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Dear Friends, Transitions Life isn’t a matter of milestones but of moments. - Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy June is a month for transitions. We move officially from spring to summer and in Maine, perhaps actually. It is the time of year when students of all ages graduate from elementary, middle, high schools and colleges.  In many ways it is the most recognized and formal time of the year for transitions. But not all transitions are noted ...

Dear Friends, I was recently asked to be part of two separate panel discussions. The first panel related to the Portland Museum of Art Biennial (Maine) where I was lucky enough to have an image included in the show. (To say the jurors were selective is an understatement. They chose 27 works by seventeen artists out of almost one thousand applicants.) The discussion questions centered on our art and how we go about making it. ...

Dear Friends, April certainly flew by! Maine has had temperatures ranging from freezing to the 80’s, leaves are unfurling and early plants are blooming. I’ve made some early morning forays out into the fog to photograph as well as evening excursions in the softening twilight with the 8 x 10 and pinhole cameras. Working locally continues to be a challenge but I feel as if I am seeing more in the way of photographic possibilities ...

Dear Friends, Happy Spring to all of you! The longer days are loosening the grip of winter and the receding and slowly rising thermometer is causing all of us to use any excuse to be outside. The spring energy seems to bring feelings of optimism and enthusiasm for activities, that until recently, felt more like “work” and less like “fun”. I think it’s a great idea to take this positive approach to all our thoughts ...

Dear Friends, First, to each of you who responded to last month’s newsletter with such warmth and friendship, we thank you. We’re pretty sure that the content was never really meant for anyone other than ourselves but we felt great reassurance to hear that we were not alone in recognizing our need to take better care of our creative lives. So, how did your “one-hour of photographing” work out? Did you reward yourself with, perhaps ...

Dear Friends, Remember the opening of Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities"? "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything ...

As a photographer I am often asked ”What am I supposed to see in your photographs?” and  “What do your photographs mean/say”? Although these are good questions I am not sure how to answer them. On the most basic level photographs describe something. They describe what the photographer has pointed the camera at, whether a rock, a standing stone or a kitchen. The problem, as I see it, is that everything in the world has been ...

I have been to two concerts in the past month, more than I have been to in many years. Though similar music-wise, they were very different in style and delivery. The first was an Arlo Gutherie concert. It was bouncy and filled with memories and songs from years gone by. The time was filled with songs to tap your feet to and sing along with. The songs were stories from and about Arlo’s life -life ...

White. When I close my eyes and think of Orkney, I see white, white houses, white boats and white clouds racing across the skies. When the sun does shine on Orkney, it does so with brilliance unmatched anywhere. Lying at the confluence of currents between the North Atlantic and the North Sea, weather moves quickly across its face. When the sun breaks through and illuminates the white buildings, it is often in contrast to the dark ...