My friend Jim had the poor taste to lie down for his afternoon nap last July 25 and not get up. The minor tragedy is that while he had finished teaching me how to choose cameras, he had not completed my instruction in how to use them. All too often, goaded to exasperation i suspect not entirely feigned, he’d just grab my camera from my ignorant hands, call up a menu or set a dial and say, “There. Like that!”
And sure enough, i’d be kicked up to a higher plane.
He had the patience to do this on many occasions, and i sure do hope i had made it fully clear to him how indebted i was for his instruction.
Of course his own photography was sublime, and i’ve learned a lot just looking at his photos. Here’s his Flickr site, now being maintained as a memorial by our mutual friend Stephen. Note his scrupulousness in tracking down the genus and species of all the flora and the precise location of almost everything else.
I’d started joining him, his partner Roy, and Stephen for breakfast sometimes on Saturday mornings at Le Zinc, and am saddened that i’d not started sooner so as to get to know him better.
Stephen and Rowen hosted a memorial gathering for him last Sunday, an occasion for those who knew him to salute him, learn more of his background, and marvel at prints Stephen had made of some of his work.
And there’s no way i’d have the balls to put one of my pics in here today.