco Bay Area.  I absolutely love it here.  I love the people, the weather, the scenery, and so much more.  San Francisco has made me feel at home and I'll miss it incredibly as I fly over the bay tomorrow.

The Philadelphia (Main Line) area is where I am from.  Though I was born in Virginia and moved around a lot, the Main Line is where I feel I "grew up".  It will be great to come back to old friends and be a lot closer to my mom.  I'm not crazy about the cold winters but it's a beautiful area and I'm looking forward to rediscovering it all.  It has been far too long since I last went skiing too.

So I may be off the grid for a little bit while I work on finding a home but I will be returning all contact requests as soon as possible.

See you on the East Side!

Nowhere in this country, from sea to sea, does nature comfort us with such assurance of plenty, such as rich and tranquil beauty as in those unsung, unpainted hills of Pennsylvania.

Rebecca Harding Davis 

December Desktop Images

, wallpEvery month I feature a new image for download for you to use as your desktop background. Click to download it and see it at its huge size and resolution.

For this festive season, I have something ornate - a ceiling inside San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor. I also have the opposite - a scene I find soothing and natural.

Enjoy!

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I went for a walk
On a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreamin'
On such a winter's day.
- Mammas and Pappas, California Dreamin

*Please note these images are made available for personal use only.

My Grandfather, the Reverend George MacPherson Docherty

I learned on Saturday of the passing of my paternal grandfather, the Rev. George M. Docherty.

He was a great man who raised 5 children and witnessed the death of two, my own father being one of them.

He was also the man behind the controversial addition of "Under God" in the pledge of allegiance. A simple search of "George Docherty" will yield plenty of information about how a Scotsman came to America and was the influential minister to President Eisenhower at the famous New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.

He was 97 when he died on Thanksgiving in his home in Pennsylvania. There will be a memorial service for him on December 21st at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church following services.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all.