A Newly Discovered Sport

So apparently there is a variation on bowling out here in the New England states called Candlepin Bowling. What can I say, I loved it. There are only a few things in common with traditional bowling. There are ten pins, you roll a ball to knock them down, and spares and strikes count extra. Those rules we all recognize, now for the variations. The top and bottom of the pins are identical, in positioning the pins they are not offset but stacked one behind the other, the ball is just a little bigger than a softball, you get to roll the ball three times not just two, if it takes you three times to knock down all the pins it simply counts as 10 pins not as a spare. Plus, after each ball is thrown pins that are knocked down are not cleaned up, they just lie there and could be used to knock down other pins on your next roll. In this game if you break 100 you are doing quite well. That all being said it was so entertaining and not nearly as tiring as traditional bowling. If you are ever out in New England I highly recommend looking up a candlepin bowling alley and see what you think.

Welcome to Maine

For those that do not know I am getting my Masters of Fine Art at Rockport College in Rockport Maine. I can attend workshops through the Maine Media Workshops for part of my graduate credit. So as a result I am spending three weeks in Maine this summer doing just that. My first workshop is with Jeff Rosenheim who is the curator of photography for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He is one of the leading experts in the world on photographers such as Walker Evans, Diane Arbus, Robert Frank and others. This workshop is predominantly a photographic history workshop where we discuss the work of prominent photographers and then in turn critique our own projects. It is has been absolutely wonderful so far. I have included a few images from class discussions down on the ocean front (rough I know), views of the harbor, and pictures of the place I will call home for the next three weeks. The house has a cool Northeastern Grandma feel to it which was fun to go around and photograph in. This has been one of few days that it has not been raining so far.

My instructor Jeff, would be on the left.

Lake Powell

One vacation I look forward to to every year is to Lake Powell. I love to hug trees as much as the next landscape photographer and I know that Lake Powell is a blight on all things that every environmentalist organization in the world stands for but despite that fact I will readily admit that I still love Lake Powell. We do basically the same thing every year. We even eat basically the same meals. Yet I never tire of the routine. It relaxes and invigorates me in a way few places can. Awake at sunrise and ski and board until breakfast. Throughout the rest of the day we play games, go tubing when the water is rough, wakeboard when the water is good, nap in the sun, read a good book, when a storm suddenly appears there is a mad rush to save and recover the boat and our belongings, put lifejackets on upside down and go out swimming behind the house boat, and the list goes on and on. I of course spend most of my time perched on the back of the boat with my camera avidly photographing just in case whoever I am photographing does not survive whatever they are doing. I would give all that I could to see what Glenn Canyon used to look like (The name of the canyon before it was dammed for those that are wondering) but there is also probably nothing that you could offer me to give up the memories I have made on these family excursions down to Lake Powell.

One more batch

I will explain these portraits, I promise.

Still more portraits..

Another day and a few more portraits.

More Portraits

A few more portraits, more to come.