Clancy,
No matter how many apartments we have lived in alone, or together, I have never really felt ‘on my own’.
I suppose it’s because of all the space you and D seemed to take up in my day, even if we only had one real conversation a week.
I have made the right decisions though, so this is a long time coming.
(The sun just forced it’s way through the depth of rain and cloud cover. I can’t see it, but just enough light is getting through and it’s changed the color cast of my living room. It is almost four o’clock in the afternoon.
I sleep more here. Something I should be grateful for, but instead I have guilt.
I picture you smiling at me now, rolling your eyes at nameless guilt, all over a little lazy sunlight.)
I talked to our girl last night. She called me late, after the babies were asleep, and sounded misplaced.
She talked about all the boxes everywhere and her blank walls. I thought about our talk this morning, and how you called me a ‘blank canvas’, and all I feel like is one of those blank walls in her apartment. Waiting for something to cover me.
I couldn’t say it back to you though. Not when you told me that I am living the dream.
I hate it when you’re right.
But I want you to know that I see it that way because of your love and support.
The sun just came out completely.
I’ll write more tomorrow.
Endlessly,
r.
Greetings to all!
As most of you know, I have just recently moved (yet again!) to the colorful state of Washington.
Most of my years have been spent in Colorado, with a three-year stint in Brooklyn N.Y. that forced me as a photographer to make some decisions about where my work would or should be going. At the end of September I graduated with a second degree in photography from the Art Institute of Colorado. Now I find myself, true to form, in a completely new place. And my explorations of this new scene have left me feeling grateful for the Fall season, and engulfed in everything fresh and strange and exciting.
After shooting under the extreme eye of higher education, and my amazing peers, I have started and continued projects that were born on late nights when I couldn’t sleep. Selfishly, I held them close to heart, and focused on the expectations and parameters of finishing my degree. I knew that a time would come when, properly nurtured over time, my personal projects would become full-grown.
One of my favorite of these ideas, thought up over the last two years, is a book of ‘Love Letters’.
It contains 11 images coupled with corresponding letters. All these letters have been written to real people over time; my friends or family, but never mailed. These letters have never been discarded. (Either from severe pack rat disorder, or a faith that eventually they would find a way out of my desk drawer.) My first volume of this book made its debut at my graduation presentation, and then again at a gallery show hosted by Myself and a dear friend and colleague, Michelle Knudsen. The show took place at The Grant Street Mansion and displayed 11 of the 16 graduates from the Summer 2009 session at the Art Institute of Colorado. Our turn out for the show was spectacular, and the response concerning the ‘letters’ was extremely positive. My pride over these very personal expressions gave me the faith to keep it going. It created in me a deep desire to continue sharing.
I have begun to settle into my new home, and found that there is a natural space between graduation and a comfortable routine here. I must learn my way around the area, make new friends, and commit to an amazing new chapter, and it occurs to me that there will always be letters to write, people that I am missing, and stories that need to be told. I am blessed to have people who love me scattered across the country and some flung much further. ….
My desire is to use the letters to bring me closer to those that I am longing for, and to make my images available in the everyday. This is my attempt to shorten the distance.
“Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I am going to take tomorrow.” Imogen Cunningham
(Comments and questions about the work are welcome. Any input will be addressed, and as my client base grows here I will share not only my letters, but a full gamut of imagery. I am a portrait photographer dealing in editorial and Fine Art, new-born photography, and scenic captures.)For my company website please visit www.seraphimfire.com and thank you for your time and attention.Keep checking www.seraphimfirephotography.wordpress.com for new work;
the next letter could be to you…
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All Images & writing copyright Seraphim Fire Photography & Regan Beisenherz
